INNISFAIL – After four years an old-fashioned turkey dinner has become the community’s must attend event of the year.
A long lineup at the main door of the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion had started a good half hour before the official opening at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 18.
For $10 a plate for each person or $20 a family, hundreds of Innisfailians and area citizens did not want to miss the 4th Annual Community Family Christmas Turkey Dinner.
“I think it is really great that we are able to come together as a community,” said Innisfail-area resident Amy Dunlop who brought her two young sons to the event. “I was able to come and meet new people.”
And this is what the annual Christmastime turkey dinner was meant to become – a community event to bring people together.
Created and hosted by Johns Manville, it has quickly become a local institution, one enthusiastically embraced by company employees.
“All the food is donated, prepped, cooked, served and cleaned up by the staff at Johns Manville. They are amazing,” said Heather Cooper, the human resources generalist at the Innisfail plant, who added about 50 employees, along with many spouses, started in shifts at 9 a.m. on Dec. 18 to prepare for the event and didn’t stop until cleanup was finished at about 9 p.m. “They are excited. They want to help out. They have fun.
“We just want to give back to our community as we believe it is important to do that,” she said, noting all admission proceeds from the event are given back to worthy community charities.
Cooper added the event also had a huge important social component with citizens given the chance to connect with old friends, family members and neighbours.
“It’s a community event. We are proud to respond to that, to help out,” she said.
Just over four years ago the community dinner was the inspiration of Cathy Ouellette, the Innisfail plant’s former director of human resources who is now working at the head office in Denver, Colo. Its instant success moved her so much she makes a special trip every year to attend.
“It was a dream of mine and it has just grown over the years, and I have been here every year. It was important for me to be here to support the employees and the community,” she said, noting the event originally started out at the local United Church four years ago and grew to fill the legion auditorium.
“The second year we lost power but everybody held out their phones and ate dinner anyway. It was awesome,” she added. “It’s nice to see the community mingle with our employees. It also helps out the food bank and the Christmas Bureau. It is for a good cause. Everyone is donating in some way, whether it’s employees or people coming for dinner. It is a Christmas-type event where you feel you’re giving back to the community.”
