Christmas will arrive a little early for many local youth.
The Orillia Youth Centre is busy this week preparing its 17th annual holiday dinner that will be served up to 200 youth Friday.
“We find our community dinners at the centre are one of the most enjoyable aspects of our year because it's getting everyone together to have dinner,” said Orillia Youth Centre director Kevin Gangloff. “In this day and age, a lot of people don't sit around a dinner table and eat, and if you don't have the opportunity to do that … we just view that as important to have that time.”
Along with dinner, youth will be able to pick up a stocking filled with holiday goodies, as well as toys, games, and clothing from holiday giving tables and giving racks.
As in the past two years, however, the holiday dinner will be served on a takeout basis due to lingering concerns about COVID-19 and other illnesses.
“Everyone's been getting so sick, we regretfully sort of said we'll do one more takeout meal,” Gangloff said. “For some of the young people that we serve … this will be their holiday meal, so we always want to make sure that that's still being provided.”
Kaila Willison-Cole is an Orillia resident who has benefited from programming like the holiday meal. She attended the youth centre from 2012 to 2018 while she was growing up.
“I was able to bring my family with me to dinner while I was growing up... it was like a giant family dinner," she explained.
Whether its Thanksgiving dinner, or providing Christmas stockings, Willison-Cole said the youth centre plays an important role in making sure everyone gets to experience the holidays.
“There's always the same amount of stuff given to every kid, and every kid got to open a Christmas present as well,” she said. “(If) they weren't necessarily able to do that at home, they still had that feeling of being able to open a Christmas gift.”
Although she has aged out of the youth centre’s programming, Willison-Cole said she still has close ties with staff, adding they play a key role for many youth in Orillia.
As an only child, she said the youth centre was integral in helping her through challenging periods of her youth.
“I'm very grateful for that, because if I didn't have that I would have had no one,” she said.
This year, Eclectic Cafe will help the youth centre cook 200 meals to go, with the Orillia Lions Club, Dapper Depot, and Re/Max also joining in to support with the dinner and the giving racks and tables.
“(They) all support the event, whether it be packing, whether it be providing extra clothing and stuff like that, to come out on the day of to help us get ready,” Gangloff said. “The cafe is doing our cooking for us, which is amazing.”
