‘The community can be a big part of this’
Youth centres ask public to sponsor a child
There are children who attend the Undercurrent Youth Centre in Glace Bay and Sydney not only for activity but to eat.
“There are some who are out on the streets all day and come here to eat all the time,” said Dave Sawler, executive director. “We get kids of all backgrounds but many who can’t afford anything. Many times these kids show up for programs and you just know that they’re hungry.”
Sometimes the youth centre can obtain funding and sometimes there’s nothing, which makes it hard to plan, he said.
Sawler said the problem is without stabilized funding the centre can’t plan programs or ensure there will be food.
“When we have funding we can provide food with most of our programs and it’s always important we have food in our kitchen for those kids who are just hungry.”
As a result he said the centre is starting a sponsorship program where people can adopt a child for $35 a month or a family of children for $90, which would go toward expenses to see the child involved in life skill programs, recreational programs, mentorship and weekly meals.
In Glace Bay the centre sees about 400 children a week and in Sydney about 200 already attend, although it only opened in February.
“The community can be a big part of this to make sure a kid gets a good meal every week for a whole year.”
The idea came from a youth centre in Hamilton Ontario that started the program. Sawler had Skype meetings with the Hamilton officials and then went up to meet with them.
“They have 700 kids sponsored,” he said.
“These kids are in programs and are getting fed everywhere and receiving things for their birthday and at Christmastime.”
Sawler said last year the United Way provided $38,000 in funding for the Glace Bay and Sydney youth centres but the funding ended March 31.
“We thank the United Way as because of that donation we were able to do a lot more for kids last year and in many different ways,” he said.
“It went directly to kids who needed extra help in Glace Bay and in Sydney.”
The centre also received funding from the East Cape Breton Community Health Board in the past but it was limited to $1,000 a year.
Sawler said when they can’t get funding, the centre supplements with fundraisers, the food bank helps out and sometimes people donate food.
“We would scrounge up what we could for snacks and things like that,” he said.
“I don’t know how we even do it all half of the time.”
Right now the centre only receives funding for its floor hockey program.
Sawler said when the Undercurrent Youth Centre first opened in Glace Bay it was a safe place for many kids to go who were simply on the streets during the day.
Since then the centre has built up a lot of programs including floor hockey, music, life skills and skateboarding.
“We are going to go back to this is a safe place you where you can be but there will also be programs going on.”
Anyone wishing to sponsor a child can do so online by visiting the Undercurrent Youth Centre website at www.supportundercurrent.com, or telephone 902849-7559.