Christmas Lunch has been a fixture of St. Aidan’s for over 25 years. Quigley’s pub, then on the corner of Beech and Queen, had hosted a lunch for its patrons for years. By the early 1990s it had become so popular that Quigley’s needed more space and support and asked St. Aidan’s if it could use Memorial Hall …and could people from St. Aidan’s help set up and serve the guests. The answer was an emphatic yes.
Over the years, people from St. Aidan’s became increasingly involved in the planning, preparation, funding, hosting and clean-up. When Quigley’s went out of business in. the early 2000s, St. Aidan’s took over, with the support of some of the former Quigley’s staff. When St. Aidan’s sold Memorial Hall, the lunch moved to Beach United for 2019. When Covid hit, St. Aidan’s cooked and packaged individual servings of over 100 meals at St. Nicholas, on Kingston Road and sent them in thermal bags to All Saints via a fleet of volunteers who delivered 18 meals, every 10 minutes for more than an hour. In 2021 All Saints moved its Christmas lunch to a date that could not accommodated so, instead, St. Aidan’s agreed to provide lunch for the residents of Restorative Justice Housing Ontario (see above) who have nowhere to go on Christmas Day. It is a smaller group, about 12-15 people, but nonetheless a meaningful sharing of talent and joy.
Volunteers help with food preparation, cooking, baking, delivery and hosting on Christmas Day. For more information contact Michael Van Dusen at mjpvandusen@gmail.com