Fusion Youth Centre Kitchen Upgrade Complete

Saturday, 28 March 2015 09:44

A ceremony was held to celebrate the new kitchen at the Fusion Youth Centre in Ingersoll

INGERSOLL - A group gathered in Ingersoll at the Fusion Youth Centre yesterday to celebrate the completion of a new kitchen project one that was designed by the youth in the town. Many political leader were on hand and Mayor of Ingersoll Ted Comiskey could not contain his excitement about the appearance of the new facility that will work as a training ground to teach the youth how to cook. "This Fusion Centre never ceases to amaze! Having the new kitchen and having the programs they are going to be putting forward from here on with the new services is terrific. This whole site has been state of the art from the word go! This is the community coming forward and saying here is something that is available for you to develop with."

Manager of the Fusion Youth Centre Jason Smith, knows it has been a long journey to get to this point for the kitchen that aims to provide over 10,000 snacks per year. "Today was really the grand opening of a long awaited project with our kitchen. We are thankful for our sponsors, Ontario Trillium foundation, and the ColdSpring Farms through the Oxford Community Foundation in funding our projects. Today was really a day that our youth got to open the space that they have been dreaming about for the last 5 years."

Smith was on hand to open the new kitchen that is double the size of the previous one and will allow teenagers in the community to get first hand experience when it comes to cooking. "The most important thing for us about this project is impact. Everything that we do we're mindful and thoughtful about the impact it's going to have on young people and what it means for their future. When we look at the kitchen space we are trying to teach practical hands on experience for those youth going into post secondary education, and culinary arts or whether it is just an interest in cooking." The use of the space will be used 156 more days than before after grants of over $120,000 were awarded to this project.