Usually two weeks before our school breaks for the Christmas holidays, a few staff members purchase the food required to make a turkey dinner for all of the children in one of our smaller feeder schools. The preparation is done in stages over a period of several days. Many of these children are new to Canada and would not have had an opportunity to try turkey with all the trimmings. The day of the dinner, the children from the feeder school are invited to come and watch a Christmas movie until their meal has been prepared. The meal is served in our library on tables that are beautifully decorated. A group of grade 7/8 students known as our Ambassadors, welcome the children and serve them their meal. The students and staff are invited to partake in a blessing over the food and the hands that have prepared it. Before they leave, each child is given a small gift of candy packaged by a few members of our Peer Support Team. The whole school looks forward to this annual event and some of the parents of these children have even come to join in the festivities. There is a powerful spirit of community present as cultures mix and stories are shared about Christmas celebrations within these multicultural families.

Graphic:
http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/