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

Around 900 students received Thanksgiving meals at Yorkton Regional High School (YRHS). (Sierra D'Souza Butts / CTV News)

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.”

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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."