Montréal: Adapt and Adjust with a Smile

By Marysia Kasprzak, Assistant Program Director, Don Bosco YLC, Montréal, QC

As our activities at the Don Bosco Youth Leadership Centre begin to wrap up to make way for the Christmas Season, we would like to share with you some updates on what has been going on here in Montréal.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our motto has been “adapt and adjust with a smile.” 😊  The adapting and adjusting (and the smiling!) have not stopped. With the ban on group sports and gatherings that started in early October, we had to switch almost all our programming online. Sports turned to e-sports, and our girls’ club and coffeehouse events became virtual, too. The only program that has remained an in-person activity is our tutoring (and thank goodness for that, because it definitely adds some extra movement and life to the Centre!).

Going virtual has not been easy. I’m sure each one of us has at one point said, “This would be so much better and easier if this ‘fill in the blank’ was in person.” Certainly, there’s truth in this, however, we cannot forget that even though what we are doing may not be perfect, it truly makes a difference.

I was reminded of this when one of the e-sports participants, Davide (the boy in the picture), came to pick up the gift card he won during one of the gaming nights. To say he was excited would be a huge understatement. He told me how he was going to save his prize until he knew for sure what he wanted to buy with it. Before leaving, he exclaimed, “I can’t wait for tomorrow!” When I asked him why he said “Because I get to play e-sports!” Clearly, this was the highlight of his week.

So, let us not get discouraged, but let us have faith that if we are doing our best to serve the children and youth in our care, God will make our work fruitful. Finally, I would like to leave you with a quote, by St. John Paul II that has been a great consolation to me during this time: “If He [God] asks much of you, it is because He knows you can give much.”