Christmas dinner for St. Mary’s students

On Monday, December 19, St. Joseph’s hall was filled with St. Mary’s students for the annual Christmas dinner. The children walked over to the church with their classes and enjoyed a delicious meal of ham, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, buns, and cookies for dessert.

The dinner originally started years ago in the kitchen at St. Mary’s but as the student body grew, it became impossible to accommodate the volume of cooking needed to feed everyone. The dinner has taken place at the hall for the last three years. “We have a group of 15 to18 parents who come help prep the hall and serve food,” said parent volunteer Natanya Gunderson, “and Bonni Chistie has been an incredible help in this venture, too.”

“We feed over 500 students and 53 staff. It’s a very fun time,” said Gunderson. Cooking for such a big group requires a lot of cooks and Denis Callagahan’s Grade 12 food class was up to the task, preparing the entire meal. Abbie’s Catering generously donated the use of their professional kitchen as well as utensils, and the hall was donated by the parish.  McDonalds also got in on the lunch, donating juice and cups for the children.

Ty Dowsett, grade 2t student at St. Mary’s and one of the 500 children to enjoy the dinner, said it was delicious. “My favourite part is the ham. It’s very good,” said Ty, with a big smile. Ty also said the hall looked good and that everyone did a really great job. When asked what he would like to say to the volunteers who put everything together, Ty grinned, took a big bite of ham, and said, “I would like to say thank you. Thank you a lot!”