Kababayan Centre gives out 150 pairs of shoes
Kababayan Centre gives out 150 pairs of shoes
At its festive Christmas celebration
By Mila Astorga-Garcia
TORONTO–Filipino community centres in the Toronto area always look forward to celebrating Christmas with the people they serve. It does not matter if the users of their services are very culturally diverse, or even religiously diverse. Christmas, for many of the them, stands for a revered spiritual tradition worth celebrating, and also for sharing goodwill and fun.
Kababayan Community Centre is a 35 year old service provider helping newcomers located in Parkdale, a very multicultural mixed income neighbourhood. It is also a convenient walking distance location to new immigrants who are attracted to the area’s low-cost apartments, schools, and churches and library.
Kababayan Community Centre Board of Directors.
For Kababayan Community Centre, Christmas is always a time for festive get-togethers with lots of food, gifts for kids, games, cultural dances and songs, and a lot of fun. However, this year’s Festive Holiday Celebration, held Saturday, December 8 at the Parkdale Library, was a special one, says Flor Dandal, Kababayan Executive Director.
First, over 300 guests – mostly immigrant families – filled the library hall, more than the expected 200. Parkdale politicians from all three levels of government attended. Also, not only was there the traditional gift giving of donated toys to the kids, which the Centre has done during the past 10 Christmas parties, but there was also the distribution of over 150 pairs of shoes – mostly winter boots – for both young and old.
Flor Dandal and staff giving away 150 pairs of boots.
The heartwarming story behind the pairs of shoes is worth re-telling – a real Christmas treat from an unexpected volunteer.
Susan Alcantara, a single mom still reeling from the pain of a failed marriage years ago, used to attend Kababayan’s women support programs, with her young kids in tow. Now, she is an employee of one of the more popular Toronto shoe retailers, Town Shoes. When Alcantara learned that her company was giving away shoes to the less fortunate this Christmas, she asked management if it could donate to the community centre that had helped her “stand on her two feet.” Town Shoes acceded to her request and Alcantara right away informed Kababayan about this good news. A letter was promptly written by Kababayan officials to formalize the request for shoe donations. The rest is now history.
“We were being given more than the 150 pairs that we had managed to fit into the vehicle we used to pick them up, but it would entail another expense to make another trip to pick up more, so we just had to make do with what we had,” said Dandal. “Perhaps next year, if such an opportunity becomes available again, we’ll get a larger vehicle,” Dandal said.
The Christmas party, held 11 am to 2:30 that Saturday, featured a puppet show, greetings speeches from the local politicians – Peggy Nash, MP; Cherie di Novo, MPP, and Gord Perks, Toronto City Councilor, a multicultural lunch consisting of Filipino, Tibetan and Hungarian food, musical and cultural presentations, and games for the kids. Then people moved from the Parkdale Library to Kababayan right across the street, where the boxes of shoes were being unpacked for distribution.
Kids showing their gifts from Kababayan PHOTOS: HG
Meanwhile, on the same day, Kababayan’s seniors held their own Christmas party just a few metres away, at the nearby Seniors Recreation Centre on West Lodge, where there was enough space for a lot of dancing – their favorite activity. As in the Parkdale Library, there were lots of food, and a program showcasing talents.
After the hectic day, Kababayan board members gathered for a meeting to formally assess what they saw was a really successful event, and to plan for the next year.
Kababayan’s holiday celebration was a collaborative effort of the community centre, Parkdale Library, Parkdale Inter-cultural Association, and Parkdale Information Centre. It was made possible through funding from Ontario Community Builders (OCB) Program. The Festive Holiday Celebration was only one of the three OCB-funded programs, the two others being the social services fair held last October 2012, and the community diversity forum scheduled for March 2013.
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