The Boyle Youth Centre’s future could be in question, unless more community members step up to direct it.
Boyle Youth Centre Melissa Gardner said the board is currently strapped for members, as there are only three active public members and two Village of Boyle councillors. The centre has no treasurer, but Gardner has been temporality filling the role.
“Without a treasurer, we can’t really run. I’ve been doing both treasurer and president position, and I can’t do both. If there’s no treasurer, then really we can’t run,” she said. “So there is that possibility, that if positions aren’t filled then we probably would have to shut down until positions are filled.”
Gardner said one of the challenges of having so few members is fundraising. Being a non-profit, Gardner said the centre gets a couple grants and runs a casino, but otherwise the board has to be creative.
She added it would be nice to be able to do more fundraising, and have more people at the table to help with that, so the youth centre does not have to be so stringent with “every penny.”
“It’s really hard to do a fundraiser with three people, or even just come up with ideas and stuff for a fundraiser with three people,” she said. “It’s exhausting.”
Siarra Johnson-Scanie, Boyle School Grade 7 student, was hanging out at the youth centre Jan. 19 playing pool with friends. She said last school year, she attended the centre “all the time.”
“This place is like a home. If I could live here I would,” she said. “It’s when after school if people don’t want to go home they can come here and have fun, get away.”
Gardner said it makes her sad to see the centre’s future in question, because it fills the role of providing activities to kids and keeping them out of trouble.
“But if there’s no youth centre where do they go?” she said.
Gardner added it would be nice if more people with teenage children would joint the board, as all current members have young children.
“They might have a few more ideas of what kids that age would like to participate in or what they like doing,” she said.
Anyone who is interested in joining the Boyle Youth Centre’s board is encouraged to attend its annual general meeting, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in the youth centre.
