A total of 130 Christmas dinner hampers were handed out by The Tile Guy Dec. 21 (photo courtesy of Melissa Locke / The Tile Guy)

By Liam Verster

Christmas Dinner Hampers

Vernon business dishing out the Christmas spirit with free dinners

Dec 21, 2023 | 11:20 AM

A local business has embraced the meaning of Christmas to give back to people in need.

The Tile Guy handed out 130 Christmas dinner hampers to individuals and families on a first-come, first-serve-basis between 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 21 at its site on 29th Street.

“We really believe the spirit of Christmas is in giving and that’s what this is about, we just want to feed families. Every family should have a Christmas dinner and we want to do our best to try to make that happen,” Melissa Locke, who owns The Tile Guy with her husband Eric, told Vernon Matters.

“It’s been a tough year for a lot of people and we just want to help bring families together for Christmas.”

The only notice of the free dinners was on a Facebook post by the business, and it was also mentioned numerous times on 107.5 Beach Radio Thursday morning.

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The hampers were handed out both to individuals in need, and to groups on behalf of people in need.

“The people that we’ve served a lot today have been the Mamas for Mamas group and that’s super special because it’s all families and it’s moms or single parents that are trying to make ends meet or trying to bring their families together for Christmas,” Locke said.

The business had two different hampers: a turkey dinner with fresh potatoes and vegetables, gravy and cranberry sauce; and a ham dinner with corn, and fresh vegetables and potatoes.

Locke added they also included boxes of treats from Liam’s Tasty Creations, a decision she made after discovering the young entrepreneur at a market and enjoying his baked goods.

The hampers were made thanks in part to donations from the company’s suppliers, as well as from Locke’s son’s hockey team who packed all the bags.

“We really were teaching the kids about giving back,” Locke told Vernon Matters.

“A lot of people in the community give to our hockey team and our sports teams, and all the kids that wanted to participate we had come pack them this year. So the U13 Vernon Mustangs came and packed 120 of the bags for us.”

The U13 Vernon Mustangs helping package up the Christmas Hampers (photo courtesy of Melissa Locke)

This was the 5th annual Christmas Hamper giveaway The Tile Guy has organized. The first year they started with 40 dinners, but saw there was a need and every year since they have increased the number of hampers to hand out to people and families in need.

While 120 dinners were initially given away over two hours, Locke said they went out and bought a few more turkeys, for a total of 130 dinners.