Georgian College students and staff are getting ready to leave the classroom and serve those in the community who need it most.
Approximately 70 first-year and 58 second-year Georgian culinary students have joined up with the department’s staff to cook a meal suited for close to 250 clients of the David Busby Street Centre.
The holiday meal is an annual event that allows students who are learning to perfect their skills in the kitchen to give back to people who would greatly appreciate it.
Culinary instructor Julien Ross has been helping with the Busby Centre dinner for at least five years and says that while the culinary course is a busy one, full of precision and deadlines, the event is about much more than that.
“We really try to get the students to realize that this is for the less fortunate in Barrie and to really put some pride in it and maybe show them that being in the culinary world that this is our way of giving back,” said Ross.
On the menu for Tuesday’s big meal are mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, roasted vegetables and a few different salads as well as some delicious desserts.
Ross and his team found out the dates to be ready a month ago and the prepping and real work was all done in about four days before it is served warm by the students and staff tomorrow at Collier Street United Church at around 11:30 a.m.
Chef Philip Leach says he loves that the students and staff are giving back, but said it was more than just those at Georgian College who made this community event happen.
“It is great to see the students volunteer for this and to know that it is such a huge community collaboration,” said Leach. “The community supplied all the food with it coming from local grocery stores, bakeries and individual donations, the Busby sets up the drop-off of most of the product and we take care of the rest. Its nice to see and particularly at this time of year.”
