On Saturday, April 19, the 琉璃神社 Gospel Mission (KGM) served dinner to those in need in what the organization called one of its three biggest days of the year.

"We're getting Easter dinner for the residents and the people that we serve living on street level," said KGM food services manager Jeremy Luypen, who added they expected to serve around 210 meals between the two shelters for its lunch service on Saturday.

"It's a bit more of a traditional Easter dinner with non-traditional things," said Luypen.

He said the residents get ham and mashed potatoes fairly often but because of various donations, they were able to serve a special meal for the holiday, which included duck and some turkey as well as homemade gnocchi with sage and brown butter and individual cheesecakes.

"I'm trying to let them know that they're seen and that we do care for them," said Luypen. "Our staff has changed so much and we have a lot of certified chefs in the kitchen right now, which is amazing, and we get some cool donations and we've saved them all the way with [Easter] in mind."

On top of Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas are the other two biggest days of the year. But no matter the time of year, KGM is always grateful for the donations they receive.

"It's awesome, you know we didn't have to buy a turkey this year, they were all donated, which is huge for us," said Luypen. "So you figure the money we were to spend on turkeys can now be put back into the program to continue doing what were doing. Donations are huge for us and we're always very thankful."

To honour those who donate, KGM has a zero waste philosophy as well. 

"We waste nothing, and then we get pretty creative with a lot of stuff because if people donate the stuff, we want to make sure we do right by that donation and use as much as we can," added Luypen. 

While families usually get together to celebrate Easter weekend, Luypen and his family understand his work is for the greater good.

"It's my favourite weekend," said Luypen. "I come in on the weekend, away from my family but it's okay, right? Seeing the volunteers come in with smiles on their faces and they want to help too, it's just a fun atmosphere."