Thank You to the Burnaby Community for making our Outreach Christmas 2021 such a success!
It’s that time of year again!
Thank you to all our sponsors, donors, and volunteers for a safe and successful Christmas Outreach event for 2021! We can honestly say that this event would not be possible without the incredible community coming together to make it possible. Thank you for being such wonderful neighbours!
Our Christmas ORC 2021 took place on Thursday on Dec. 9, 2021 from 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM at Southside Community Church. A huge thank you to Southside for hosting our Outreach Resource Centre every week!
An early morning for our volunteers 
The Firefighters setting up their pancake station
Our morning started off earlier than the sun with our first volunteers coming in to set up the tents and tables for our guests. A special thank you to our dedicated volunteer Len Soet who helps us set up our tents bright and early every ORC morning. We frankly could not do it without you Len!
We’d also like to recognize our dedicated regular volunteers at the ORC without whom this would not be possible!
Thank you Teresa, Beatrix, Josie, Shelley, Dave, Jane, Linda, Hedy, Sean, Jayson, Kim, Kat, Len, Marg, Jim, Naomi, Marian, Val, Bruce, Jerry!
Also thank you to the Burnaby Community Action Team (BCAT) and their peers for the support they provide to our ORC!
We’d also like to give a special thanks to all of the many many volunteers who helped us prepare the food bank bags for our Food Hub. We gave out over 200 food bank bags and that would’ve not have been possible without the help of our many volunteers!
A special thank you to United Way of BC for sending us a team to help us with this task!
Preparing the grocery bags for the Food Hub 
A special thanks to the United Way volunteers who came to lend us many more pairs of hands and feet for the job!
President Jeff Clark of the Burnaby Firefighters Charitable Society personally flipping pancakes for our guests! 
Thank you Starbucks of Burnaby! 
Firefighters Scott Alleyn and Jeff Clark with Santa
A hot pancake breakfast was provided and served by the Burnaby Firefighters Charitable Society and fresh hot coffee and hot chocolate brought and served to us by 11 regional Starbucks Managers and their District Manager Courtney Osbourne. We’d like to thank the following Starbucks locations for being a part of this event:
- Boundary & Canada Way – Michelle Kywott
- Kensington Square – Michelle Soledousy
- Dawson & Gilmore – Nicole Sherington
- Royal Square – Susan Mcdermott
- Carlton Square – Karine Lafontaine
- Lougheed Drive-thru – Katie Cox
- Solo District – Jason Gais, Francis Curatos, Julian Mannello, Jihan Abouelarab, Barbara Senez
This year our Christmas lunch was catered by Bread & Cheese Co. who cooked up a delicious turkey meal that was a big hit with our guests.
We’d also like to thank our lunch providers who brought our guests nutritious packed lunches to take away
Thank you:
- St. Alban’s Anglican Church
- Tian Jin Temple
- Deer Lake United Church
- Masjid Al Salaam Mosque & Education Centre
Packed lunch bags for our guests provided by Tian Jin Temple 
Sandwiches from St. Alban’s Anglican Church 
Volunteers putting together lunch bags for our guests 
Our catered Turkey Christmas lunch by Bread & Cheese Co. served by our lovely volunteers
In total, we served 428 meals on Thursday!
Of course like any event, a lot of the preparation for the Christmas ORC happened weeks before the day. We’d like to thank the following schools and youth organizations for helping us prepare the gifts we gave out to the guests at the Christmas ORC:
- Armstrong Elementary – Dental Kits
- Inman Elementary & Karolyn Iverson – Dental Kits
- Lochdale Community School – gift wrapping
- Edmonds Community Youth Leadership – comfort kits (a special thank you to SPARC BC for providing the materials for the comfort kits!)
- University Highland Elementary – First Aid Kits
Edmonds Community Centre’s Leadership team delivering the 200 comfort kits they put together for our ORC Christmas! 
Beautifully gift wrapped presents for our guest by Lochdale Community School 
Lochdale Community School dropping off their wrapped presents at our ORC 
Teacher Karolyn Iverson’s class at Inman Elementary in action putting together dental kits for our guests 
Thank you Inman Elementary and Karolyn Iverson for the dental kits! 
University Highlands Elementary dropping off their first aid kits donation! 
Our Event Coordinator Abhi Gill sorting a donations of winter wear
Burnaby Public Library providing wifi and other services at our ORC 
Progressive Housing with Santa
And of course we’d like to thank our service providers who were present at the ORC to assist our guests in a wide variety of services.
Thank you:
- Burnaby Public Library
- Burnaby Primary Care Network – and especially Pippin our Nurse Practitioner
- Progressive Housing Society
- Surrey Women’s Centre
- Nadia from the Ministry of Social Services and Poverty Reduction–
- Homelessness Association Services of BC – for the donation of tote bags
- Jesse – Advocacy
We’d also like to thank the local politicians who stopped by to support our event.
Thank You:
- Mayor Mike Hurley
- Pietro Calendino – Burnaby City Council
- James Wang – Burnaby City Council
- MLA Katrina Chen – Burnaby-Lougheed
Mayor Mike Hurley, City Councillors Pietro Calendino and James Wang with our ED Carol-Ann Flanagan and United Way volunteer 
Firefighter Jeff Clark, City Councillors and Carol-Ann with Santa 
From left to right: Our ED Carol-Ann Flanagan, Mayor Mike Hurley, Santa, City Councillor Pietro Calendino, City Councillor James Wang 
MLA Katrina Chen coming in to drop off a donation of face masks
