INNISFAIL – Ron McGinnis sat at a table chatting with a friend after having a full holiday season meal at the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion Branch #104.
He’s proud to tell you that he has lived in Innisfail his entire life and will be 80-years-old next March.
McGinnis is also grateful for the community spirit that led to the scrumptious Christmas meal of turkey and all the fixings, along with a plenty of dessert choices, he enjoyed on the evening of Dec. 14. It was an affordable meal that would feed hundreds that evening; in fact, up to 1,000 if need be.
“It’s special because it is a special time of year. I really thank Johns Manville for putting on a dinner like this. It’s an excellent dinner and I would come back every day if they’d put one on,” said McGinnis, who proudly had a red poppy clipped to his cap as a sincere measure of respect for the legion. “I enjoy the meal and the company that come around and sit at my table. I look forward to it every year.”
The event hosted by Johns Manville at the Legion was the company’s 5th Christmas Community Dinner; the first since 2019.
The planned 2020 and 2021 community dinners were cancelled, casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The community dinner also coincided with three major donations to local charities; employee donations that were matched by the company.
The employees also collected scrap steel throughout the year and took it in for recycling. This year the employees raised $2,720.
The Innisfail Christmas Bureau received $8,085. The combined employee-company effort let to a $2,400 donation to the Innisfail and District Food Bank, along with more than 621 lbs. of food that will feed many of the community’s less fortunate during the holiday season. The Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter received $2,000.
Tom Lowe is the plant manager at Johns Manville. He said this year’s event was a “great opportunity” for the company and its 220 plant employees to give back to the community, and to take care of family and friends.
He added everyone at Johns Manville understands it’s a challenging time for many citizens.
“Especially this age of high inflation, we realize it's difficult out there,” said Lowe. “So, it was really special that we could sit down and actually take the time to do this and just get back.”
Heather Cooper, the human resources generalist at Johns Manville, said there was an “overwhelming” response from staff with more than 50 volunteers cooking up and serving the turkey dinner on Dec. 14.
“For a thousand people everybody in the plant probably donated something, whether it was vegetables, stuffing, a turkey, they all donated to this,” said Cooper. “So, it's amazing. Everyone is super excited to do it again. We planned to feed a thousand.
“It is just so heartwarming,” added Cooper.
And perhaps more so for the hundreds who attended and gladly handed over $10 for a great meal, and to feel gratitude again for an important slice of Innisfail’s community and holiday season spirit.
“This is excellent. There are lots of people, lots of people we know from the community. We get to say hi and yes, it looks like everybody is having a lot of fun,” said Innisfailian John Lenters, who took in the community dinner with wife Anna. “I think it's important because if you look at the money that's asked of them, it's not going to cover the cost, and there's a lot of people here who could probably use a good turkey dinner, and $10 goes a long way.
“This is going to help them a lot,” he added. “I think for a lot of people who cannot afford a turkey dinner this is very affordable.”
