Roast beef dinner for 1,400? It’s all in a day’s work for a group of students at Huron Heights Secondary School.
The 75 students who belong to the school’s Peace Club are cooking up 800 pounds of roast beef, mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables for their annual free holiday dinner for the community tomorrow night at the Newmarket high school.
They’re expecting 800 to 900 guests to share in the bounty, teacher Bill Havercroft said, and the remainder of the meals will be delivered to shelters, transitional housing facilities and half-way houses for those unable to attend the holiday dinner.
The students have been opening the doors annually for 14 years to anyone who is in need of a meal, or financial or social support, Havercroft said.
“We’re not changing the world with this, but we’re helping,” he said. “It’s a warm, safe place where people are welcomed to share a meal with us — and see the best side of teenagers.”
Sharing a meal with the guests is an integral part of the evening, Havercroft added, with the more than 100 volunteers — including some former students who return to the heart-warming event to help annually — being encouraged to take a break and join a table.
“It’s different than just handing out plates and watching people eat, we are sharing a meal.
“We are building community.”
The cooking takes place at the school, which has two full kitchens on site for its hospitality program.
With the help of donors in the community, guests are also welcome to help themselves to toiletries, new and used clothing, new socks, toys and books.
The school’s cosmetology program students volunteer, too, typically providing about 200 haircuts through the event, Havercroft said.
Arts Huron students provide the live music.
Fundraising activities and initiatives are held throughout the school year by the students who foot the cost of the dinner, about $5,500, with donations from “amazing” parents, alumni, businesses and the community helping to offset the cost.
“It gives the kids a real purpose to fund something that’s local,” Havercroft said, adding the students also support global initiatives such as ME to WE.
Havercroft, a geography teacher whose curriculum includes a Grade 12 social justice course, said one of the fundraising initiatives saw two of his students purchasing and reselling jewelry from Kindred Apparel, the Canadian distributor for Freeset, a fair trade operation in Kolkata, India that offers empowerment strategies for women trapped in the sex trade.
The Peace Club collaborated with fellow students in the Environmental Club to sell rain barrels in another fundraising initiative.
Homeroom contests for the most donations also helped support tomorrow’s dinner, Havercroft said.
They are grateful for the community partners and donors who are too many to name, he said, after acknowledging Kia of Newmarket, Mount Albert Foodland and Student Transportation Services, which provides two school buses to bring guests to the dinner.
The place settings for 1,000 — a dish-washing crew is at work the entire night — were donated by Care and Share Stouffville.
And, as much as the event is about giving back to the community in an impactful way, Havercroft said, the logistics of providing dinner for 1,400 — which the students handle with equanimity, year after year — provide them with an incredible opportunity to build capacity and skill sets.
The Big Festive Dinner takes place tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 13 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Huron Heights Secondary School, 40 Huron Heights Dr., Newmarket.
