Thanksgiving Dinner at Shepherds of Good Hope 

 A Gift FROM our Community TO our Community 

 On an unusually warm autumn day, the aroma of turkey smoking on open flames permeated the air. 

With over eighty donated turkeys slow-cooking on the smokers at Meatings BBQ in Orleans, the chefs at Shepherds were picturing the plated dinners for their guests on Thanksgiving. 

“Our relationship with Meatings BBQ is just part of this inspirational Thanksgiving story,” says Shepherds Chef, Peter Gareau. “An entire community came together to make this meal happen.” 

Community Donations of Time and Turkey. 

Shepherds of Good Hope is grateful for community connections. With over eighty turkeys donated, the chefs wanted to prepare something special for their Thanksgiving guests. 

“We’ll feed over 1,000 people on Thanksgiving Monday,” says Chef Tim Barton. “We have finite space and resources, so we knew we’d have to involve our community, including my alma mater, the Algonquin College School of Business and Hospitality.” 

How do you prepare eighty turkeys for smoking? 

The answer lies in the students and faculty at Algonquin College. 

Putting their early culinary skills to the test, these students came to school on a Saturday morning and carefully separated the donated fifteen pound plus turkeys. 

You can watch Chef La Salle thanking the students in this short video. 

Two days later, the freshly carved turkeys were placed on the smokers at Meatings, imbuing them with a rustic, smoky flavour that would be the envy of any Ottawa dinner table. 

From there, the now fully-flavoured turkey was brought to Shepherds kitchen where it was prepped for individual servings. 

While this was happening, chefs and volunteers were cutting hundreds of potatoes, cutting carrots, washing green beans, gravy and baking pumpkin pies…enough to feed one thousand hungry people. 

“It’s not the number of meals we prep, cook and serve that people will remember,” says Chef Gareau. “It is the dignity, love and care that goes into every corner of every plate.” 

“When the last guest leaves on Thanksgiving day, or the last resident in Shepherds supportive housing residences goes to their room, they will have enjoyed a meal provided by a loving community.” 

To change a life today and to support Shepherds of Good Hope this Thanksgiving, please click below. 

If you donate by October 31, your gift will be doubled (up to $10,000) by Keller Engineering, yet another wonderful community partner. 

PS – Take an inside look at Thanksgiving preparation in this report by CBC OTTAWA: Feast for 1,000: Inside an Ottawa shelter prepping a giant Thanksgiving dinner.