NAIT culinary students prepare 750 meals for the annual Boyle Street Thanksgiving Dinner

The students of NAIT's culinary program crafted a Thanksgiving meal in bulk to feed those less fortunate. CTV Edmonton's Connor Hogg has that story.

Culinary students at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) were bustling around the kitchen Sunday morning, preparing food for 750 Thanksgiving dinners for Boyle Street.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Paul Campbell said NAIT has been doing this every Thanksgiving for more than two decades.

“It’s something that we look forward to every year,” he said. “As cooks, we enjoy feeding other people.”

Campbell said students, who volunteer to cook, were in the kitchen at 6 a.m. preparing 60 turkeys, 100 lbs of potatoes, 100 loaves of bread and 100 litres of gravy into a hearty Thanksgiving meal.

But even before Sunday, students had been working all week, cutting veggies and doing other prep work.

“It means a lot because I can help give back to my community by offering my time to those who are less fortunate, especially at this time,” said NAIT student and volunteer Gideon Triska. “It means a lot to see people I’ve grown close to also share the same goals with me and enjoy helping give back to the community.”

Xenia Turakira, a NAIT student and volunteer from Uganda, said it’s important to be part of the community.

“It really warms my heart,” she said. “Seeing people go hungry or not have food from where I’m from is a big issue and I see it a lot. So it’s really nice that we’re giving back to the community and feeding people who can’t afford to be fed.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg