There’s a saying you’ll often hear at Teen Stop Jeunesse: helping youth means helping the entire community. And no one personifies the phrase more than Maria, the organization’s head volunteer day cook.
Over the last few years, Maria has been at home caring for her ailing sister, who isn’t mobile and requires significant support. Maria sometimes struggled to leave the house and connect with the outside world and found it increasingly difficult to keep up with basic needs.
Looking for some support herself, she heard about Pat’s Pantry—a place to get vegetables, fruit, and other foodstuffs—operated by youth drop-in centre Teen Stop Jeunesse. Even though Maria’s own teen years were far behind her, she was in need, so she decided to stop by.
“I used the food bank myself,” Maria recalled. “I needed help.”
Maria was able to take fresh food from Pat’s Pantry home and cook healthy meals for her and her sister on a few different occasions. During one of her visits last February, she overheard a conversation that would open a door and change the course of her life.
“My doctors … were trying to help me get out of the house and try to find new things, like pottery—anything to help me try to make those steps. And I just couldn’t get there with them,” Maria remembered.
“(That day), I heard staff talking about needing volunteers to help with the pantry … and I jumped at the opportunity.
"A lot of the youth here will not always have the supports at home ... what we look to do is offer full wraparound services, and that means touching all areas in their life."
Teen Stop Jeunesse opened in 1980 in a converted house in St. Vital as a simple neighbourhood drop-in centre for young people ages 8 to 17. Supported by United Way Winnipeg donors, it was a safe space with an open-door policy for kids to come and just be kids.
While the current location on St. Anne’s Road bears little resemblance to the humble beginnings of 43 years ago—there’s now a computer lab, a music room, a full kitchen, a theatre space, and more—the philosophy remains the same.
“We just want you to come and be who you are,” said Teen Stop’s executive director, Kelly-Anne Reyes. “We want to help provide experiences and opportunities. Just come and tell us, and we are going to help you.”
During school months, the drop-in program is open from 3 to 10 p.m.. Kids can shoot pool, watch movies, make art, play video games, jam out on guitars, or just hang out with friends.
In the summertime, the centre opens at 10 a.m., and Reyes says some youth spend the entire 12 hours in the space.
“Sometimes, they’ll just be so eager to get in,” she said. “A lot of the youth here will not always have the supports at home. So, what we look to do is offer full wraparound services, and that means touching all areas in their life.”
“A lot of the youth that we see are struggling with basic needs like being met,” Reyes continued.
“We have 94% of our youth come in, and more often than not, the only time they are eating or having food—nutritious food or a balanced diet—is when we feed it to them.”
Enter: Maria.
As Teen Stop’s head volunteer day cook, she works in the kitchen three hours a day to prepare and serve lunches, desserts, and snacks for the kids who come to Teen Stop Jeunesse—many times with items from the pantry she herself initially benefitted from.
She brought in a stock pot she’s had at home for 15 years so she could make meals for large groups, and she often mentors young kitchen volunteers as they make everything from cupcakes to roast turkeys to sandwiches together.
“Being here, helping the kids out here, helping the centre out, just being a part of the community—it has created a huge amount of gratitude,” Maria said. “I’ve gone leaps and bounds considering where I was prior to coming here, and I’ve gotten the support that I needed to step out of my comfort zone.
“It feels good to be… a part of something else and to feel needed. And I feel extremely blessed to be a part of this community.”
Maria said her mental health and well-being has improved tremendously since coming on board as head cook. She walks on a regular basis, feels confident to leave the house and connect with the world around her, and has even ridden on a city bus, “which I never would.”
She said she couldn’t be more grateful to be part of helping young people thrive and reach their potential, just as her life has been transformed by the community at Teen Stop.
“I’m thankful and grateful for as much as they’ve done for me. All I want to do is give back to them‚” she said
“And that’s what I’m doing now—I’m trying to do my best to give back.”
