Students from Cité des Jeunes serve tables during May Days wrap up breakfast The Gathering Place capped off the annual ‘May Days’ fundraiser with a wrap-up breakfast this morning were they not only realised this years goal, but surpassed it by raisin
Students from Cité des Jeunes serve tables during May Days wrap up breakfast
The Gathering Place capped off the annual ‘May Days’ fundraiser with a wrap-up breakfast this morning were they not only realised this years goal, but surpassed it by raising $44,000.
Committee members worked hard to raise the funds hosting a number of events from a Hoe-down to barbecues, bake sales and garage sales and they say they are humbled by the communities response.
“I'm very very happy, we worked really hard the last month to really engage the community, the radio station did a great job for us and the community came through again, like they do every year,” states Dennis Chippa May Days Chair.
“And I won't deny I was concerned, because we had upped the goal this year to $40,000 and there are so many other events that are going on in the city, I had originally in some of the planning meetings said ‘I don't know that we can continue to ask the community to give up again’, but again, the community has come through and we are over our goal. I'm thrilled, and the kitchen is going to operate as it always has for the last three years and it's going to keep going.”
Honorary Committee Chair Patty Fedeli says the credit for the event’s success belongs to the citizens who repeatedly answer the call for help.
“Well, it's got nothing to do with me, it's the people of North Bay that come to everybody's rescue.”
“When you consider how many fund-raising campaigns there are going on at any given time in the city, and how many people have their hands in your pocket, I'm so impressed with the people who helped us out, and yeah I'm really pleased for the Gathering Place, cause this money means they'll be able to continue for another year,” she states.
Although the event surpassed its goal it is met with a bittersweet enthusiasm.
“I think the Mayor put it best about two weeks ago at the Hoe-down Mayor Fedeli said "I really look forward to a day when I can put you people out of business," says Chippa.
He states that the numbers have been at a steady increase since the kitchen opened and that is cause for concern.
“I think we forget the other end of the scale is that we have a number of people coming into this, while the community has been great to help us out, we have to have this thing.”
“People are still coming in here, 100 to 110 people a day coming into utilise the kitchen, and if they didn't need to come in here, I'm sure they wouldn't be.”
The issues that people are facing when accessing the kitchen are wide ranging and not always tied to financial restraints as Chippa points out one consistent demographic is the shut-in population.
“We hear different stories, a lot of people come in here for the social aspect, a lot of people may be shut-ins and they can get out a whole lot, and they don't have a lot of social interaction, so they come in for that.”
“We get the young kids coming in, we get kids that are maybe out of school, but they don't have a job. We had a long period of time, we have a lot of students coming in from both high school and from post secondary, so we've had a lot. As an example, when the Near North situation was on we had a number of parents bringing their children in because their children would have been in a lunch program or breakfast program. That kind of a thing at the schools, so we've had a lot of that but we've also had the regular folks who come in on a regular basis and a lot of that is the social interaction with the other people,” he says.
Part of the charm that makes the Gathering Place a true community centre is that fact that there is only one staff member, the rest of the spokes in the wheel are made up of volunteers and they are an intricate part of the kitchen.
“We have well over 300 as it almost 350 people who come in here on various teams to put the kitchen together any given day. To make sure they have a good hot, nutritious meal, so we have over 300 to 350 people to actually physically cook.
“We have people to come in to do fund-raising and we have people come in and help us clean and maintain the building a little bit, even the painting and things like that, so, it really is the community kitchen.”
And it is that type of spirit that made it easy for Patty Fedeli to sign on as the honorary chair for the May Days event.
“I like what the Gathering Place does and the fact that they provide an atmosphere here that is non judgmental. People are very welcome to come in and enjoy some fellowship and sometimes that's all people need just to make them feel important.”
“ I think that everybody has got that the value and it makes me sad to think that there are people who don't have as much as the rest of us do. And this is one - four walls and a roof - facility that people can come in and have someone to talk to and feel like a human being for a day,” states Fedeli.
