Youth For Christ (YFC) hosted their annual fundraising banquet on Friday night, where people came out in support of the organization. Executive Director Art Schroeder details what happened there.
"That went really well. It's always a big surprise when you do an event like this because you're just thankful for the people that show up and give of their time and resources to support an organization that tries to make a difference in our community. It was a really great event. I think we had close to 200 people there, we had a great meal put on by Burnside Barbecue. It was an awesome evening, and we were able to share stories of what's happening with Youth For Christ and what's happening in our community."
According to Schroeder, the organization is no involved in planning more upcoming events. He outlines what is next for them.
"We have a full slate of programs that we run throughout the week. At The Door, in the low-income housing units in the northeast corner of Portage, we run some programs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. And then Thursdays, we run junior high drop-ins from 3:30 to 5:30 for students ages 10-14. Outside of that, we also run a skate program, and so in the summer, we use the skate park. When it gets colder, as we'll see over the next few days, we're going to start moving into our in-door skateboarding facility, that's at 60 Tupper St N, in the back of the building. It's not really big, but it's a great facility that we can keep kids skateboarding all winter long."
As is the case for many non-profits in the community, YFC is always on the lookout for volunteers who can help them keep their programs running. Schroeder says that they don't necessarily need a major time commitment to work with them.
"We always have needs for volunteers, it could be anything from cleaning right up to working with young people, and that's a need that is just on-going. We're finding, too, that the more we work with young people, we're recognizing the needs that are there. And some of those needs need more attention than we can give them that day," Schroeder continues. "Volunteers are something we can always use, especially when I think of some of our events. Sometimes, people say "I have a hard time committing to a program every week for the whole year." But we do a Family Fun Day in March, and for that, we only need someone for one day, if they show up to help, because we get a few hundred people that show up for that one. Our carnival is another one, a few hundred people show up for that one-day event. Then coming up in December, we have our pool/pizza party, where we put on this massive feast of pizza and then we go swimming and we get to hang out with families that we work with in a non-threatening environment, in the pool, just hanging out, having a great time. So, those are things that, if you only want to spend a day with us, you can do that, or if you're more inclined to commit yourself for a longer period of time, we have programs that would facilitate that as well."
To get involved, you can the YFC office at (204) 239-6763.