CALGARY -- The owners of Flipp’n Burgers in Kensington say they plan to feed anyone struggling to put food on the table this Christmas Eve.
“This is something that we start doing last year and we said that we’re going to do it every year on Christmas Eve,” said Ilia Qiro, owner Flipp’n Burgers on 10th Street N.W.
Qiro and his brother, Kris, are preparing to spend the day serving hundreds of free burgers to the city’s less fortunate.
“We are giving back to the community especially people in need at this time of year,” said Qiro.
Qiro said burgers will also be delivered to the Calgary Drop-In Centre, and the Mustard Seed will also pick up burgers for its clients.
The Mustard Seed says the generosity of Calgarians is helping them support the city’s most vulnerable, especially during the festive season.
The organization typically serves a holiday dinner and that tradition is continuing on Christmas Day, despite the pandemic.
“We are still seeing a couple hundred people coming through out shelter and in order to accommodate the social distancing, we’ve had to basically just create a staggered dinner time,” said Andrew Gusztak, volunteer and street level manager at the Mustard Seed.
Gusztak says the shelter is currently seeing 200 to 250 clients spend the night, which includes a secondary shelter opened to accommodate public health measures.
He said donations of items such as clothing and hygiene products has been consistent during the pandemic but there has been fluctuations in monetary donations.
The Mustard Seed’s 12 Days of Giving campaign wraps up Dec. 23, but there are always much-needed items on its wish list. Backpacks full of toiletries and other necessities as well as small gifts will also be handed out to clients.
“Historically our population is quite transient and they might be prone to just moving from shelter to shelter, but this year we kind of retained a similar population base due to the rules around cohorts and it feels like a family now,” said Gusztak.
“So we're hoping to have a bit of that energy and create the creative space where our clients can feel dignity and feel appreciated.”
Another long-standing tradition will continue on Christmas Eve thanks to the support of volunteers and donations.
The Magic of Christmas will celebrate its 37th year of deliveries this year.
“This year COVID has made everything much different,” said president Scott Perley.
The charity says it has seen a 45 per cent increase in referral submissions. It has been adjusting operations to follow COVID-19 protocols to make sure Christmas isn’t cancelled for more than 800 families.
Elves will board Calgary Transit reindeer sleighs to drop food and gifts off to families in need at their doorstep this year to limit contact between during the deliveries.
“We’re grateful for such generosity from Calgarians to help those other Calgarians that may not have been able to have a great Christmas this year,” said Perley.
