Gathering Place numbers down in December

Volunteers serve a traditional Christmas dinner for 'Neighbours-in-Need'

The Gathering Place, North Bay’s Community Soup Kitchen released their statistics for the month of December.

Officials say the highlight of the month took place on Monday, December 25 when the Gathering Place, in co-operation with St. Brice’s Anglican Church, hosted a traditional Christmas dinner and served 130 meals to 'Neighbours-in-Need' at the Pro Cathedral. The meal consisted of roast turkey and ham, along with all the festive trimmings.

Each guest also received a gift bag filled with useful items as they left the dinner.

North Bay’s Community Soup Kitchen served a total of 1,522 meals to 'Neighbours-in-Need' throughout the month of December.

On average, volunteers served 72 meals per day throughout December, a decrease from November's average of 80 meals per day. This brings the total number of meals served since the opening of the facility in September of 2003 to 68,075.

The demographic breakdown for the number of meals served at The Gathering Place during October:

- 964 were served to adults (aged 25-60)

- 345 were served to seniors

- 175 were served to young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 years of age

- 10 pre-schoolers

- 28 youngsters under the age of 16

The Gathering Place accepts debit, Visa and Master Card donations. It is located at 392 Algonquin Avenue and serves a hot, nutritious lunch, Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

EDITOR'S NOTE: this story was scheduled to run Tuesday January 2nd, unfortunately in the commotion of my untimely accident the story was lost. Thanks to the help from some computer savvy friends, I was able to retrieve the story.