The community of Williams Lake came out in full force yesterday (December 10) to support the 20th annual Child Development Centre’s Christmas Wish Breakfast at Boston Pizza.
Executive Director Vanessa Riplinger said between 6 am and 9 am they served 936 meals to those who showed up with a new unwrapped toy or monetary donation.
“When we brought all the toys back to the Centre, we ended up having 1,117. And we are incredibly happy to say that we had $10,500 in monetary donations to go back into buying gifts for the children.”
Riplinger noted that last year they had more toys but this year , monetary wise, we raised more funds.
“Each year the Christmas Wish Breakfast gets a little bit bigger and little bit better so we can give a little bit more out to our community. Every dollar raised at this breakfast goes back to the families, children and youth in need. It’s just an amazing event at Christmas so we are always thrilled to do it.”
Riplinger noted that this event gets lots of community support with people looking after each other, making sure that nobody goes without especially during the Holiday Season.
“Williams Lake thinks that’s so important, the Cariboo thinks that’s so important, and that’s the charm of living in a small town, we look after each other.”
Even Representatives from Boston Pizza’s (BP) Head Office made the trek to the Lake City.
“They brought in a videographer who has done a piece on the Yuletide Dinner and the work that Jay and Chris from Boston Pizza that have been doing the last 7 years with this event and it’s going on their website internationally,” Riplinger said, “So the good work we’ve been doing in our community and how Williams Lake has come together around this event and giving back to our community will be seen by around a hundred thousand people.”
When she had a chance to speak with the people who came from BP Head Office to see what this breakfast is all about, Riplinger says they were in awe of how we come together.
“One gentleman said to me more than once that Williams Lake is an amazing community and the work that we do is amazing and how the community just comes together. He knew he said when he drove into Williams Lake you could feel how kind people were and how welcoming our community is. He also commented on how happy people were and how people were loving that everything we were doing at the breakfast was going back to children.”
Riplinger added that one lady, also a Boston Pizza representative, told her that this event brought tears to her eyes to see the RCMP and Fire Department gathering the toys and bringing them to our office, and everyone wanting to be part of such a wonderful day.
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