Four-course meal for 600

The Regina Leader-Post
Jana Pruden

What does it take to feed 600 people? Try 50 turkeys, 250 pounds of potatoes, 144 heads of romaine lettuce, four buckets of salad dressing, 80 litres of gravy and a veritable sea of rice pudding -- with piles of dinner rolls and torrents of juice and coffee on the side.

Such was the spectacular spread at Souls Harbour Rescue Mission on Saturday, as hundreds of hungry people and dozens of devoted volunteers flocked to the charity's annual Easter Dinner.

Before the doors of the Good News Chapel had even opened late Saturday morning, a crowd of people -- both volunteers and guests -- were gathered outside, excitedly awaiting the Easter weekend event.

Dinner was served as a four-course sit down meal, which Christos Lygouriatis, owner of Melrose Place North, said was an important part of the experience.

"It's a real blessing to really enjoy a holiday dinner," said Lygouriatis, who has co-ordinated the massive meal for the past four years. "It's not a rush dinner. It's for people to spend time with their families, to sit down together and enjoy the hospitality of Souls Harbour and have a hearty meal."

Michelle Porter, who started the Rescue Mission side of the organization with her husband nine years ago, said the holiday dinners are for people in need -- whether they are financially poor, struggling with difficult issues, or simply searching for a sense of community and fellowship.

Pat McCormack found himself on the steps of the Rescue Mission in dire need of help little more than a year ago. After completing the organization's LifeChange Program, McCormack is clean, sober and helping in the Souls Harbour kitchen as a part of a mentorship training program. Now considering a career as a cook, McCormack was soaking it all in on Saturday-- and said he'd already learned the key to cooking dinner for several hundred: "Always make enough."

Spending two years homeless in Alberta, Vicki Zaremba used to rely on soup kitchens for help. She is now doing better, working, and living in Regina, but says she knows firsthand how difficult things can be.

"There are definitely a lot of people that need to eat," said Zaremba, who stopped by the dinner to visit her mother, who was serving at the event. "You don't get anything on welfare, and when you pay the bills there's not a lot left."

Standing outside the chapel shortly before lunch with her four-year-old daughter, a young woman named Sheena also expressed her gratitude for the hot holiday meal.

"I know I appreciate it and I think a lot of other people do, too, because there's a lot of people in there," she said.