KEY POINTS:
It used to be easy for Helensville's youth to feel like forgotten people in a forgotten town.
Ten years ago the town's main street was littered with four or five different youth gangs on any given night.
Heidi Van Duyn knew the reality behind those youths' trouble making, and decided to help. Shifted from school to school, she had encountered several abusive caregivers.
But at 15, neighbours took her under their wing, an experience she decided to replicate.
"They had invested in me the awareness that I can be all that I can be. I was petrified, I didn't understand what these people wanted with me. As far as I was concerned I was a nothing, a nobody.
"But I eventually opened up. So I decided to continue the legacy that they had invested in me."
She pestered, begged, scrounged and cajoled the community into helping her. A building was donated, she worked tirelessly to renovate it, and opened the youth club in 2001.
"I had no idea what I was getting myself in for. It was really hard. For the first couple of years I felt like a real bludger. I was always the one asking for help. But I knew it was for a good cause."
Former council community co-ordinator Graeme Howard said Mrs Van Duyn's immense efforts had made her an invaluable community asset.
"What she's done there for the youth, for that kind of youth, is absolutely invaluable.
"A lot of the community doesn't want to get involved and be associated with that kind of child, because of the problems they can bring," Mr Howard said.
Now in a paid position, Mrs Van Duyn, 35, nevertheless gives more than 15 extra unpaid hours each week.
"It's my life. It's what makes my life make sense. It's only the youth club that's made me feel like all the nasty stuff in my past was worth it. Because now it's an asset to me."
