A bit of catching up to do this week, so I will start with the great presentation on the 27th February from member Krischan Keller and his two Youth Case Managers, Senior Constable Matthew Davenport and Senior Constable Daniel Korn. They enlightened us regarding some of the great work they are doing at the PCYC Mittagong with some of the less-privileged amongst our local school leavers. They focused particularly on two of their key programs.
Fit For Life is an early intervention program designed to engage youth who are at risk of poor choices and anti-social behaviour. Through physical fitness, nutrition and social engagement, Fit For Life aims to improve overall wellbeing as well as prevent and divert youth from offending behaviours.
Fit To Learn is a program designed to re-engage disengaged youth into the education system, allowing them to further develop intellectual and social skills. This program encourages participants to explore their strengths in building respectful relationships within a school environment whilst also developing emotional intelligence skills preparing them for future employment.
On Wednesday 6th March we had one of our irregular social evenings at the Botanic Gardens. Our thanks to Chris and Charlotte Webb, not only for allowing us to access the Gardens but also for all of the equipment and infrastructure they made available for our use. A good number of members, family and friends turned up and, thanks to our RYLA stalwarts Lyndall, Melissa and Bridget, everyone enjoyed a Gourmet BBQ meal followed by a touch of chocolate. The highlight of the evening was a display of Blues prowess on the keyboard by one of our recent RYLArians, Mikki Dunne.
Mikki is apparently self-taught and not able to read music, but promises to have a great future as a musician. To this end, he is currently contemplating doing an Arts/Music degree at Wollongong Uni. Several of us encouraged him to pursue this option, including a couple of his fellow RLYArians, Emily Wheatley and Sean Wilson, who had come all the way from their respective universities in Canberra to bolster the audience.
