Chestermerian Cristal Kawula was inspired to support families this holiday season after reading multiple stories on social media of people not sure how they were going to feed their families on Christmas.
“One person had posted that their kids’ Christmas meal would consist of PB&J, and that was is they could stretch it,”Kawula said.
Kawula’s children recently completed their culinary class food safe and had expressed an interest in helping with their family’s Christmas dinner this year.
“They got to do one better. I mentioned to my husband, Dave, and Zhen Ventura, our wonderful nanny who cooked with us all week instead of enjoying much deserved time off, simply because she wanted to help, that I’d like to post that we could cook a few early Christmas dinners for people who might not otherwise have one,” Kawula said.
“They were both onboard and thought it would be great,” she said.
Kawula posted the meal initiative on Facebook for Chestermere, Strathmore, and Langdon residents, with the intention of cooking five meals one weekend, and possibly 10 more the following weekend.
“It went a fair bit beyond that,” Kawula said.
Adding, “It went great. We managed to not only do the 15 we had hoped but actually cooked 27 turkeys, fed 24 families, more than 30 seniors, as well as handed out three other meals in the form of groceries for families with severe allergies to cooking on their own.”
For Kawula and her family, helping others in the community was extremely important as they have always had an open-door policy, and invited people who did not have plans to join them for the holidays.
“This year, that was not possible. So, we came up with another way to share a holiday meal,” Kawula said.
Kawula expected sourcing so many turkeys to be a challenge. However, after posting on social media, Laurel from Winters Turkeys reached out to offer the first six turkeys for free.
“When it turned out that there were a lot more requests than I expected, they were so wonderful. I asked if I could purchase the rest of the turkeys I needed, and they gave me an amazing price. I am very grateful for that, as it allowed us to feed so many with some pretty amazing turkeys,” Kawula said.
During the first weekend of cooking the turkeys, timing became a challenge.
“We got it down pretty well the first weekend, so we were pretty dialed in by the time I had gone and committed us to more than 20 additional dinners after the first weekend,” Kawula said.
The family also ran into challenges regarding packaging and delivering the meals.
“Luckily, we found everything we needed at a nearby wholesale store. Delivery would have been a huge challenge, but Patricia and Alicea from Synergy were kind enough to pick up and deliver a lot of the meals, which left us with far fewer deliveries to do,” Kawula said.
An unexpected challenge Kawula ran into was some families were too shy to initially accept the offer to have a meal cooked and delivered to them.
“It took some convincing that it would be OK, and we would keep it between us,” Kawula said.
Adding, “Honestly, the greatest challenge was hearing all the stories. So many people who have fallen on hard times. Some due to job loss, some facing terminal illnesses, some fleeing abusive situations, some displaced by fire, and so much more.”
The Chestermere Community outreach had families that they wanted to refer to the Kawula’s, however due to regulations, they were unable to accept the meals.
“Chestermere Safeway kindly stepped up to offer full meals to those families,” Kawula said.
Despite the challenges, getting to cook and spend time with family was a highlight for Kawula.
“Cooking with my family, people offering help, Christine’s Country Bakery graciously dropping off beautiful platters of baked goods to add to our meals, hearing how this spurred on others to do the same, and the joy and gratitude on the faces when we dropped off the meals,” Kawula said.
Following the meal initiative, Kawula and her family received thank-you cards, text messages, and phone calls to thank them.
“We didn’t do it for the thanks, but I have to admit, they were wonderful. Especially seeing my kid’s faces when we would read them out,” Kawula said.
Adding, “We just have so much gratitude. We are so grateful for our amazing kids and to have Zhen in our family. For the people who offered to help us. For Laurel and Christine’s wonderful donations, for Brad Taquair who donated cookies for our first round, for my daughter Trinity, who spent her 16 birthday baking pies and crumbles for these meals. For the fact that we are even able to offer this help.”
