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At this time of year, gatherings are a bit warmer, meals are prepared with a bit more care, and cheer is a bit easier to access as a result. On December 23rd, the community is invited to get a little bit more from the season with Central Station’s holiday meal.
“It's our annual Christmas meal, which means we are going to have a very special menu and we're going to have some festive holiday decorations,” says Krista Rempel, the social impact director at Central Station in Winkler. “It's going to be phenomenal. You have to come out for it.”
A festive selection
The meal on Monday will feature some of the timeless flavours of the Christmas season.
Rempel says that “ham, meatballs, scalloped potatoes, stuffing, peas and carrots, and Christmas tarts” will be on the menu.
The holiday dinner at Central Station has become a tradition in Winkler. Rempel says the first one took place about 13 years ago. Since about 2021, the dinner, like this year’s, has taken place at Central Station’s facility.
Who is invited?
There is a very specific requirement for who is welcome at the community meal.
“If you eat, then you should come,” says Rempel. “The best part is that it's completely free. You can invite a neighbour, you can invite a friend — anybody that you want. You don't have to sign up.”
Rempel says that the dinner is an opportunity for new connections — a chance to invite someone you’d like to know better or pull up a chair to a group of friendly faces.
“Get to know your community and enjoy a delicious meal in the process,” she says. “My favourite part is that there are people from every single area of life, people from every culture, people from every neighbourhood, every economic divide. It's a fun time for everybody, and it's just a really interesting experience to see so many different people come together.”
Of course, Rempel adds, what is common throughout the diverse crowd is that food is a means of connection and unity.
“We all celebrate over food, so this is a perfect time to find what unites us rather than what divides us,” she says.
Fuelled by generosity
According to Rempel, the holiday dinner is made possible by the help Central Station receives.
“The community is vital. We could not do this meal without the support of the community in different ways,” she says. “We have over 100 volunteers that are contributing.”
Rempel says volunteers have helped with tasks like making decor (including “intricate” paper stars), donating their time to the Christmas baking, cleaning the facility to prepare for the dinner, and contributing both financial and food donations for the meal.
“The community always bands together, and they make this happen,” she says.
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Year after year, the volunteers’ hard work creates an overwhelmingly warm atmosphere that is nourishing in many ways.
“It's a really unique opportunity where everybody's feeling super festive and they're feeling super open, and they want to make connections and talk,” says Rempel. “It’s unlike any other regular Café 545 meal that we do because people are ready to mingle and to just share in that Christmas joy.”
The dinner takes place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, December 23rd.
Rempel says that it’s not too late for those who would like to contribute to get involved. Donations can be made through Central Station’s website or dropped off at the organization’s building in Winkler.
With files from Ty Hildebrand