The delicious aroma of turkey and all the fixings wafted through the halls of Georgian College’s E Building in Barrie on Friday morning as culinary students worked to pack up holiday lunches for the local homeless community.
Students have spent the last two weeks cooking up a storm preparing all the food needed to make up a traditional Christmas dinner, which will be packaged and distributed to 300 individuals through The Busby Centre and The Elizabeth Fry Society Simcoe Muskoka.
In total, students cooked up 500 pounds of turkey, 32 litres of gravy, used 40 loaves of bread for homemade stuffing, a 50\-pound bag of onions and about 150 pounds of vegetables, said culinary co-ordinator Philip Leach.
“We also made the crumbles from six cases of frozen berries,” he said.
Students involved in this annual tradition to give back is a great way for them to put the skills they’ve learned over the last three semesters to good use, Leach added.
“The focus (is) on skills and community service learning, but there is also an awareness (piece) that these programs are out there. One out of 10 people have some food insecurity … and that could be any student, friends or family. They need some help,” he said.
Student Fabiane Camara said getting to use the skills she’s learned to help others has been an enjoyable opportunity.
“It’s good to apply the knowledge that we receive in the course because you can use the techniques … It’s a pleasure to do this,” she said.
Hrieik Patil added the chance to be a part of this tradition “means a lot” to him.
“We have to give back to the community, and that’s why I choose to do this career,” he said.
Skylar Reid-Shepherd was also proud to be part of the tradition.
“It means a lot to me to help everyone. My mom always says to help everyone in need and I think it’s very important. There’s a lot of homelessness in Barrie and I think it’s quite sad ... and I am hoping in the future I can help more people,” she said.
