Skip to main content

'A feast for everyone': Yorkton high school students take pride in Thanksgiving tradition

Share
Yorkton, Sask. -

Going strong for eight years now, staff and retired teachers from Yorkton Regional High School (YRHS) provide lunch to students leading up to Thanksgiving weekend. This year, over 900 students received a meal.

"It’s our annual Thanksgiving lunch. We feed our entire student body and staff, teachers and care takers, and everyone that is in our building,” explained Roby Sharpe, teacher and student activity advisor at YRHS.

“We're not talking about a small Thanksgiving lunch here. There's turkey, potatoes, perogies. These kids they eat, we call it a feast and it's nothing short of a feast for everyone. It's pretty exciting, we're pretty proud of it."

In preparation for the event, around 20 businesses and groups in the community donated funds to help cover the cost for food and supplies.

“It’s one of those things where you can imagine the magnitude of this project where it wouldn’t be possible without our town,” Sharpe expressed.

“The City of Yorkton is so wicked and the businesses we have here sponsored this entire thing. It takes money, it takes manpower. We also have a bunch of retired teachers that come back and help too, which is really cool, as well as our students.”

Owen Needham, a student from the school, said he looks forward to contributing towards the event with his classmates and teachers.

“It’s nice because you build a bond over the years with your teachers, friends, and family,” he said.

“I think it’s important to share because (we) all come together to have a community supper."

Sharpe explained how the annual initiative first started.

“It was (an idea) from a guidance counsellor at our school here, Jennifer Ingham,” he said.

“She came to me and said, ‘You know, it's kind of sad we send our students home and say, ‘Happy Thanksgiving, don't eat too much turkey,’ but we know very well that maybe they aren't having a big family Thanksgiving and maybe they don't have the best situation at home.

“We thought, you know, we're going to make sure everyone in our school has a Thanksgiving dinner and has a turkey to eat." 

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Trump chooses anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Centre Block renovation facing timeline and budget 'pressures'

The multi-billion-dollar renovation of parliament’s Centre Block building continues to be on time and on budget, but construction crews are facing 'pressures' when it comes to the deadline and total costs, according to the department in charge of the project.

Measles cases in New Brunswick continue to climb

The number of measles cases in New Brunswick continue to climb. Officials with New Brunswick’s Department of Health said as of Thursday, the number of confirmed cases since October has reached 43.

Stay Connected