Ross finds the enthusiasm intoxicating, absorbing the enthusiasm of the 30-40 volunteers and the earnest appreciation of those who come to dine. He knows 90% of those who come now – some as early as 4:30 p.m. They know they can find coffee, tea or juice and a welcoming chair. Newcomers may be drawn to the event by the “ad” on the electronic sign or by strategically distributed flyers announcing the event.
The team never knows whether the numbers will top 100 or be closer to 60. In 2014, near Christmas, when the number went to 110 for the first time, the pots were emptied of food. Helpers went rustling through cupboards looking for canned and packaged foods – anything. Everyone ate that night, but not everyone ate the same meal.
Each month, preparation starts with the menu, which varies remarkably. Groceries are purchased, totaling $250, with meat costing half the total. Desserts are made Wednesday evening. Then on Saturday, Ross starts early and volunteers come in shifts. Eight come at 10 a.m. for the paring and cutting of vegetables, potatoes and ingredients for green salad.
They depart and Ross and Chris Sali, a consistent volunteer, are there from noon to 2 p.m. with their tasks. Table setters, who also cut cake, arrive next (2:00-4:00 p.m.), then 8-10 meal servers (4-6 p.m.), followed by 6-7 on the cleanup crew. The goal is to head home by 7 p.m. At that point, Ross, and likely a few others, can’t wait to do it all over again. He says 100 guests is a good size and manageable. If the turnout was low Ross drives by the Youth Emergency Shelter on his way home so he’ll drop off food there – one night it was two roasts and salad. He says the Shelter’s cook doesn’t seem to have a menu, it depends on gifts.
Ross came to his current role as a member of the FPC Board of Managers, but he may have acquired a taste for it at the famous Josephburg chicken dinners (1700 dinner guests was a Guinness record). Josephburg is a hamlet close to Fort Saskatchewan. Ross cooked the chicken and he can tell you a tip about fried chicken that is worth knowing. He says the dinners, held annually for over 100 years (until 2013), started as a church’s chicken dinner and he knows the church that wrote the cookbook very well. His wife, “Cath” Lepard, or more formally the Rev. Catherine Lepard, was ordained at and served as the minister of the Josephburg United Church of Christ in Canada, a denomination with long-established working relationships in North America and globally with the United Church of Canada. Catherine earned her MA in theology, following her training as a nurse.
The Lepards, married for 52 years, have a grown family, three born to them and three adopted, that is growing larger. For years they lived in Fort Saskatchewan, where Ross, a SAIT grad, worked for Sherritt Gordon. Now they live in Edmonton in the home where Ross grew up.
