The Porcupine Dante Club’s members and volunteers are getting together to hold a Christmas food drive to help the club “weather the storm,” says the group’s general manager.
By selling classic food from the Dante Club, the group is hoping to raise $50,000. So far, about $10,000 has been raised and the orders are coming in on a daily basis, said Dominic Flaminio.
“There are a lot of expenses in this place,” he said. “The heat, the hydro, the property taxes, the loans that the Dante Club has. It’s a big place and this is an old building, got established in 1952, so an old building comes with repairs.”
Because provincial regulations prohibit indoor gatherings with more than 50 people, all the big events at the banquet hall got cancelled, Flaminio said.
The club is still offering hall rentals for smaller events with all safety precautions put in place. Since July, the group has also been doing monthly sausage drives.
“At the end of the day, we’re a banquet hall. We’re not a restaurant. Our restaurant was open two days a week, Thursdays and Fridays,” Flaminio said. “Because of COVID, now we opened it Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We’re open four days a week, from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.”
For the food drive, the club is selling lasagna for $40, half lasagna for $30, a package of six meatballs for $10, a litre of tomato sauce for $10, a pound of gnocchi for $7 and a dozen pizzelles, Italian snowflake cookies, for $5.
Orders will be available for pick up in the lounge this weekend, Nov. 21-22, and Dec. 12-13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Pizzelles are only available for pick up Dec. 12-13.
The deadline to order is Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. All orders have to be pre-paid. The club accepts cash, cheques, credit card and e-transfers.
The Dante Club also launched a new interactive website last week, where people can place orders and make reservations online. The club is also in the process of signing up with DoorDash and will start offering delivery by next week, Flaminio said.
“I just want to thank the city of Timmins, the people, the residents that are shopping locally and I encourage everyone, when Christmas time is coming, to shop locally and we can make the city of Timmins thrive through this pandemic if we get together,” he said.
Christmas food drive orders can be made by calling 705-264-3185, emailing [email protected] or faxing 705-267-3737.
