Members of the three Salmon Arm Rotary clubs, First United Church, Broadview Evangelical Free church and Second Harvest teamed up to provide more than 600 individual meals to those in need on Christmas. Some of the many volunteers, Dan McPherson, Ron Hooper, Vahlleri Semeniuk, Lloyd Nakagawa, Lis Leach, Norm Brown, Rob Hislop and Patrick Webb take time out at the Evangelical Free church, a meal pick-up point, for a photo on Friday, Dec. 25, 2020. (Martha Wickett - Salmon Arm Observer)
More than 600 meals made their COVID-safe way to Salmon Arm residents in need on Christmas Day, thanks to an abundance of caring volunteers.
Salmon Arm’s three Rotary Clubs, as well as Second Harvest, the First United Church and Broadview Evangelical Free Church, donated funds to pay for the food, the meals were cooked and put together by the churches, and volunteers from all the groups pitched in to distribute the packages.
Norm Brown, president of the Rotary Club of Salmon Arm, said the idea was born when a Penticton Rotary Club used a similar system for a lobster dinner.
The work in the Shuswap, following pandemic protocols, started about a month and a half before Christmas, with everything coming together in just five weeks.
“All three clubs jumped on it. We had volunteers – we had to turn them away, we had more than enough,” said Brown.
A total of 620 Christmas dinners-to-go were produced.