The Edmonton Muse January 2018 | Page 23

We don't just provide our guests with a hot meal. We want for them to be able to relax and enjoy a holiday environment. Musicians are a must! We source talent that is willing to donate their time to this worthy cause. This year we were lucky enough to have Chantel Hilton back for a second year, and now she is part of the family; we are keeping her and never giving her back. If you have not heard of Chantel, she is a celebrity impersonator. Her favorite character is Marylin Monroe. We caught her performance on camera!

What a stone cold doll! She worked through our technical difficulties (no bluetooth for the sound system – fancy new Iphone!)

We also try to make sure that we have warm clothing available for our guests to take if they need it. In previous years we have had photographers to take photos and the photo printers on site to make sure that the guests had prints that they could give for gifts to family and friends. We would love to bring this back again next year but we will need to find a corporate sponsor for the printers/ink/paper/SD cards. It takes a lot of people to volunteer as well to make all of this possible. We can't thank our volunteers enough! We are thankful for every single one of you that took the time out of their busy holiday season to give back to the community. It takes close to 100 people to put this kind of event on.

This is not the only event that this lovely lady does during the year either. The church that provides the space for the big Christmas dinner also does community dinners for the less fortunate on a regular basis. Brenda participates in those a few times a year as well.

Are you a musician, good in the kitchen, good with people, a photographer, just want to give back to the community? Come out to one of the events and lend a helping hand!

This year we fed 438 people. 50 Christmas meal trays went out to families (not enough donations were received for hampers this year). Several veterans meals and seniors meals also went out for Christmas dinner. We were able to help a lot of people to just pause and relax.

Cheers to Brenda and all of the hard work she puts in throughout the year. We love you Brenda!

-- YEGfoodie