Some time ago us at Peel decided as part of the church Plan For Growth to start a youth project which is aimed at youths of high school age. We feel, as many people do, that they need somewhere to go and something to do in the evenings.
Many things have happened for us, and though the process is slow we are hopeful that we will be able to start the project towards the end of the year. We have many things to set in place and things to sort out, like child protection checks. We are working alongside our community Youth Task Force and Community Manager who are helping us with funding for equipment, and costs to employ a qualified, experienced, paid youth worker who can train us.
Andy Poole from the Diocese has paid us a few visits and has given us inspiration and valuable advice. At the moment we are looking for volunteers who can make a regular commitment on Monday or Friday evenings. We especially need a couple of men to help man the door. If you have (preferably) a Christian background and want to help our youths, by getting them off the streets, then please speak to Mo, Sylvia or myself. Full training will be given to us all, and though the project can seem daunting, I am sure it will be very rewarding.
The project will be on Monday and Friday evening 6pm to 9pm in the Parish Hall. The PCC have kindly agreed to let us have the hall free of charge and will let us use the existing facilities e.g. table tennis & pool table. We will also have loud music, and hopefully with funding, we will be able to buy games consoles & computers, and a room has been made available for homework and computing. The plan is for the youth to form their own committee, so they can decide what they want and what to spend the money on, which will be overseen by a small management committee.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has given me encouragement. I would suggest that if there is any person or persons who would like to make a difference to our community by being a volunteer youth worker, make that step of faith because God wants it to happen and He will be with us and guide us. We need to show our young people that we care about them, that they are special, and we are willing to invest in them.
God's love to you all, Irene