The group is now well established and going strong. Numbers do fluctuate depending on the activity, but have a core group of 10 youth regularly attending. We have amazing support from many sectors of the community, especially the Lions Club.
In 2019 we established the Winchelsea Basketball team which is coached by Jarmal Richard, owner and director of iconnect2usport, an elite basketball academy based in the USA. We were lucky to receive a grant from Corangamite Financial Services to help establish the group and keep costs to a minimum for participants.
We have engaged the group with outings and in house activities. We were fortunate to be offered the former tea rooms as a temporary space which is amazing and we will certainly be sad when we are asked to vacate…… BUT will we!!!!
The group once again assisted the Winchelsea Football and Netball club in running the canteen for all home games during the 2019 season and received $1500.00. This enabled the group to gain experience in money handling, cooking and customer service, all of which will look great on future resumes. It’s fantastic to watch members of the group grow with confidence over the season.
Emily Pilakis completed her Cert 4 in Youth Work and joined us under the supervision of Monique, to sign off on her placement hours, and has remained as part of the team.
Monique and I are passionate about the group and are encouraged by the positive feedback we receive from the youth attending, parents and community members. We have a diverse group of young people with different personalities, interests and complex needs that have attended on different nights since our inception. This is where Monique’s training in youth and community work is a great benefit.
We have a fun filled calendar organised to see out the year and we thank Wendy and the community house team for their ongoing support.
The future of WYLD looks bright!
