A very special way to start the day will be happening bright and early tomorrow (December 10) in Williams Lake.
For the 20th year the Child Development Centre (CDC) invites the community to be a part of their annual Christmas Wish Breakfast at Boston Pizza.
“This is where we ask people to bring a new, unwrapped toy or a monetary donation and enjoy a delicious breakfast,” CDC Executive Director Vanessa Riplinger said, “and that’s from 6:30 am to
9 am. We ask you to call the Child Development Centre to reserve a table because we reserve in half hour blocks.”
Riplinger said they accept unwrapped toys from babies all the way up to 19 years of age.
“Once we have collected all those toys we bring them back to the Child Development Centre. Then we have Organizations and communities come and pick out a toy for a child or youth that may not get one at Christmas. We have probably given out in the past 20 years sixty to seventy thousand toys, it’s an amazing community event.”
When the breakfast is over, Riplinger said they have Police and the Fire Department bring all the gifts down to the Child Development Centre gym where we put them on tables according to age groups.
“With the monetary donations we can fill in the gaps of the age groups that might be a little lean on the tables. When the organizations and non-profits come in to shop we then will fill up where we see the tables get emptied really quickly. Some times it’s youth, some times it’s newborns, some times it’s that 3 to 5 age group, we never know where the need is going to be greater that’s where the monetary donations are really helpful.”
Riplinger noted their staff will run out and shop locally for that particular age group and bring them back in so we can keep the tables full.
“Chris and Matt from Boston Pizza are hoping that they a thousand people coming in for breakfast which is incredible. And Boston Pizza head office I think is coming down to the event this year to see what it’s all about. Boston Pizza doesn’t do breakfast so we’re really excited to see them come and have a visit.”
Riplinger thanked the community saying that they couldn’t do any of these events, the Yuletide Dinner, and Christmas Wish Breakfast, without the community support.
“Williams Lake has always stepped up. What a beautiful community this is, not just at Christmas time, always. And they’ve always come to the table whenever the Child Development Centre has asked, they just give back over and over again,” Riplinger said.
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