A holiday celebration hosted by Level Up Youth Leadership for Creative Village Studio.

This Christmas season, I really wanted to give back to the community. My youth leadership group gave me the opportunity to do just that. Our group is called, Level Up Youth Leadership. It is made up of several teenagers, all from different churches in the south-central Etobicoke area. We meet monthly to learn different leadership skills relating to Christian ministry under the guidance of Becky Cripps. One of our projects was to plan an initiative for the community of Etobicoke. I suggested planning an event for the Creative Village Studio participants where my sister has been taking art classes. The idea was to host a holiday party on December 13^th, 2018.

Harold Tomlinson, the facilitator at Creative Village Studio, was gracious enough to help us with the planning of the event. He made sure we had 30 eager participants, and had the studio reserved for us. Our group came, sang Christmas carols, and decorated cookies. I’ll never forget the excitement on all the peoples’ faces as we sang each song together. The fun and joy really made all the work and planning worthwhile. I really enjoyed getting to know some of my sister’s friends. Everyone was so welcoming to my youth group and me.

This experience taught me that the simple gestures in life, make all the difference. I’m so thankful that Level Up Youth Leadership and the Creative Village community could come together and celebrate Christmas in such a special way.

A holiday celebration hosted by Level Up Youth Leadership for Creative Village Studio.