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me. I can’t tell you how rewarding that moment is.”
John has also shouldered several other duties. For two
years he helped with the LINKS program, a series of activities
that helps challenged youth learn vital life skills.
LINKS — which stands for Lifestyle, Independence,
Nutrition,Knowledge,and Sports — is a program designed
to encourage leadership, physical activity and friendship.
“That’s where my love of cooking came in handy,” he
says.
John helped the students at Variety Village organize and
serve lunches,teaching them how to set tables,how to prepare
simple dishes and how to serve them.
(At the school where he first taught, one of the cooking
teachers was the head of the World Escoffier Society,
and another had been a celebrated pastry chef. They had
organized after-work cooking classes where John learned
the basics of cooking and how to plan, organize and produce
an excellent meal. He acquired a life-long passion for
cooking in these after-school sessions.)
John uses that culinary knowledge at his church,
Jubilee United, too. He helps to produce everything from
Eggs Benedict for 150 people to Christmas dinner with all
the trimmings for 200.“It’s simple, really, if you break it all
down into individual tasks, and if everyone knows what
they are responsible for.”
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John also helps with the fundraising events — like
the Sunshine Games, the Police Games, and the
Lieutenant Governor’s Games — for which Variety Village
is famous and upon which it depends for much of its
funding.
“I just show up and tell them to use me where they
need me.”
At 74, he is an active and busy man.
“I’ve scuba dived in all seven seas,I’ve been to Australia
and South Africa twice, I sing in two choral groups, I golf
regularly and I cook and entertain as often as I can.”
While he is bothered by asthma and has a touch of
arthritis, it doesn’t slow him down.“It’s an odd thing but
when I am in the pool working with the kids, all those
aches and pains disappear.”
He’s not one to sit idle and he has an ingrained desire to
do worthwhile things.“I’m not bragging,but I have an expertise
with special kids. I’m good at this, and I’m good at food.
It’s something I can do and that I love to do.”
“I have six healthy, perfect grandchildren, for whom I
am enormously thankful, and I feel the need to give something
back. But to be truthful, it’s not what I give, but what
the people at Variety Village give me that keeps me coming
back.”
“Besides, I just can’t sit still.”
Fun!
1.800.853.8463
ottawamarriott.com
100 Kent St., Ottawa, ON