Pictures: Christmas treat for Ukrainian kids at Knocknaheeny youth group

A Christmas dinner for the International Youth Club at Linkpoint Youth Services took place earlier this week.

Jamie Jones, John O’Mahony, and Ber Morrison organised the event.

The idea stemmed from CETB Tutor Sonya, who teaches the young people from Ukraine to cook and bake every Monday night.

Though, it wasn’t all smooth sailing as Sonya missed out on cooking dinner due to a Covid diagnosis. She did however get to make 80 desserts, which went down a treat. A replacement chef was sourced in the meantime, but unfortunately she also contracted Covid-19 before the event.

“I started laughing to myself and said the universe is putting us to the test,” youth officer Jamie Jones told The Echo.

In their place, staff members from the project, Ted Nolan and John O’Connor, offered to cook the meal for over 50 people. They had never prepared and cooked for that number of people.

Jamie helped Ted and John on Sunday, when they prepared the vegetables and cooked the hams.

“We were guided by Ted’s wife and the chef, who had Covid, via the phone,” Mr Jones said.

Then, on Monday morning the day of the event, Ted and John began cooking the turkeys, while John O’Mahony and Ber Morrison got to work on the Christmassy setting for the dinner at Linkpoint.

Mr Jones said: “One of the Ukrainian young people said: ‘When we return to Ukraine we will always remember how Irish people celebrate Christmas. Thank you for this experience’.”

Councillor Damian Boylan, deputising for the Lord Mayor, presented certificates to all the volunteers of the international youth club.

“Without every one of the volunteers this could not happen every week and we in Linkpoint wanted to acknowledge this,” Mr Jones said.

The CETB provided a Samsung tablet for the raffle of the night; they also provided cinema passes and food vouchers for the young people to enjoy over the Christmas period.

Cork Life Centre, Musgraves, Supervalu in Knocknaheeny, and O’Crowley’s butchers in Ballincollig were sponsors.

“It was a beautiful way to round off the hard work for the last six months with the International Youth Club,” Mr Jones said.

“Covid was not going to interfere with the Ukrainian young people experiencing a full Irish Christmas. Lights and heating have been blown off in Ukraine and we hope that we have put some light into the young people from tonight’s event.”

Linkpoint Youth Services Foroige UBU is funded by the CETB on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.