Wahroonga Rotary Club Youth Committee has been working closely with the PCYC Police Youth Case Managers at Hornsby PCYC since 2011. Over this time, the Youth Committee has allocated $28,600 towards their excellent work with Youth at Risk in the Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby area.
Click on "Read More" below to read their Kayak story prepared by Lisa.
Contd:
The two current Officers, Lisa and Paul, have visited our Club on a number of occasions and provided an update on their very valuable work. Lisa has been awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship by the Club for her activities with young people in the area.
Over the years, Lisa and Paul have accumulated $7,300 in unused funds and allocated it to outdoor activities involving the purchase of 8 kayaks, life vests, a trailer and fishing gear.
..."Every time that we design and create a program, we try to make the absolute best program we can to suit the audience at the most effective price. Over time, we have been able to accumulate $7300 that has not been utilised in these group programs.
When COVID-19 surfaced and PCYC Clubs and schools closed, people were forced into isolation and social distancing was introduced. We had to develop creative programs to comply with all health recommendations and still deliver a program that would help make our youth at risk more resilient.
An idea we had over the past 5 years then came to mind. By purchasing kayaks we could take our programs outdoors and away from enclosed spaces. We conducted a lot of research that linked time spent outdoors with increased mental health resilience and improved overall wellbeing. Paul and I spent many hours on the internet and phones researching what we could purchase with a trailer and where we could purchase cost effective kayaks.
We were finally successful in locating the perfect trailer from Kendy Caravan and Trailers in Erina. Kevin took care of us here, gave us a great discount and was so helpful in setting our trailer up for our use. The Kayaks we purchased were through Kayaks2Fish at Wyong. Evelyn was so amazing giving us a fantastic discount on not only the kayaks but also all the life jackets we needed. We organised the collection and had to pick them up over 2 occasions due to shipping issues (Covid).
Security of our newly acquired kayaks was a priority. With the help of our great handyman Dean, we came up with the idea of a caged area with temporary fencing that we could source from Bunnings. Bunnings at Dural came on board and donated a large amount of supplies we needed for the cage area along with an esky. Once the cage was finished, Paul and I finished it off with some PCYC banners to give us the privacy and to look professional.
The last thing we needed was some fishing gear. Bob sent us to Belmore BCF and Mick the manager was amazing. He set us up with fishing gear for 10 people at cost price. Our kayak project would not have been possible without so many organisations coming on board with their support.
In Term 4 2020, we set out with the kayaks on our Fit2Learn Program. The students from Kuring-Gai High School absolutely loved the kayaks and having their program delivered outdoors at the Bobbin Head National Park. There were obvious and dramatic differences in both behaviour and engagement in the program once we relocated from the PCYC out to the National Park.
Term 1 2021 we tried a new spot at McCarrs Creek Reserve at Church Point with students from St Ives High School on our Fit2Learn Program. This location was beautiful. We set up under a lovely big tree with students using both camp chairs and the tree to sit on. I have recently re-enrolled 2 students in this term’s Fit4Change Program and they asked if we could head back out to McCarrs Creek as they loved the experience this area gave them."
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