The chance to fill up on sugar, admire food art and help out a very worthy cause is back in New Westminster.
Fabio and Gina Cornale, owners of Bella Cakes & Pastries in Sapperton, have debuted this year's gingerbread house to be raffled off for charity - a mock New Westminster Police Service station.
The beneficiary of this year's raffle is the New Westminster Victim Assistance
Association, a non-profit society run out of the police station that offers 24/7 assistance to victims of crime and trauma.
"We both wanted to keep the charity local but we also wanted to pick a charity that doesn't get a lot of recognition," Fabio said, contrasting victim assistance with the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation, which pulls in millions in donations. "It's the little guys that sometimes really, really appreciate the money that we raise."
Last year, the Cornales chose the Firefighters' Charitable Society, which stoked a playful, but age-old rivalry.
"We have a few customers that are police officers, so they were kind of ribbing me and I said, 'Oh, I'll take care of you next year,'" Fabio said. "I think the victims services is one that people really overlook. Sometimes there are things behind the scenes that people don't see."
Cheryl Meyers, victim assistance manager, said the support and recognition is greatly appreciated.
"We're very honoured and very appreciative that they would have thought of us. We're just thrilled," she said. "The New Westminster Victims Assistance Association could really use the money."
Meyers said any proceeds from the raffle will go to the association's volunteer resource committee, which supports the volunteers and victims with things like children's games and toys to occupy kids who come in during a crises, comfortable furniture for victims to rest on while police and volunteers look for a safe place for them to go, training and books for the volunteers, and the all-important the juice and granola bars volunteers need to make it through the long nights at the station.
"The calls can be horrific," she said "and these people are out there delivering the services. It's really hard stuff."
The gingerbread house itself took about 10 hours to complete, and weighs in at about 27 kilograms, Fabio said.
"It's a lot of brickwork. Each brick is done by hand. The back of the building is like a jail cell; it's got iron bars and all that, and the front is more like a typical police station," he said.
Fabio used a vintage police station still in use in the Eastern United States as a model.
Tickets are available in the bakery, one for $1, three for $2 and eight for $5. The draw takes place Dec. 22. The raffle typically brings in $700 to $800 a year. The Victims Assistance Association takes donations year-round.
