In August last year, the Rotary Club of Cambridge received $5000 to establish a youth centre in Cambridge.
In recognising that recent years have been tough on teenagers, the centre aims to assist and inspire Cambridge’s young people aged 13 to 19, giving them somewhere positive and fun to be, encouraging personal growth, and fostering good connections in a community space.
The club’s youth and new generation director Kim Prichard said projects such as the youth centre need community backing to get off the ground.
“An idea might be small, but with support such as the community board funding, these needed projects can start to be realised,” Prichard said.
The project has been a joint effort between Rotary, Cambridge High School students and families, as well as the Hautapu Sports Club as the venue.
“The funding helped us initiate the start of the project, to acquire key club items and improve the junior clubrooms’ kitchen facility. In contributing this way, not only does our youth club benefit but so do other venue users, visiting sports clubs and the like,” Prichard said.
“It is not just about the dollars, though. The community board endorsement gives our project the backing it needs for us to seek support from other avenues in the community.”
Applications to the fund close on March 1 at 5pm.
Further information including the application form and funding criteria for the Community Discretionary Fund is available at waipadc.govt.nz/communitydiscretionaryfund
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