The annual Christmas Dinner hosted by the St. Vincent de Paul Society will be take-out only this year.
Spokesperson, Bernie Goold told MyPGNow.com it pains them to alter one of the biggest meals.
“It saddens us but there is no other way we can do it. Those in need will be given a full turkey dinner in packages but they will have to take it home and due to the pandemic we can’t have people inside, that really bothers us.”
“It’s not our ideal Christmas dinner but we have to take some solace in that we are able to continue to feed through the generosity of the people of Prince George, which has been phenomenal.”
While Christmas may not be their biggest holiday turnout for meals, Goold is still expecting a healthy portion of families to come out.
“Thanksgiving we did 198 meals, so we are hoping a lot of the families receive Christmas hampers and we’ll have a turkey to cook at home, so we are looking at 150-200 (meals).”
“It really is heartwrenching, we did Easter weekend, we did Thanksgiving but Christmas has really hit me hard because we all think of warm friends and being at home and even though Christmas dinner wasn’t our biggest one, it was always like a place of friendship. It’s very, very different and it’s not the way we want to do it.”