The Time 4 Kids program is the PCYC's biggest fund-raiser of the year.

Public figures are put in mock jail cells until they are able to post bail.

"This is about the 10th year Time 4 Kids has been run," Wollongong PCYC club manager Michael Jones said. "We hold it each year during Youth Week and it raises some much-needed funds.

"We hope to raise around $30,000, which will be split evenly between Wollongong and Lake Illawarra.

"The pleasing thing is how well-supported it is in the area. We set the bail at $500, but we're getting people who have gone out and raised over $2000."

Without the money raised through Time 4 Kids, Mr Jones said the two clubs would struggle to provide many of their services and programs.

"The money we raise through this goes towards our Police Youth Case Management programs as well as all the other programs and activities we run, and without this money we'd struggle to offer the range and quality of services we offer," he said.

"The Police Youth Case Management programs are really important.

"That's where we work with kids who have been exposed in some way to crime.

"It's shown the programs have a great effect in reducing the likelihood of those kids being involved in other criminal activities."

Warilla North Baptist Church pastor Brian Pember has been taking part in the Time 4 Kids fund-raiser for a number of years, and was among those locked up at Stockland Shellharbour.

"This is my fourth or fifth year being locked up; I enjoy doing it because it's for such a good cause," he said.

"What's so important about what the PCYC does is that it's preventative.

"It's engaging with the kids and trying to keep them out of crime and building their self-discipline and self-belief."