Youth With Style '20

 

Sunday September 13th 2020 at 1:30pm marked the beginning of our annual back to school Youth With Style event. The event typically takes place in the basement of the shelter located in Etobicoke however due to the current pandemic we had to arrange a day in the backyard of the shelter. We were blessed with perfect weather to help conduct a fun filled day of activities and bonding.

The event kicked off with each young man or woman from the shelter receiving a tote bag filled with school supplies and hygiene products. Each person was given 3 raffle tickets as they entered the event. The participants had the ability to earn additional raffle tickets by engaging in some of the games that were set up. The tickets could be used for a ballet towards winning; Hats, Key Chains, Stuffed Backpacks, a Spa set, Curling Iron, Art Kits, Tri-Pod, Bluetooth Speaker, White Board, Laptop Bag, Fast Masks, Selfie Stick, Foldable Chair… to name a few items. Thanks to The Gambit Barbershop for hooking up many of the shelter guest with haircuts and even cleaning up some of Beyond Our Streets Riding Club members (BOS) who were due for a quick make over themselves! Food and music were available the whole day. Many of the youth were glad to see BOS continue to show up. Expressions of excitement and gratitude were common themes for the day. One of the shelter occupants who wanted to remain anonymous was quoted saying “I thought you guys were coming here just to do free haircuts. I didn’t know this was going to be an actual event with games, food, drinks, and giveaways. Thank you guys so much for showing us you care about us.”

The focus of the event is to provide shelter guest a day to up lift their spirits and prepare them for the year ahead, using the educational year as our starting point. BOS heavily relies on our network to make this event successful every year. The motorcycle community as a whole comes together to provide items to be given to the shelter. We had face masks donated this year by a local company called Fast Mask. We had barbers donate their time from The Gambit Barbershop as well as ManeSociety Salon. We had our partners at Human Concern International (HCI) provide funding towards this event. HCI and BOS have collaborated on a few projects in the past years and continue keeping an open line of communication for future initiatives to tackle together. Every year this event is not possible unless we are able to lean on our network. We thank everyone who is involved in the process. There is no gesture too small. We recognize it all.

 

WE THANK YOU


Share this post