Club 53 Youth Centre
The Pas Friendship Centre

Project Summary

The Youth Centre provides a safe place for youth to get together and to participate in positive programming. It is a project that is designed by the youth and for the youth. Club 53 Youth Centre holds an Annual general meeting where a President, a Youth Delegate, and a ten-member Youth Advisory Council are elected. The Youth Delegate reports the findings and decisions of the Youth Advisory Council to The Pas Friendship Centre’s Board of Directors, to ensure maximum youth input, regarding what the youth centre offers to the youth of the community. During the summer, Club 53 offers lacrosse, baseball, beach trips, fishing, hiking, trips to the skate park. We will also be adding some new activities such as, Hunters safety course, boating safety, ATV training, and a free summer camp. In the winter, Club 53 offers swim nights, movie nights, gym nights, and ice hockey. Year round programs are street hockey, arts & crafts, cooking nights, homework help, and the babysitter’s course.

Main Component of Project

Our project addresses Sports & Recreation to the utmost. In today’s world where youth spend much of their time playing video games or being on the internet we feel promoting sporting activities is very important. In the winter, our program takes youth to the pool for swimming each Monday, hold street hockey tournaments every Tuesday, and every Friday we rent a local school gym for volleyball and basketball. Every Saturday night we also rent the local arena for our two-hour ice hockey program, which is the most popular program at the centre.

In the summer, we take youth hiking, fishing, and swimming at the lake, and rent Camp Whitney each year for a week where the youth spend much time canoeing and kayaking. Also, in the summer, our weekly programs include baseball and lacrosse.

Project Activities

Social activities: This project plans to conduct social activities for all youth who come to the centre, by giving them a safe place to meet and interact with other youth (as well as staff) in a healthy and fun drop-in centre environment. Social activities include everything from dances to just a quick game of ping-pong or a weekly movie night. Currently, the majority of youth benefitting from this are between the ages of 12 and 18.

Sports & recreation: This project plans to provide sporting activities to any youth that has an interest in the specific program being offered, (ie. Volleyball, floor hockey) by providing them with an activity they enjoy while their physical fitness level is being improved. It will also teach them the value of teamwork and give them something positive to work toward. Club 53 was blessed two years ago with a donation from the NHLPA of 40 complete sets of hockey equipment. This equipment is assigned to Club 53 members at the beginning of each hockey season, so that the youth can play ice hockey for two hours every Saturday night at the local hockey arena, which is paid for by Club 53’s fundraising. Other youth in the community are also welcome, so on any given Saturday there is often up to sixty youth participating in ice hockey. Not only does Club 53’s ice hockey program allow many youth to participate in hockey whereas they never would have been able to afford to before, but it enables many youth to hone their skills in the youth centre league and then to move up to a more competitive level as they improve. Several Club 53 members (male and female) are now playing in The Pas Minor Hockey, after getting their start and first opportunity to play hockey with Club 53. Club 53 also takes youth to the pool every Monday and rents a local school gym every Friday for volleyball and basketball during the winter. During the summer, we have a weekly lacrosse night as well as a weekly baseball night. The youth also spend much time canoeing, hiking, and kayaking when they attend annual summer camp at Camp Whitney.

Cultural activities: This project plans to conduct cultural activities for the aboriginal youth by teaching them about their own culture and traditions, allowing them to take pride in their heritage. At the same time, it will help the non-aboriginal youth to better understand their aboriginal friends by learning more of the aboriginal culture, heritage and history. Learning how to do aboriginal arts and crafts will foster creativity and teach skills to all youth. Other cultures may also be looked at to give all youth a better understanding of the cultures and heritages of others. Club 53’s cultural programs offer opportunities for the youth to ask questions in a safe environment. This project also plans to try to start up pow-wow nights and find an instructor to teach traditional drumming.

Social & health programs: This project plans to continue with our social and health programs that we feel will be of benefit to all youth, and educate them in a variety of health issues. We have community health nurses that come to our centre on a monthly basis and a lot of questions are asked regarding puberty and sexual issues, as well as topics such as suicide and depression. An informational bulletin board is posted in the center (by the community health nurses) and is changed each month. Workshops to educate youth are also of benefit, and through this variety of health related activities, all youth can benefit from them. In the past year, our community health nurses have offered workshops to the youth on the topics of depression, suicide prevention, alcohol & drug awareness, the dangers of smoking, winter safety, the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual assault.

Youth leadership: All youth will be able to benefit in leadership programs by both learning about leadership and its value, as well as through the opportunities given to become leaders. While the leadership programs can benefit all youth, the Youth Advisory Council Members will likely benefit the most. We have seen the rise in the self-esteem of our youth council members, who have taken further ownership and responsibility towards the youth centre, and have now passed this attitude on to the younger, impressionable youth. Being involved with a project such as the MAYC give the youth a chance to learn and grow.

Community Involvement: Community has been and will always be an important part of the Club 53 mandate. Community Involvement programs help the youth by teaching them leadership skills and the value of helping others through volunteering as well as assisting Club 53 and Friendship Centre staff in community programs, such as the Canada Day events or the Christmas Feast. When youth are involved in the community they take a greater pride in it, and are thereby less likely to senselessly vandalize or destroy property. The youth centre has been highly involved with community clean ups and going out into the public to remove grafittii in the surrounding area.

Personal Development: The youth here at club 53 are highly involved on the decisions and choices made by the centre, the youth have the final say in anything we do, this gives them a chance to learn and guide themselves in and out of active decisions made by the youth centre. With leadership skills and speaking in front of large crowds, this gives them an added edge to what is to come for their futures. Over the past couple of years the youth that attend the centre on a regular basis, have learned a lot on how to run proper youth council meetings how to take charge when the help is needed and to interact with community members.

Anticipated Results and Outcomes

It is anticipated that the lives of these youth will be improved and that the crime rates among the youth of our town will decrease, giving the youth greater opportunities for their future. By plugging youth into the various programs it is anticipated that their skills, creativity, awareness of the importance of education, health, and physical activity will be increased. The youth will likely become more aware of themselves, their own culture, and their abilities—as well as become more aware of other people and their backgrounds.

As a centre that serves Aboriginal youth, with an open door policy to all youth, it is also anticipated that the gap between the Aboriginal and non-aboriginal youth will be decreased, creating more unity among the youth of our community. Also, this project will result in allowing some youth to develop their leadership skills even more by taking an active role in the planning and decision making processes. At this year’s Youth Centre Annual General Meeting, close to 75 youth were able to observe and participate in the processes of an AGM. The youth were able to elect their own Youth Council for a one-year term, and learn about the correct protocol and procedure of an election. The results can also be measured by seeing a visible decrease in the crime rate, such as vandalism, as well as the number of youth “hanging out” on the streets. There may also be a visible increase in the interest of education among our youth, which may cause the rate of students dropping out to decrease, giving the youth greater opportunities for employment in the future. With an increased level of participation in recreational programs, the fitness level will be increased, while the youth learn to work as a team, which is something that will flow over into other areas of life. Creativity can be measured by seeing the arts and crafts created by the young people and seeing their skills develop over time.

With a greater awareness of their own culture, different aspects of their culture (as well as that of other cultures) will be more accepted by the youth. We will also be able to see youth taking a more active role in areas of leadership and decision-making. Other results can be measured by talking with the youth advisory council on what benefits they have seen and experienced, as well as surveying other youth on how they have benefited from this project.