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By Shaun Penner

Everybody Eats in GP

Local restaurants banding together to provide Thanksgiving feast to those in need

Oct 6, 2021 | 1:34 PM

Several local restaurants and businesses are teaming up to provide a Thanksgiving feast to Grande Prairie’s most vulnerable population this holiday weekend.

The meal is being provided through the Everybody Eats in GP initiative, which will see six local restaurants work together to provide the feast to approximately 175 of those less fortunate this Sunday.

Jim Rawsthorne, the owner/operator of Brown’s Social House in Grande Prairie, says he and other restauranteurs wanted to show that despite having to overcome challenges of their own through the pandemic, they still want to give back to the community.

“This industry has definitely taken on a bit of a whirlwind these past couple years, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are still people in the community that need help,” said Rawsthorne.

“Just because there are tough times does not mean that they are going to slow down and stop supporting.”

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This weekend, Rawsthorne says The Keg, Crown and Anchor, Jeffrey’s, Better Than Fred’s, Red Rock Urban BBQ, and Brown’s Social House are all pitching in to make the meal happen.

He adds, though, these restaurants are among the many others who have stepped up over the past three years to provide meals to the less fortunate in the community through the Everybody Eats program.

Co-founder of Everybody Eats, Kirsten Ballendine, says the program began about four years ago with a group of volunteers who had an aim of providing a meal to the city’s street-engaged population on Sundays.

However, in need of a commercial kitchen to continue to provide the meals each week, she says Rawsthorne and other restaurant owners quickly stepped up to help provide the meals.

“We’re so blessed. It’s amazing how these restaurants have jumped on and just come aboard and helped us out,” Ballendine said. “We appreciate them more than you could possibly imagine.”

“Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to continue this mission at all.”

Ballendine commends all of the restaurant owners who have continued to support the program, despite their own challenges since March of last year.

“Even through these toughest times where they have been closed down… they have still provided that dinner for Sunday nights for us.”

Rawsthorne says coming together to provide larger meals at times like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter go to show just how close-knit the restaurant community in Grande Prairie really is.

“People think that us as an industry look at each other as competitors, but in reality, we are actually each other’s support system,” Rawsthorne said. “Especially through this pandemic, it’s sort of brought us a little bit closer, often reaching out to one another for advice and support.”

Rawsthorne adds many other businesses in the community have stepped forward to help sponsor meals for the Everybody Eats program.