It’s November and the Fall Supper Season is starting to wind down. There are still some happening both in and out of Winnipeg, Last night I went to St Saviours Anglican’s Turkey Fall Supper.
St Saviours is located in the north east of Winnipeg. It’s in a working class neighbourhood. There is a lot of residential housing, with several industrial offices not all that far away. There are a few community groups that are part of the parish(of that more later). One of the important ministries at the heart of the parish is their Gifts of Grace food program.
St Saviours Supper
I had almost forgot that this dinner was happening. However, I saw them post on their Facebook page that there were still a few tickets available. I called up and made sure I reserved a ticket. On the afternoon I made sure to check the time, and noticed that it is listed as running from 4 pm to 7 pm. This suggested to me that it is some sort of rolling service. I decided to make it their for 4 pm, so I would have time to eat and still right the post later in the evening.
I was already downtown when it was time to start heading to the church, and I was able to grab a bus that got me quite close to the church. I arrived a few minutes before four. They weren’t seating people right away, but the ACW (Anglican Church Women were holding a craft sale at the back of the nave across from the church hall. So. I took a look and made a couple of notes while I waited.
Head of the Line
Once they let us in the door, I grabbed a seat at a table quite close to the door. When I bought my ticket, the purchased ticket was turned in for a numbered ticket, that I was told to hand in when I went to eat. This I did at a table just before the serving line. There is no table calling at this diner, so I ended up being third in line to get my food.
Being an early arrival at St Saviours I ended up eating my meal by myself. Although the dinner begins at 4, the place doesn’t really start to fill up until closer to five. Going through the line I receive my turkey, vegetables, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, coleslaw, and a bun. There is cranberry sauce, but as per usual I pass on this.
The hall is set up with two groups of tables designed to seat 18 each, with a couple of other tables along the wall. this allows for really good movement and traffic flow. Along with the tables, I notice that there are also a large number of girl guides along with their leaders who are helping out with things such as beverage service and making sure that places are cleared as meals are finished. They do an excellent job, better than some restaurants I’ve visited.
Dessert Time
When I had finished my turkey plate, one of the guides came along to remove and to ask me if I wanted a piece of pie. As she went down the list, I heard Mincemeat pie. I haven’t had one of those in along time and so that’s what I had. It is really enjoyable and a nice change of pace from the usual pie options.
As I grabbed my coat at the end of the dinner, I headed back to the ACW sale, and picked up a couple of bottles of BBQ sauce made by Danny Kleinsasser. I really like his sauces, and at $4.00 a bottle they were a real great deal. I hope to cook up something really tasty with them.
Before leaving I asked around for Rev. Edmund Laldin the priest at St Saviours. It’s been awhile since we had chatted, and I like to try and keep up with my colleagues. While we were talking I mentioned that the turkey was the best I had tried at a fall supper, and he said that it came from the above mentioned Danny. This takes a whole lot of work and waste out of the process of putting on a turkey supper.
One thing I noticed about the people attending was there were several people at the dinner who were dealing with various challenges, some of whom had a helper with them. Edmund explained that St Saviours has built a relationship with WASO, an organization dedicated to assisting adults with intellectual challenges to live life as fully as possible says. From their website homepage:
We’ve been helping adults living with intellectual disabilities since 1981. We do this through innovative programs that involve work, life, social, recreational and employment opportunities.
Some of those programs occur in the St Saviours building space. The same is true for the girl guides, who use space at St Saviours at other times during the week. As a result a broader community is being built, where mutual support is the order of the day. This was a great, relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable fall supper. You should make note of it on your calendars for next year.