Thanksgiving Dinner for the Community 2019

Saturday October 12, 2019:  Dinner takes place

Two seatings:   3 pm and 4:30 pm

Volunteers eat after our guests around 6 pm

Friday October 11, 2019:    Food preparation day

Donations for the cost of this dinner and our ongoing Friday night dinners to community can be made on our website:  www.vancouverdreamcentre.ca    

Thank you for your interest in volunteering for this year's Thanksgiving Dinner for the Community.

Our dinner is unique because we serve our guests like a restaurant. We seat them and make them feel very special. We also bless them with a gift bag of goodies as they leave.    

After all of our guests have been served, all the volunteers are invited to sit and enjoy a thanksgiving dinner together.   This usually occurs at 6:00 pm.   

Clean up occurs after all the volunteers eat.  

We do two seating’s for our guests:   3:00 pm and 4:30 pm.

Below is a list of volunteer positions with descriptions of tasks and time allocation. Please sign up where you think you can help and be of service to our community. You can volunteer for multiple positions.

All food preparation and serving will be done at St. Michael's Anglican Church, 409 E. Broadway.

Food preparation will be Friday, October 11, 2019 from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.  

Volunteers needed Saturday, October 12, 2019 when the dinner is held.  

Volunteer Positions Available for Friday October 11

Turkey deboning (unlimited):   10am to 3 pm  (anytime in that span)               Deboning 30 turkeys for cooking

Food cooking (4 people):         12 to 6 pm  (anytime in that span)                    Cooking turkeys, stock, gravy, potatoes etc

Food Preparation (unlimited):   12 to 7 pm (anytime in that span)                     Prep of stuffing, potatoes, vegis, etc

Volunteer Positions Available for Saturday October 12

Set up/Decorating Crew (unlimited):   10am to 2 pm                                       Setting up tables, chairs, stations, decorating, preparing gift baskets & table items. 

Food Preparation Cooks (4 required):   11 am to 5:30 pm                          Reheating turkey, making gravy, cooking vegis and potatos during the day

Servers (32 required):   2 to 5:30 pm                                                        You will be serving our guests during their meal, and reseting tables for 2nd seating.   Wear black and white.   Instructions and table assignments will be given on the day of the dinner.  

Buffet Line Servers (14 required):   2 to 5:30 pm                                        You will be plating your assigned a food item from warmer unit onto a plate via assembly line for approximately 150 plates per serving.  

Food Kitchen Runners/Platers (4 required):   2 to 5:30 pm               Monitor the food levels in the warming units and run food from kitchens to refill units.   Platers put the prepared plates on trays and pass them to food runners.  

Food Runners (10 required):  2 to 5:30 pm                                         Bring the trays full of prepared plates to the servers who serve our guests.   

Pie Preparation (4 required):  2 to 5:30 pm                                             Cut and plate the pies and put them on trays and run them to the food runners.   

Dinning Area Cleaning Crew (2 required):    2 to 5:30 pm                          Clean up spills, gather garbage bags and help clear tables after each seating is finished.   

Kitchen Cleaning ( 2 required):  12 to 5:30 pm                                   Washing pots, pans, chafing dishes before and during the dinner.   

After Dinner Cleaning Crew (4 required):  6:30 to 8 pm                   Washing pots, pans, chafing dishes and putting all items away in designated storage areas.   You are invited to have turkey dinner with all the volunteers prior at  6:00 pm.     

Salad Station (2 required):     2 to 5:30 pm                                                  Mixing prepared salad in large bowls and put into smaller containers for servers to pickup to distribute to our guests.   

Beverage Station (4 required):   1 to 5:00 pm                                               Make juice and coffee and put into containers for beverage servers to distribute to guests.    

Beverage Servers (6 required):  2 to 5:30 pm                                             Bringing prepared coffee and juice to servers at the tables throughout both seatings.    

Security Team (4 required):   2 to 5:30 pm                                         Duties are to line up our guests and check tickets for proper seating and to inform food runners of any take out dinners to prepare and hand out to those who are unable to climb the stairs.