A fascinating update provided by Kapiti Youth Support tutor Darcy Hata, had the Kapiti Rotary Club and guests very interested with the excellent results that they are achieving by putting local youth onto the right track in life.
Rotary has had a long-standing relationship with Youthquest when it was established 11 years ago. Some of the original funding came from the JR McKenzie Trust, and several Kapiti Rotary members have taken a very active part with it’s development. Unfortunately, Youthquest lost a significant part of its funding and had to close its doors, and has subsequently merged with Kapiti Youth Support, and the good work together with qualified key personnel, has been successfully integrated into the KYS environment. They have now expanded their activities from solely dealing with teenage boys, and now include primary schools thorough using a different programme.
During the evening with the Rotary Club, Mr John Dow (organiser of the Gold Wards) complimented the KYS staff on it’s outstanding results in Kapiti. He explained that Regional Gold Awards are presented each year at Presentation Functions whereby all Finalists from their City receive a Certificate, and then further functions are held to re-present the Category Winner Trophies, plus everyone gets a photo with their Mayor. Wellington and Hutt City have most the most businesses involved each year. This year we had a finalist from Kapiti, in TOMM which is a health and welfare service for young people developed by Kapiti Youth Support (KYS) and the digital agency Luvly.
To add to the proceedings, the President of Kapiti Rotary Mr Chris Tchernegovski, then presented a cheque for $10,000 to the KYS representatives as further funding towards their excellent endeavours. He also added, that continuing Rotary Club interest will be accorded to KYS, and that funds from our Trailer raffle; golf tournament and other activities will be considered for future assistance.
Photo Caption: (From left) Liz Koh, (Kapiti Rotary) John Dow (organiser of the Gold Awards) Darcy Hata (KYS Senior tutor); Raechel Osbourne (KYS manager) Kapiti Mayor Guru Gurunathan