Sponsors Needed For Youthtown

25 October 2004

Sponsors Needed To Give Children A Taste Of The Great Outdoors

One of Auckland's best-established Youth organisations is looking for sponsors to help send children from disadvantaged homes to its summer holiday camp.

Youthtown will be running the camp over five days in mid-January at Whakanaki on the scenic Northland coast. Activities there will include sailing, kayaking, walks, fishing, boogie boarding, swimming and games. There will also be a stop en route to the campsite for caving and horse-riding and a halt on the way back at the Waiwera Hot Pools.

"We run a summer camp every year. The young Aucklanders who go on them, come back home with new skills, enhanced self-confidence and great memories of days spent with friends amid the grandeur and beauty of our New Zealand countryside.

"It's an experience every Kiwi kid should have but unfortunately some are missing out. We try to keep the price down but there are some parents for whom the cost of sending their child to camp may genuinely still be too high," says Youthtown's Business Manager, Greg Weller.

Mr Weller says that it costs just $195.00 to provide a child with a five day Camp Scholarship. He adds that scholarships will only go to young people who are likely to benefit from them and whose families cannot afford to pay for them.

"We don't look on these scholarships as charity. They're an investment in the future of our community and our city. After all, the kids will be in charge before too long and it's in all our interests to ensure that they grow-up as happy, well-rounded, self-confident, public-spirited people.

"It may be few more weeks before summer arrives but it's not too early for individuals or businesses to make a commitment to funding one of our scholarships. We want to be sure that, by the time the weather heats up, every young person in the 7-to-13 age group who wants to go to camp, will be in a position to do so," he says.

Summer camp is just one of a series of programmes organized by Youthtown and aimed at helping young people express themselves, develop skills and build self-esteem in safe, open and stimulating environments.

Youthtown also runs a 300 day-a-year After School Programme, in which sport, cooking, art and leisure activities are all encouraged. A similar but broader range of activities is available on Youthtown's school holiday programmes, held both at its Central Auckland headquarters in Nelson Street and at suburban centres, including Panmure and Pakuranga.

Founded in 1932, Youthtown is a not-for-profit organisation. It receives no funding from central government and relies for its survival on donations from the public, corporate donors and charitable trusts, as well as upon modest user-charges for some activities and on funding from Auckland City Council.

ENDS

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