Baking for a cause: Students raise money for Christie Lake Kids

The passionate group of child and youth care students at Algonquin College set out to raise money for the Christie Lake Kids Foundation (CLK) Feb. 6 and Feb. 7 near Savoir Fare with some tasty treats.

Abdulsalam Hussein, one of the Level 1 students in the child and youth care program, was especially excited about the fundraiser.

“I’ve been with them before. I used to go there as a kid,” Hussein said about CLK.

Hussein attended the summer camp when he was younger and knows how much of a difference the CLK programs can make.

“When I was a kid I was getting into trouble,” he said.

“I want to support kids that were going through what I was going through.”

The CLK will be accepting donations to help fund their Skills Through Arts and Recreation programs (STAR). According to the CLK website, the STAR program is an after school program supporting Ottawa’s low-income children and youths.

Violet George, a Level 1 child and youth care student, was the head coordinator of the fundraiser. George and her classmates were tasked with running a fundraiser for their community service learning class.

The goal of the bake sale was to help fund their end-of-term fundraiser on March 17 at Boston Pizza in Barrhaven — any extra money goes straight to the CLK. The class will be hosting a ticketed trivia night, where all the proceeds will go to CLK. The tickets for the trivia night will cost $10 each person and $25 for a team of four.

George said they will collect “as much as we can raise.”

The bake sale, which was the first fundraiser the class held before the trivia night, included cookies, muffins and cupcakes — just about everything a sweet tooth on campus might crave.

“No one’s going to turn down a good-looking cupcake,” George said with a chuckle.

Nancy Palanuk, a child and youth care student in her final year of the program, came across the bake sale looking for a treat, unaware students from her own program were organizing it.

Palanuk, who contributed to her own classes fundraiser when she was in Level 1, was overjoyed the program is still doing yearly fundraisers. She was also excited to learn this group shared the same zest for working with kids as she does.

Benjamin Rose, another level 1 first-year student on shift at the bake sale, was eager to help.

Rose went back to school after spending four years working in construction.

“Screw it, I’ll go back,” Rose said with a laugh.

After attending an open house, Rose found child and youth care on the list of programs.

“I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” Rose said

“As soon as I saw it just clicked.”

Now 22 years old, Rose was excited by the prospect of being able to work with children in need. Rose, who struggled in his own youth, was raised with a military family and was never able to get his footing anywhere his family moved.

“I don’t want to say I was a troubled child, but I was a troubled child,” Rose said.

Excited for the bake sale, Rose found himself with one setback — he lacked the culinary prowess.

“My lovely mother baked some cookies, then I slapped my name on it and gave myself credit,” Rose said.