A Come From Away Christmas
On December 25, 2019, Salvation Army employee Brian Snow organized efforts to feed 75 WestJet passengers who were stranded in Deer Lake, N.L.
At 3:30 p.m. on Christmas Day, Snow was made aware of the situation. A plane full of travellers left for St. John’s late Christmas Eve when bad weather got in the way. They were diverted to Deer Lake and sent to the Holiday Inn Express where they got breakfast around 5 a.m. The Salvation Army wanted to assist in any way they could so Brian reached out to the community on Facebook.
“The Salvation Army and the people of Deer Lake left their own Christmas dinners with their families to give us one.”
Merry Christmas Everyone. We pray that you are having a wonderful Christmas but wondering if you might be able to spread some Christmas spirit. There are 75 to 80 passengers who have been stranded at the Holiday Inn with little to eat. Since nothing is open and there is no restaurant at the Holiday Inn, we need sandwiches, leftover turkey and food items to help these passengers. They do have a flight at 9 tonight. Can you please help???? If you can, could you please bring these food items to the Holiday Inn. Let’s show the true Christmas spirit.
Snow says every restaurant in the town was closed for Christmas. There was nowhere to get food, let alone Christmas dinner. The Salvation Army and residents of Deer Lake left their own families, brought more than enough food and set it up in the hotel.
“After our full flight was diverted early Christmas morning, we found ourselves stranded at the Holiday Inn Deer Lake with no food, and no way back to the airport,” says Karen, one of the passengers. “The Salvation Army and the people of Deer Lake left their own Christmas dinners with their families to give us one. I stood there and bawled.”
“Hats off to the wonderful people of Deer Lake.”
“I felt compelled to help out. It turned out to be my best Christmas Day ever,” says Snow. “That’s the only way I can put it. Within 45 minutes of my call for help, the hotel dining room was full of food. People brought in turkey dinners, rabbit stew, salads, sandwiches, cakes, cookies and pastries.”
“When The Salvation Army realized there weren’t enough taxis to get us back to the airport for our flight, they organized a motorcade of 30 vehicles to get everyone there,” says one passenger. “Hats off to the wonderful people of Deer Lake.”
