OCNews

Okanagan College Culinary students and instructors helped to spread Thanksgiving gratitude to students on Friday with a holiday inspired meal.

Students pulled out all the stops to prepare a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings for students in need as part of the innovative OC Serves Up program. The program was launched in the middle of the pandemic last year to combat food insecurity and has just relaunched this past week for the new academic year.

“OC Culinary Arts students serve 50 meals a day to students in need as part of the OC Serves Up program,” says Culinary and Pastry Arts Manager Cari Jahns. “This is a heartwarming example of students helping students.”

The meal consists of turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, stuffing and of course, cranberries on top. And while not every meal is a holiday delight, every meal is a large and hearty lunch with nutrition and taste at the forefront.

“Students who sign up to receive meals from the OC Serves Up program are expecting to walk in and see a week-old sandwich and when they realize what their meal is, they’re blown away by the quality,” says Zuzana Lehocky, Head Server at OC’s Infusions Restaurant. “The response has been so wonderful and students are super excited and grateful to receive these meals.”

OC Serves Up is proudly sponsored by Valley First, a division of First West Credit Union, the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation and also by the College’s partners OSCU, Sysco and GFS. Learn more at www.okanagan.bc.ca/oc-foundation/oc-serves-up.

More information about the College’s Culinary and Pastry Arts programs can be found at www.okanagan.bc.ca/culinary.