Our BBQ party is a big success!

By Willie Jose
Toronto-Canada
September 14, 2016




Being president of the 7-man board of directors helping manage a multi-million Condo complex with 180 homeowners in Toronto is not easy; it’s a serious undertaking.



But it’s not all work either. Once in a while, we have to take a break, relax and be in joyful company with our neighbors.

And for the first time, our YCC 397 Corp. hosted last week a successful BBQ get together party at the Bethune Park.

The BBQ party is a concrete example of how people of diverse colors and origins, could have a unity—working together, having fun, partying, meeting new friends while partaking of and savoring their hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, watermelon, corn, soda and bottled water.

On behalf of the board, I would like to commend our neighbors for their cooperation and help in making the recent 1^st annual community BBQ get together a big success.

 Also, I want to thank all who joined us in celebrating the community spirit; it was a good opportunity to meet up with neighbors, saying   “Hi, Hello,” shaking hands with everyone in the party. Some of them approached me, telling me that they are our new neighbors in the complex.

With their names tags on their shirts, it was much easier to get to know people in the neighborhood—it what was noticeable too, the neighbors’ eagerness to socialize with everyone in the party.

Though it was the first time having this kind of BBQ party, the big turnout of people attending it overwhelmed most of us in the board.

 Well, I’d like to commend my colleagues in the board – Jesse, Zandro, Edmund and Cesar—who together with Precy were busily moving back and forth, in buying the plates, cups, forks, napkins, paper towel, garbage bags, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, hamburgers, hotdogs, watermelon, soda and bottled water.

A big thank you goes to Precy and Viv-Vic for their role in cooking these hamburgers and hotdogs-- and for Khan, who lives near my unit, in helping us to clean the picnic area and wheeled the barbecue stands to their respective owners: Mang Bino and Mang Doming,

 Of course, “ thank you too, Elsa, for giving us some corns”.

Oh before I forget, our music man, Lester, without him, I don’t know how the party could do without those lively songs being played while the rest of us got busy partying.

A big pat also goes to Brandon, our superintendent, for extending his hands in the early hours of the party, cleaning up the party area and helping us in lifting some heavy stuff.

A few days before the start of the BBQ party, Stuart, our property manager, had already told me that we would have a successful party because of the great number of homeowners who responded to the flyers we had distributed to them earlier.

Then Stuart advised us that in preparing for the food, we have to double it, thereby making sure that we would have enough food for all the people in the party.

And what was touching too was the willingness of our neighbors to lend to us free of charge their sound system, barbecue stands, tables, and chairs.

The Corp.’s only role was shouldering the party’s food’s expense.

And also a big thank you to the organizers of the Coconut festival held recently in Toronto for lending to us the tents.

In short, the cooperation and the help extended by our neighbors show the spirit of neighborliness of the YCC 397 homeowners.

What more could I say except, thanks to all our friends and neighbors-- and surely we’ll make this BBQ party a yearly affair.