Staff at Kelowna’s Gospel Mission are gearing up for their annual Easter celebration this Saturday, with plans to serve a warm, festive meal to more than 210 individuals experiencing homelessness.

The Easter lunch will be hosted at the organization’s Leon Avenue shelter, where the team is bringing both heart and culinary creativity to the table.

Food service manager Jeremy Luypen says the lunch will be served "family style," a tradition they are continuing from last year.

The menu will stay true to Easter favourites, while adding a gourmet twist.

“It will be a roasted turkey and a little bit non-traditional. Instead of mashed potatoes we are going to make a sage and brown butter gnocchi,” Luypen explained. “The stuffing this year… we were donated duck fat stuffing and just kind of do a fun little twist on classic Easter.”

Easter is one of the three major meals that the Gospel Mission organizes each year, alongside Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“A bunch of us are trained chefs from the community that now work here, so it’s fun to go back to our roots and do something a little different than what we do every day,” he said.

“And it’s really nice to see the reactions on the clients’ faces and to just be able to let them know that they are seen and that we can still do something special for them.”

The Easter lunch is not open to the public, but those interested in supporting through volunteer work can find more information by visiting the Kelowna Gospel Mission’s website.