Youth “YAK”ers get at 'er

Oct 07, 2010

Photo: Skills Link youth participants at the Sharbot Lake car wash Sat. Oct. 2

A long list of odd jobs are being crossed off the lists of various organizations and groups in and around the Sharbot Lake community thanks to the help of 10 participants of the Sharbot Lake Skills Link Program, a life skills pilot program that is run through the YAK (Youth Action Committee) Youth Centre in Perth. The program is running for the very first time in Sharbot Lake and began on August 30.

The program is designed to assist youth ages 16-30 by promoting healthy living, community participation and employment opportunities and will run for six months. Participants work 35 hours a week and receive a stipend of $340 per week.

The program has two main components, with the youth attending various workshops while also working at various hands-on jobs in and around the community.

To date the youth have participated in workshops that have included a Banking 101 workshop presented by BMO Perth, a Personality Dimension workshop that helps participants to identify their personality traits, and a workshop about summer job opportunities. They also participated in a TYPS Town Youth Participation Strategies) workshop that focuses on time management skills and setting goals.

Job shadowing is also an important part of the program and occurs once a month. Participants are assigned to various locations in the community. Robyn Laurie Stephanie Kelly, and Kalita McEwen recently shadowed teachers at local area schools. Stephanie particularly enjoyed her stint at Land O' Lakes Public school. “Teaching is something that I would definitely like to do and the experience has shown me exactly what is involved, which is great and I love it.”

Jobs in and around the community so far have included preparing the Central Frontenac Railway Heritage Society’s caboose for a paint job, and running a car wash in Sharbot Lake that raised approximately $250 worth of canned goods for the Sharbot Lake Food Bank.

Sally Angle, chair of the railway heritage society, helped prepare the youth workers on Sept. 29 as they mounted ladders and donned plastic gloves prior to cleaning the caboose. “They are doing us a great service and can get up on the ladders, which is something a lot or our members are grateful for.”

A future job for the group is the design and construction of an outdoor storage shed at the Treasure Trunk. The group has also discussed their own long-term project - to organize and run the Skidoo Snow Drags in Sharbot Lake in February. The Snow Drags were held annually for a few years in the village

Dave Hitchcock is the program coordinator and said, “The hope is to get these kids involved in the community, learn new skills and prepare them for future work.”

So far their efforts are making a big difference in the community. Anyone who feels they might have a suitable project for these eager youth can contact Dave Hitchcock at 613-279-2700.