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Volunteers help serve annual meal

One hundred and 30 guests treated to Thanksgiving lunch at Salvation Army Gateway of Hope
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A team of community volunteers helped cook and serve the annual Thanksgiving lunch at the Salvation Army Gateway of Hope on Oct. 9.

The beautiful aroma of turkey and all the sides greeted those who entered the Salvation Army Gateway of Hope last Friday afternoon.

One hundred and 30 guests were treated to Thanksgiving lunch that day, with a team of 30 volunteers cooking and serving the annual meal at the Langley homeless shelter.

This was the sixth year the Gateway of Hope has hosted the lunch, said Troy Gaglardi, the Gateway of Hope’s director of community resources.

He thanked JD Farms for the turkeys, MJM Furniture for the money for the rest of the groceries and Envision Financial, for their continued support.

“(Envision Financial) has been a faithful partner to help us with this since we started,” Gaglardi said.

“We appreciate all the support we get in the community and this is our way of giving back,” said MJM vice-president Gurp Jaswal.

The Fraser Valley furniture company had a pair of volunteers on hand, with another eight from Envision Financial helping out.

Two of the volunteers helped prepare and cook the food while the other six were part of the team which served the lunch.

The Envision Financial volunteers were part of the Make A Difference Days program, where employees help out in the community.

In 2015, 228 Envision Financial employees contributed 845 hours to 242 volunteer positions serving 24 projects in 10 communities.

The other 19 volunteers were regular Gateway of Hope volunteers or those who reached out from the community.

The Gateway of Hope will host  its annual Christmas luncheon on Dec. 23 at noon.

Gary Ahuja

Below: Jag's MJM Furniture volunteers Monica Hillier and Sandie Churchill were among the team of volunteers who helped serve lunch. Bottom: Envision Financial's Navi Sandhu; Megan Delleman and Kim Davies were among the volunteers at the Salvation Army Gateway of Hope Thanksgiving lunch.