This past August 1st, BC Day, Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church celebrated its traditional Día Alegre. In the parking lot, a festival is organized with food kiosks, music and Latin American traditions with the goal of obtaining some profits to be used towards the social programs of the church; many of which help Hispanics who come to Vancouver as temporary workers o for the parishioners who do not have access to the Food Bank.
Our Lady of Sorrows actively collaborate with our Venezuelan community, allowing the use of their meeting and classrooms for VCSBC general meetings, for El Dia de La Chinita, a celebration in November and for the program Aqui se habla Español. Six years ago, Venezuelan started their participation in the event and every year the Venezuelan community has been more active; each year there is more enthusiasm and more voluntaries who donate ingredients and time to prepare our culinary delights that had increased in variety and in the amount of items sold.
At the beginning, Aura Montilla coordinated with three ladies: one Mexican, one Colombian and another Venezuelan to prepare and sell 160 arepas. Gradually with Aura’s supervision, more voluntaries, donors and typical dishes had been added to the Venezuelan kiosk on El Dia Alegre.
This year, Venezuelans, Canadians, Italians, Chileans, Salvadorians, Filipinos and others consumed 250 arepas and learned with curiosity what is a reina pepiada, a dominó, and a pelúa as well as bollos pelones, quesillos, arroz con leche and chocolate cake. Some participants due of the afternoon heat got refreshed drinking guarapo de papelón con limón.
It was actually a Dia Alegre; VCSBC donated to the church $1,386 as result of the sale. We hope to continue participating in this event for many years.
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