Teen Centre celebrates the holidays early

The teens at the Boys and Girls Club came together December 14 for an evening of games,cards, extreme tic tac toe, and a turkey feast. Alicia Smallwood, manager of the Teen Centre, has been making Christmas dinners with teens for the past two years. She said, “It’s important for everyone involved at the Teen Centre to come together at the end of the year to sit down, have a good meal, and make sure all the kids know they are loved and have a warm, safe place to go.Everyone has different realities and different families, and that doesn’t always allow for Christmas dinner. I just want to make sure everyone has one.”

This year’s dinner was made possible by the support of the Whitecourt IGA which donated the turkey and all the fixings to make the Christmas dinner complete. The teens participated by helping to cook and cleaning up afterward.

Executive Director Kyria Baranowski said, “The Teen Centre is all about providing opportunities for kids whether the opportunities exist at home, school, or another environment. For any of those kids who might not have the opportunities to come for Christmas dinner, build assets with adults in the community, or take on leadership and volunteering opportunities can come to the Teen Center.That’s what it’s all about. We want to help contribute to these kids and have them give back to society. We do a lot of self-esteem building and teaching basic life skills.”

The Teen Centre staff and volunteers were asked what they want for Christmas. The unanimous answer was to have a large boardroom table. This would allow for alltheir kids to sit together for supper, playing games, or doing their homework.