CORNWALL, Ontario – The Laurencrest Youth Services Comfort Zone held a poutine making contest at St. Matthew Catholic Secondary School on Thursday, May 31.
Last year, the competition tried to impress the judges with grilled cheese sandwiches. This year, the youth who attend the Comfort Zone decided that poutine would be their dish of choice. The winner of this year’s contest, Trevor Lozo, will get to work with Travis Dunning, the head chef at Schnitzels European Flavours, for a day. His poutine will also be a special menu item for an entire month. Keegan Dewar and Cade Mercier finished in second and third place.
“The Comfort Zone is an after school program from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays,” said Dan O’Rourke, Executive Director of Laurencrest Youth Services. “It’s open to any kid that wants to come in — they can drop in any time. It’s activity based, it’s peer driven, so they kind of make the agenda for the evening and the Laurencrest staff oversee it.” The program’s summer hours will depend on demand.
The Comfort Zone was run with a government grant for two years. Laurencrest decided to continue funding the program on their own when they realized how necessary and beneficial an after school program was for the city.
According to Michelle Brunet, the Comfort Zone is one of 16 outreach programs with Laurencrest. Although it was her day off and her last day with the Comfort Zone, Brunet wanted to be a part of the excitement.
“The program itself is very important because it’s an outlet for kids that may or may not have something to do after school,” said Cst. Andrew Arbic, a Youth Officer who works with induviduals under the age of 18. “So there are a lot of components involved, including this [contest] that are positive because it gives them sociability, social time with other kids and obviously the creative part, which is interesting.”
