A team of culinary volunteers are stirring up their support for the community by preparing a holiday feast for the Boys and Girls Club Niagara.
On December 14-15, a team of volunteers – including students from Culinary Management and Culinary Skills programs led by Chef Kyle Landry – could be found cooking up a storm in the Benchmark kitchen. The result: a ‘child-friendly’ holiday dinner with all the fixings for 120 guests, including roast turkey with gravy, cooked ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn and more.
The festive meal would be served at the Boys and Girls Club Niagara (BGCN) holiday dinner event on December 16. NC Culinary Services also supplied juice boxes and cupcakes for the event, which were donated by College suppliers.
NC has been catering the BGCN holiday dinner since 2016.
Foodservices Operations Manager Sarah Scott has been involved with the College’s support for the BGCN holiday dinner from the beginning. She has also volunteered in previous years when a team of NC volunteers served the dinner at the BGCN’s holiday event (this year, the meal is being served by BGCN’s Board of Directors).
“It’s such an amazing experience to be a part of. Once you go once and see the children’s smiles, it’s very rewarding,” she said. “For some kids, this may be their only Christmas dinner.”
Dean of NC’s Culinary, Tourism and Beverage Studies division Craig Youdale said that supporting the BGCN initiative fits in with the division’s focus on supporting the community, as demonstrated through initiatives such as its Feed the Community program – where culinary volunteers prepare meals for local shelters and food banks which are donated weekly.
For students, it’s not only a chance to sharpen their culinary skills. The intention, said Youdale, is to instill a sense of community giving within the students, which may inspire them to continue through the course of their careers.
“Over the past few years, people are much more aware that there’s a lot of people out there that that don’t have three meals a day or can’t have a nutritious meal on a regular basis,” he said. “If we can help, it’s a win-win.”
Youdale noted that he hopes to get students and staff more directly involved in community.
“We want to make sure we purposely ramp up our support for those in need and I love having our students experience this,” he said. “Our students are learning a skill that’s not just about a career and a job and a paycheque but they’re actually learning a skill that can actually help others and help their community.”
Participating culinary students valued the opportunity to give back.
“I want to contribute to helping people,” said first-term Culinary management student Alejandra Ignorosagh
“Whenever there is an event for the community, we like to come to help,” said culinary student Gaurav Chaudhary. “And it’s good for us too. We are learning many new things every day.”
Shaunna Morris, Community Engagement Manager, BGCN, noted that more than 90 children are expected to attend the holiday party at their Niagara Falls site to celebrate the holiday season.
“This is the first year since 2019 that we’ve been able to host an in-person party for this group and we’re so excited to be able to be together again,” she said. “The goal for the event is to really give the kids a sense of community.
“The children are primarily from the BGC’s Kids Zone and Teen Zone program, which is a free program that provides a safe and welcoming place for children from the ages of six-12 and then teens (13-18) to come in the evenings,” said Morris. “They receive a hot meal, homework support, and the opportunity to hang out with their peers in our facility, along with some programming that supports leadership and life skills development. ”
Children from their before and after-school childcare also attend, she said.
Each attendee will receive a meal donated by Niagara College and a gift. Gifts were donated through BGCN’s Toy Drive.
