East York Seniors’ Christmas Dinner continues tradition of spreading holiday cheer
By NATASHA JACKSON
Celebrating its 43rd year, the East York Seniors’ Christmas Dinner will be delivering dinners along with some holiday cheer to Beaches-East York senior residents next month.
The long-running tradition shifted from an in-person event to at-home deliveries following the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, fire regulations in the East York Community Centre on Pape Avenue limited the number of seniors the organizers were allowed to welcome in for the dinner.
“We always had to turn seniors away, or pick-ups, because we couldn’t take more than X amount at the community centre,” said longtime organizer Kam Babulal. “So we decided to deliver.”
Babubal has been the head organizer of the East York Seniors’ Christmas Dinner over the last 26 years. A former Agnes Macphail Award winner for her volunteer work in East York, she was inspired to help after working previously at a hospital where she saw senior patients who were isolated and alone during the holidays.
She said she wanted to find a way to help them.
“My passion was for seniors,” said Babubal. “Seniors and kids, that’s my passion.”
However, Babulal is not alone when it comes to making the annual East York Seniors’ Christmas Dinner a reality.
A team of volunteers makes the event happen, and there is also great support from Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford, Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher, Toronto-Danforth MP, and Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Julie Dabrusin. Last year Mayor Olivia Chow helped out delivering the dinners to local seniors on Christmas Day.
“We don’t know yet,” said Babubal of whether the mayor would be able to participate this Dec. 25. “She went and delivered (in 2024) the meals to one of the buildings.”
Babubal and the team of volunteers start preparing for the deliveries in September.
They reach out to several seniors homes in East York by letter to coordinate how many meals are to be delivered on Christmas Day. The dinner originally started with 350 seniors in person, but when organizers shifted to delivery they now deliver up to 430 seniors.
This year’s catering will be done by the Swiss Chalet located near Birchmount Road and Lawrence Avenue in Scarborough. Sarge, who manages the catering, started working with Babubal in 2022 and was responsible for saving the deliveries after a last-minute cancellation.
“When I told him what it was for, and how many people and it’s for seniors, he looked at me and he says ‘I cannot say no to you,’” said Babulal. “So he made a commitment to me that he will be doing this until he dies.”
Babubal also wants to thank all of the businesses that have continuously contributed and supported the East York Seniors’ Christmas Dinner, including the Big Carrot, George’s No Frills, Food Basics, Foodland, Peak Freans cookies and Sobeys.
