Five-year-old Sammy Bateman distributes candy canes under the watchful eye of this mother Meghan at the Veiner Centre for the annual Kiwanis Christmas Dinner.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
For 41 years, the three Kiwanis clubs in the city have organized and served a Christmas Dinner for Hatters who are over the Holidays, and 2022 was no exception. About 250 guests were expected with close to 70 volunteers helping and being fed. Everyone was glad to be back at the Veiner Centre this year for the meal.
Lethbridge Lodge prepares the turkeys, stuffing and gravy, cutting up the turkey to be brought to the Veiner Centre. South Country Co-op donated the ham along with other food items and the Redcliff Bakery provided the pies. “It’s a partnership in the community that looks after people who are maybe alone on Christmas Day,” said Ken Sauer, one of the Kiwanis “Founders of the Feast.”
The volunteers are a committed group. The pianist has played the hour before the meal for all 41 years it has been served. After the meal there is a singalong with everybody taking part. Chef Clayton Sepke and his grandson were running the kitchen again.
Sauer’s granddaughter started driving those without transportation to and from the luncheon when she was 16 years old. This past Sunday would mark the 22nd year she has performed that task.
Dr. Bill Taylor and his sons help Barry Finkelman with the dishes. The Taylor boys started volunteering when they were teenagers and now one is in business, the other a doctor and another a lawyer, and two out of the three showed up again this year to help.
“As a member of the Kiwanis Club of Medicine Hat, I had been helping out at the dinner for about three years (in 1992) when my daughter Meghan asked if she could help,” said Finkelman. “At the time, there were no children participating in the event, but she insisted with all of her six-year-old logic. She also thought that she should bring candy canes for the people who were attending.”
No longer living in Medicine Hat, Meghan continues to volunteer her time when in the Medicine Hat for Christmas. This year, her five-year-old son, Samuel Bateman, took over the candy cane distribution duties.
This is one of the three signature projects the Kiwanis clubs get involved in the community.
“We just do it because we want to do it and be part of the community. We raise funds and we spend it back in the community,” said Sauer.
