Christmas dinner cooked by Club Alumni

Former Club members Riley Hollohan, Head Chef of 7by7 Restaurant and owner of Soul Cured Cuisine, and Nick Young, Sous Chef of 7by7 Restaurant treated our members to a special Christmas Dinner on Friday December 11 & Saturday December 12, 2020.

Riley comes from our own backyard - Whitney Pier; he became fascinated by cooking at a young age by watching his grandmother cook, and has since fallen in love with cuisine and is passionate about food. He is currently the head chef at 7by7 Restaurant in Sydney and has been cooking at local restaurants for 9 years. Aside from his day job, he also sells West Indian hot sauce, and Carribean cuisine snacks as a hobby business.

His 2 year old son Hunter loves helping him in the kitchen, so the family tradition continues!

He has also spent most of his childhood at Whitney Pier Youth Club (now the Boys and Girls Club), and is very excited about being able to give back to our community and help educate our young club members on the art of cooking.

Nick also hails from Whitney Pier and is a former club member; his brother and sister are current members, so another family tradition continues.

Nick grew up with cooking as a central part of his family life and later went to culinary school locally then worked at Keltic Lodge before accepting the position of Sous Chef at 7by7 Restaurant.

Both Riley and Nick expressed the importance of giving back to their community and specifically the Boys and Girls Club as a thank you for their experiences here during their formative years.

When thanked by one of our staff for his support, Riley replied, "The Club fed me enough times over the years, so I'm happy to help."

Alumni support is so valuable to our Club because not only do alumni volunteers and donors help the club function, but they also serve as an example for our current members of all of the opportunity and success available to them.

Thank you to Nick and Riley, and all of our other volunteers for our 2020 Christmas Dinner - this year was a little different than usual, with specific Covid protocols in place such as mask wearing, dining in our social bubbles and different days for after school program members, and evening program members - but with your support our Christmas dinner was once again a success.