Beautiful arrangements of cheese, grapes, bread, and nuts filled the tables at a night of reflection and celebration this weekend for Youth For Christ (YFC) Morden and its supporters.
A big crowd
The organization held its annual fundraising event on November 15th.
“We do an annual charcuterie banquet where we just share stories about what's been happening in our community and what YFC Morden has been doing with youth in the community,” says Ryan Smith, the executive director at YFC Morden. “We have charcuterie, some good food, some music, and just share . . . very cool stories of transformation and hope that are happening.”
Smith says this year’s banquet was well-attended.
“I think it was a bigger event than last year in the end, so it's always great to have the room full and it just makes the energy and excitement a lot more palpable,” he says. “It's always great to see so many people coming out and supporting our work in Morden.”
An organization important to the future of the community
The support that YFC sees allows it to continue its mission, which is to help an important demographic in the community.
“We work . . . mostly with vulnerable and at-risk youth. I think a lot of people don't realize that a lot more youth than they think are struggling,” says Smith. “When you drive down the roads in your community, you don't know what's happening behind the doors in those homes. [A] lot of youth [are] really struggling with instability.”
Smith says the struggles young people face include moving, poverty, and other barriers at home. While these hurdles are difficult for people of all ages, younger people are particularly affected.
“I think it's really hard for people to understand what that does to a youth and how difficult it is for them to live life and just be a whole healthy person in any way or to have [good] mental health,” he says. “We try to bridge that gap. We connect with youth. We build relationships with them, and we try to help them in whatever way we can.”
“Safe adults”
One of the ways that YFC supports young residents is simple in concept, but has a lasting impact — the organization connects young people with compassionate and trusted adults.
“Many of us take [it] for granted that we had safe adults in our lives . . . . Safe adults are people who you can talk to about things, or people who are willing to help you and are wise enough and good enough not to try to manipulate you or use you for their own purposes,” says Smith. “For a lot of youth, to have a safe adult in their life is a huge leg up. It helps them.”
Smith says that from helping a young person get their birth certificate for the first time to helping them get their first job or providing emotional support, having a safe adult makes a big impact on a youth’s life when “their whole world is falling apart.”
Funding hope
The funds raised at YFC Morden’s charcuterie banquet go towards ensuring the organization can provide resources like trusted adults to the youth in the community.
“All of the money raised here tonight goes towards funding our programming with youth. We were fortunate enough to have all of our food and expenses for the night sponsored,” says Smith. “A big part of our program expense is that we provide free programming to youth. Anytime they go boating. if they have a snack, if we hand out food, if we go on a bus trip to somewhere, go to Grand Beach — any sort of event that we do, it's all free to the youth in the community, and that's where this money goes.”
As for the youth themselves, Smith says that often, they are in disbelief about the extent to which the community cares.
“[They are] generally very appreciative and they're not sure exactly why people would do this for them, and I think that's one of the things that is so rewarding about this role — you get to share with youth that there are people in this community that you will never meet that are your friend and they want to help you, even though they've never met you,” he says. “That just stuns them.”
With files from Robyn Wiebe