When Pat Savage says he wants to take the show on the road – he’s not kidding.
He wants to take YFC/Youth Unlimited where no ministry in Minto has gone before – on the road with a mobile youth centre – in a refurbished school bus.
He said youth centres provide young people a place to go, a person to care, and a purpose to live by
Mayor David Anderson said the town has sponsored the group for the past couple of years, but Savage had not been before council for a few years either. “It’s nice just to have an opportunity for an update,” Anderson said.
Savage thanked council for the invitation.
“On May 3, I celebrated my 10th year here. It’s been a good run and we’ve done a lot of things. We’ve opened three youth centres in all three communities.”
He added, “We’ve worked in three schools and inspired the lives of hundreds of teenagers.”
“Over the years we have raised around a million dollars … which is incredible because there were some naysayers who said maybe it could not happen in this community. It’s amazing to see what we’ve been able to accomplish here.”
Savage said, “City centres such as Kitchener tried for a similar type of youth centre … and they couldn’t make it happen … and we’ve got three. People are very supportive here. And the town has supported us for many years. We have over $55,000 invested in our property in Palmerston. At the moment we are open one night a week.”
That is due to decreased volunteer staff. Because of the nature of working with high risk young people, he said there must be a certain amount of people in the building at a given time. He added the previous program was very aggressive, operating five nights per week for one satellite. Most satellites have one youth centre, which run up to three nights per week.
Savage was unaware of any of the satellite locations of YFC?in southwestern Ontario that ran more than three nights per week but the group decided to have a youth centre night once per week in each of the communities. He is hoping to also have special events once per month on Friday nights.
Savage does not hold office hours at the Palmerston location and there appears to be no other groups interested in using the facility on a regular basis.”
He uses office space in Harriston, and there is a guitar teacher who uses the space.
“Even though we’ve tried for many years to get other groups to use our facilities, it’s been very difficult.”
In the beginning there were groups making use of the Palmerston space, “but over the past five years, we’ve been there by ourselves.”
He explained his proposal to his committee.
YFC/Youth Unlimited has been involved in youth centre for 20 years.
“I’ve been running youth centres for 13 years and have found that if you build them, kids will come. So the approach taken is, we find a facility. Fill it full of equipment. And kids will come. It’s not a pool hall … it’s a youth centre.”
Savage said “It’s a place where they can find caring adults who can encourage them, inspire them, love them and help if they need it. We want to help these young people. Many are high risk and we want to help them find hope and a purpose for their lives. Building relationships is huge for us. We’re good at it.”
The centre runs a wide range of programs and activities.
“All these touch the lives of a young person. Relationships are the key to what we do, and are a primary goal.”
Teens can find love, hope, faith and a purpose in their lives, he said.
Savage did a survey before presenting his proposal to his steering committee.
It included both who went to the centre and those who never had been there. As well, he interviewed town officials and employees, pastors, youth pastors, citizens, teachers.
When he asked them about the Palmerston Centre, “Surprisingly, after 10 years, a lot of people didn’t know where we were. But many did.”
Most of the responses, he said, were from kids, but it showed the centres are a place to go.
As for mobile youth centre, “The idea is to take a school bus, removed the seats, and refurbish it as a youth centre.”
He said responses were overwhelmingly positive to the idea.
Savage provided an artist’s concept of what the centre could look like. In the front would be a television that could be hooked up to a Wii or other video game station.
A table could be used for air hockey or foozeball. He was the first to admit ping pong likely would not work well in a metal bus.
There would be a snack bar and at the back, and a table for additional games.
Savage anticipated an additional flat screen TV?on the back wall for movies.
He added that during good weather, probably half of the kids will be outside anyway, so the hope is to have a canopy with tables and chairs beneath.
Savage used a quote from a young person who’d been through the program and is now a young mom and a keen leader in the program. She said, “The bus ministry would rejuvenate leadership, volunteers and youth … and it would inject new life into the ministry.”
Savage added, “With the bus, we can do everything we are doing right now in Minto for youth in Palmerston, with a bus-mobile youth centre.”
He said it would allow other opportunities like fairs, parades, special events and the like.
It could be moved from community to community, or even be filled it with blankets and soup and he could take kids to Toronto to hand them out on the street.
“There’s so many things we could do, for a lot less money.
To manage it is a lot less, too.
Compared to the $55,000 invested in the Palmerston building, he anticipated a mobile youth centre would only take $20,000.
The difference would allow the group to do other things it normally would not have the funds to do.
Anderson liked the concept and saw a lot of potential.
Councillors were curious what would happen to the other centres.
One still exists in Harriston, and the group rents space in Clifford.
Savage said the Harriston would stay as is, because it is being used for office space, and is being rented.
“It is a central location, and between the two buildings it is the better one to offer more possibilities for the group.
If the mobile centre existed, that would replace the Clifford and Palmerston locations.
“We’d even consider it for Harriston, on and off, to provide a change.
