The Rotary Club of Kiama has celebrated its ongoing involvement in several local youth projects by holding a special Youth Service dinner this week.
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Special guests included Kiama High School’s student wellbeing and engagement teacher Ms Jane Littrich, Mr Andrew Chatfield from Kiama Youth Centre and Rotary Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) students Bridget McCormack and Jade Vidilini.
Kiama Rotary acting youth director Mal Bracken presented Kiama High School with a cheque for $1800 to support the introduction of the Junior Top Blokes ‘Crossroads’ program.
The program will be delivered by the Top Blokes Foundation and will deliver an innovative social education program to empower teenage boys to make healthy life choices and improve their health and wellbeing.
Mal also presented $1000 to the Kiama Youth Centre to assist the funding of young women’s and men’s programs which help build resilience, capacity and encourage positive approaches to life.
“The financial contribution from Kiama Rotary is really going to help more local, young men and women than we can currently serve,” Kiama Youth Centre’s senior youth worker Andrew Chatfield said
“With the various issues that are prevalent amongst young people within the community, I think as a community and working together in partnership we can start addressing some of these issues.”
Miss McCormack and Miss Vidilini spoke enthusiastically about their recent experiences at RYPEN and how it provided them with a positive experience including: a heightened sense of self-confidence, knowledge and skills regarding stress management plus making many new friendships.
The RYPEN program is for young people aged 14 – 16 years and caters for teenagers who have shown qualities of decency, courage, persistence, sincerity and application in everyday life, which deserve further development.
RYPEN uses the common bonds of learning, co-operation and friendship to design activities while facilitate trust and self-esteem and seeks to broaden each participant’s horizons culturally, socially and academically, providing the inner foundations for a strong future.
If you are interested in learning more about Rotary’s youth programs, contact the Rotary Club of Kiama youth director Heather Morton on 0401 177 799 or visit http://rotarykiama.org.au and follow them on facebook.com/RotaryKiama for updates.
