The Sault's Save our Young Adults helps the less fortunate celebrate Thanksgiving

2022: Thanksgiving lunch feeds homeless in Sault CTV's Cory Nordstrom reports on SOYA's annual Thanksgiving lunch on Saturday; feeding 169 people who may have otherwise missed the holiday.

For the fourth year, a free turkey feast was given out to people in the Sault that are homeless, or otherwise wouldn't have been able to receive a Thanksgiving meal.

The lunch, on Saturday, was hosted by Save our Young Adults, better known as SOYA. The group fed 169 people.

Those who attended the annual lunch were grateful for the food and the atmosphere it brought.

“Today there’s people smiling, people happy. There’s no arguments; there’s none. Everybody’s all friendly and it’s Thanksgiving,” said one attendee.

The founder of SOYA told CTV News, one goal of the event is to make sure that these individuals aren't alone.

“That’s our main thing is to have those conversations, 'Like how are you doing?' Because a lot of people get sad on the holidays, we just want everybody to know you matter; you’re part of the SOYA family.”

Organizers explained that sometimes just a great conversation can brighten the weekend for some.

“SOYA is so important because it makes people feel apart of a family. It’s not just biologically, you are related to each other; we are all part of a family,” volunteer Mary Moore added.

Raynor-Elliott advised SOYA was not only providing a hot meal, but visitors could also pick up food and other items to hold them over for a couple of days, with many stores being closed Sunday and Monday.

“Holidays there’s no services at all … they need it; everyone deserves to eat, and the food insecurity is ridiculous.”

Officials with SOYA said shelves are thinning out by the day and they hope that community donations rise as their need does over the next few months.