Forge partners with Volkswagen to support speqtrum Hamilton through proceeds from Pride match featuring the Pacific Football Club
The Forge Football Club hosted a Pride soccer match sponsored by Volkswagen with proceeds going to support speqtrum, a 2SLGBTQIA+ program through the Young Women’s Christian Association of Canada’s Hamilton chapter.
Focusing on community building and development, speqtrum provides services, events and skill workshops to assist queer and trans young people in Hamilton. speqtrum also offers programs such as weekly check-ins, peer support with staff to chat and provide services over online platforms.
On June 1, the team announced on Instagram post that their June 10 home game at Tim Hortons Field would be held in celebration of Pride month.
"I think it’s important for us to host [the Pride match] for a number of reasons, but the least of all just visibility and going the extra mile to prove that Tim Hortons Field is an inclusive space,” said Shannon Connolly, manager of community partnerships for Forge FC.
I think it’s important for us to host [the Pride match] for a number of reasons, but the least of all just visibility and going the extra mile to prove that Tim Hortons Field is an inclusive space.
Shannon Connolly, manager of community partnerships, Forge Football Club
The team also announced multiple promotional and merchandise opportunities through which fans could donate to the program. These include a “#BeTheChange Pride Package’’ which contained a ticket to the game, a commemorative pride Forge FC shirt, a charitable $10 donation to speqtrum and a $10 matching donation made by Volkswagen.
In addition to the package, $5 proceeds from the team’s Pride collection sales will also be donated to speqtrum for the remainder of the merchandise’s supply.
"Our mandate in our community department is always to focus on healthy, active and empowered youth . . . We immediately thought of speqtrum when we were looking for a partner for this match because they work really closely with youth and families,” said Connolly.
Our mandate in our community department is always to focus on healthy, active and empowered youth . . . We immediately thought of speqtrum when we were looking for a partner for this match because they work really closely with youth and families.
Shannon Connolly, manager of community partnerships, Forge Football Club.
The first 3,000 fans who attended the game were given a Pride Forge FC bandana as part of the team’s giveaway. Unique visual elements were present at the match, including custom corner flags as well as a rainbow-coloured armband for Kyle Bekker, the team captain for the Forge.
Per Connolly, approximately 200 tickets were donated to speqtrum on behalf of Forge and Volkswagen and given to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth from across Hamilton to attend the match.
Per Connolly, approximately 200 tickets were donated to speqtrum on behalf of Forge and Volkswagen and given to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth from across Hamilton to attend the match.
Playing against the Pacific Football Club, the Forge lost 0-1 after a late game goal by forward Djenairo Daniels. Both teams played a tightly contested game all throughout the match. After a scoreless first half, a misplay by Forge players Dom Samuel and Triston Henry allowed Pacific FC forward Daniels to notch a wide-open goal in the 85th minute of play.
Despite a 56.4 per cent possession rate for the Forge, the Pacific’s 16 shots and relentless offense managed to overpower the hometown Hammers and bring the visitors to victory. After the game, the Forge sit in third place in the Canadian Premier League standings with four wins, four draws and two losses.
The Forge continue to make donations to speqtrum with merchandise purchases from their 2023 Pride Collection along with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
New initiative by Spectrum and YWCA Hamilton helps newcomers connect with the community
C/O Calum Lewis
There is something incredibly special about cooking with someone. Many of us have happy memories associated with a certain kitchen or certain meals. For newcomers, cooking can not only be a way to stay connected to culture and something familiar in a foreign place, but it can also be the foundation for building a new community.
While building community in a new place is never easy, the pandemic has made it much harder. Noura Afify, the 2SLGBTQIA+ newcomer youth support worker at Speqtrum and YWCA Hamilton, has created an innovative solution in the form of her Food Talks series. Her goal is to help foster a sense of community for newcomers in these difficult days.
Prior to the lockdown, Afify had hoped to organize food tours to showcase businesses that carry important ingredients that many mainstream grocery stores may not and to help newcomers get oriented to Hamilton.
In its place, she has developed a wholesome series featuring conversations between herself and community members about their relationship to food.
“[Food Talks] is a space for us to talk about what food means to us as people — the emotions, the feelings, the memories, the ways that food connects us to those things and connects us to our cultures and to diasporic identities and stuff like that. But also, on the other hand, talking about how food can and has always been used to build community,” explained Afify.
“[Food Talks] is a space for us to talk about what food means to us as people — the emotions, the feelings, the memories, the ways that food connects us to those things and connects us to our cultures and to diasporic identities and stuff like that. But also, on the other hand, talking about how food can and has always been used to build community,” explained Afify.
The episodes serve as a way to introduce newcomers to members of the community and are also connected to the virtual community kitchen, Mother Tongue.
