CTV News Edmonton has reported:

Culinary students at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology are preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for about 700 Boyle Street patrons, with the meal set to be served Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Alberta Aviation Museum. The dinner is for vulnerable people in the community, and students are cooking turkeys and traditional side dishes.

Friday’s preparations marked the students’ first major test of working together in the kitchen. Culinary student Riley Macinnis said, “It’s nice to give back without, you know, a spotlight in a way.”

Fellow student Chayce Taylor said the large project offers practice working with others and learning from them. “It’s really fun to work with them, because I can absorb some of the skills that they have from previous experiences,” he said.

NAIT instructor Erin Howe said the dinner has been months in the planning. On Sunday morning, students and staff will return to heat the food and prepare it for Boyle Street to pick up. Howe said the project provides culinary experience and teaches students how to make someone’s day. “They don’t know where to start sometimes … We’re creating that opportunity for them.”

Taylor described the satisfaction of contributing to the dinner, saying, “You get this feeling of accomplishment and you just know that you’re doing a good thing for the community.” The preparations involve cooking, stirring, sautéing and basting turkeys, along with making classic sides.

The annual Boyle Street Thanksgiving dinner will bring the prepared meals to patrons at the museum. The coverage included files from CTV News Edmonton’s Curtis Goodrum.