The Saskatoon Friendship Inn is preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, its busiest time of the year. Volunteers are cooking 75 turkeys and hundreds of pounds of potatoes. “The kitchen is just humming,” Friendship Inn CEO Sandra Kary told CTV News. The kitchen is preparing to serve about 2,500 turkey dinners on Monday. Kary said demand is growing year-round, not just at Thanksgiving. The Friendship Inn serves about 1,500 meals a day — up 23 per cent from last year. Kary said rising costs are putting more people in a position where they have to choose which basic needs they can afford. “We see families and kids. We see pensioners trying to stretch their pension cheques. We see people struggling with homelessness — we are serving our community’s most vulnerable,” Kary said. The Friendship Inn is thanking its volunteers and donors who help put food on the table. “It’s $5 a plate to serve a meal, so any increment of $5 helps us,” she said.
