Brome-Missisquoi Youth Foundation Puts on a Gourmet St. Valentine’s Dinner

COMMUNITY. To celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, the Brome-Missisquoi Youth Foundation is offering a gourmet dinner and auction to raise funds for the organization’s Houses of Hope in Cowansville. The five-course gourmet meal with wine and an auction takes place on February 11 in the dining room and bar of L’Entre Deux, the culinary school of the Brome-Missisquoi Vocational Training Centre.

Jim Ferrier, special collaboration

 

The Brome-Missisquoi Youth Foundation is a non-profit philanthropic organization. The group currently operates three Houses of Hope in Cowansville for at-risk youth from the Montérégie region, one English, one French and one bilingual. The Houses of Hope offer an environment that is well-supervised, structured, safe, quiet, supportive and constructive for young people aged 12 to 18 who find themselves in problem situations.

The Houses of Hope were built between 1996 and 1998 following a bequest from Madame Contant of Montreal and Brome-Missisquoi. The Foundation built and maintains the Houses, while Quebec’s Directorate of Youth Protection (DPJ) provides the necessary services. Over the years, more than 700 young people have benefited from these services and support mechanisms. The Houses of Hoper are an essential alternative to youth detention centers, which are not suitable for clients referred by youth protection authorities.

The three Houses are known as BMAYS, The Living Room and Le Tremplin. BMAYS, or Brome-Missisquoi Youth and Adolescent Services, is the only English-language home for youth at risk in the Montérégie area, with long-term housing for up to eight residents. Le Tremplin provides similar services in French with another eight accommodations, mostly for long-term stays. The most recently built home, The Living Room, offers another eight spaces in a bilingual environment, and is used mainly for specific short to medium-term needs.

The Foundation is dedicated to helping young people develop self-esteem and build a successful future in the comfort of a familiar and stable milieu. In addition to the Houses, the Foundation provides scholarships for trade and academic courses, volunteer and paid teachers to assist students with difficulties, a program to assist adolescent-parent communication, supervised apartments for youth aged 18 to 21 who have no other options, and assistance to adolescent parents.

The Brome-Missisquoi Youth Foundation’s St. Valentine dinner and auction takes place on Thursday, February 11 at 6:00 p.m. in L’Entre Deux at 180 Adélard-Godbout in Cowansville. Tickets are $100. Receipts for tax purposes will be provided. For tickets and information call 450-919-0510 or e-mail joshua.bleser@gmail.com.