Food Talks is catered towards elders and youth. The episodes of the series are posted on both Instagram and Facebook, which Afify hopes will allow both demographics to engage with it.
So far, the series has been received warmly by both the viewers and the interviewees.
“It's been really sweet. We've been having folks leave really sweet comments. And folks who did partake in the interview said they really enjoyed it and almost everybody wanted to come and co-facilitate a community kitchen with us. It was really lovely to see that because that is my goal, to have them meet newcomers in person or virtually, so that means a lot to me. And I'm sure it will mean a lot to the newcomers to be able to make those nice affirming connections and create support systems,” said Afify.
It's very important to Afify that Food Talks fosters a sense of community for 2SLGBTQIA+ newcomers, showing them that there is a space for them in Hamilton. She hopes Food Talks will help ease some of the worries newcomers have about finding connection and community in a new place during these times.
Afify also recognizes the importance of making long-term connections, especially for newcomer students. She hopes that Food Talks will give them an opportunity to create these kinds of connections with the larger Hamilton community.
“When I was a student, I was fairly isolated and it was hard getting support only from other students because exams and everybody was so busy all the time. Whereas if you want to connect with an elder in the queer and trans community that's off-campus, they will make time for you. So you're also building connections that are going to support you for the rest of your life. You are meeting mentors, you are learning from people. Most of my learning happened from people, not from classrooms,” explained Afify.
As of publication, only two episodes of Food Talks have been released but more are in the works. Going forward, Afify also hopes to film episodes in languages other than English to help overcome any language barriers.
“This whole project is to give a warm, virtual, community hug to newcomers who are super isolated right now and are really, really struggling. It's one thing to be a newcomer, it's another thing to be a newcomer has to go through all the struggles and barriers in the middle of COVID,” said Afify.
From sitcoms to home improvement shows to commercials, the kitchen is assumed as the central space of a family. It is shown as a spot where its members gather, whether they’re grabbing a quick breakfast or cooking a multi-course holiday dinner.
However, since family can define so much more than just blood, it is only fitting that kitchen spaces be found in the community as well. The North Hamilton Community Health Centre and Speqtrum Hamilton have teamed up to create the Intergenerational Kitchen, an all-ages cooking series for the LGBTQ2S+ communities.
“[F]or myself there is definitely a period of time that I did not feel as comfortable maybe engaging my grandparents or aunts and uncles because I didn't know what they thought about my identity or I wasn't sure how accepting they're going to be. So it's a way that we can be our full selves in a space and also connect with other people that are different ages,” explained Jyssika Russell, the project co-ordinator for Speqtrum Hamilton.
The kitchen series has run every other Tuesday since Sept. 18 at the NHCHC’s community kitchen. The first series of events ends on Nov. 27 but there are plans to start up a second series of the program in the future.
Each event consists of making three or four dishes, usually consisting of a salad, main and dessert. Care is taken to try and make options for different dietary restrictions. Participants have also brought in their own familial and cultural recipes to share with others.
The NHCHC kitchen has been busting with turnouts of as much as 13 individuals. The program has also received a diverse age group with attendees as young as 16 and upwards of 70 years old. The kitchen is typically set up with learning stations, allowing cooks of different skillsets to learn from one another.
“[O]ne of the things that is the foundation of what Speqtrum does is [that] we try to create opportunities to do stuff together… I've always found doing activities, whether that be learning a new skill or doing something together, you're able to connect and have those conversations about who you are or about the things that you like,” Russell explained.
For those who don’t want to cook, there is also a chill space with a LGBTQ2S+ -themed colouring station. There are also other tasks such as dishwashing and table setting to do. People are also welcome to skip the preparation altogether and just come to eat.
The Intergenerational Kitchen has received a warm response. Having intergenerational events had been requested by the youth that Speqtrum serves and they have been participating, eager to meet and mingle with members of the community with different amounts of lived experience. While there has been a variation in ages, Russell hopes that the kitchen will continue to bring in more generations.
The kitchen has also tapped into the way that food transcends differences. By providing a space outside of partying, it has engaged people with different tastes and ages within the LGBTQ2S+ community. In cooking and sharing a meal, the series has been crossing generational gaps and bringing together those with completely different interests and knowledge, from reality television to sword-making.
“[L]anguage and identities and ways of thinking about gender and sexuality are always evolving. [W]ith younger folks and the Internet… there's a lot of conversation that happens in those spaces that maybe hasn't trickled up to older generations so sometimes there's a generational divide in how we think about gender and how we conceptualize sexuality… I think this is really about recognizing all the similarities that we have across age and across identities,” said Russell.
Like any kitchen, the Intergenerational Kitchen is forging familial ties. It is providing a central space for LGBTQ2S+ individuals of different generations to connect and share in the healing power of a home cooked meal.
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