Health and Wellness Program
Our Health and Wellness Program, helps kids become healthier physically, mentally and emotionally, by fusing together a blend of recreation, life skills, and enlightenment.
Many of our members are managing issues that can prevent them from thriving, like anxiety, depression, struggles with anger management, and food insecurity. Through the Health and Wellness Program, we help children learn how to deal with their emotions by utilizing proper coping skills, provide food security, focus on self care (including goal setting, healthy habits, exercise, and personal hygiene), unleash their imaginations through art and instill the importance of empathy and compassion.
Program Components
Recreation
Recreation is vital; it’s what initially draws kids inside our doors. Once inside they are able to benefit from all the programs we offer. Before the kids start to file in, pool balls patiently wait to be pushed across the felt, foosball players await their first goal, basketballs anxiously anticipate being taken off the rack and weight need to be lifted— not just literally.
Life skills
Personal Hygiene
Hygiene is one of the many important issues that we deal with each day. We have been providing hygiene products to our members for over 36 years and we also teach our members how to use them. Believe it or not, there are so many kids, even high schoolers, who don’t understand how to clean themselves, use deodorant, or keep their mouths clear of cavities.
We have always offered shampoo, conditioner, soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, deodorant, and feminine products. Now we are providing even more, including: skincare items, socks, workout clothes (shorts, sports bras, tanks and tees), winter clothing necessities, a greater assortment of hair care products, and even some makeup. These products were tough for our kids to come by before coronavirus, and now they need these items even more!
Job Readiness
We provide mentoring for constructing resumes, how to be successful during a job interview, and how to conduct yourself once at said job.
Art therapy initiatives
Each week the members are able to participate in various projects, which helps them cope with stress and anger issues, calms their minds and bodies, and teaches them patience and focus— all essential skills for the real world.
Food security
Each day when they arrive, members are able to have a snack and a healthy meal for dinner. This is of the utmost importance for our members as many of them are facing food insecurity at home.
In addition to providing food, we also provide some ritual and community around having a meal together every evening.
Morals
Teaching kindness is a key part of our mission. Unfortunately we reside in a world that has a large amount of hate. Here at the Youth Center, children learn to work together and get along. This is a place where they are able to have fun, but not at the expense of someone else.
Program Outcomes
Kids Will:
Become healthier physically, mentally and emotionally.
Treat their peers, teachers and other people in their lives better with a greater understanding of kindness.
Get the basics, such as food, clothing, and hygiene products, that they need most.
Learn how to deal with stress, anger, anxiety in a positive and productive manner with proper coping skills
Understand how to take care of themselves hygienically.
Understand how to apply/ interview for a job and how to conduct themselves when they do secure one.
Gain healthy habits that will help them for the rest of their lives.
Learn how to use their imaginations and get creative
Gain confidence in themselves
Learning from a real Youth Center moment:
Why We Started Our Hygiene Program
Many years ago, a mother called and asked Matt Congdon if he could teach her son how to take better care of himself. Matt instructed him to go home, take a shower, and be sure to use soap. The boy came back the next day in great spirits because he’d taken a shower and felt really happy about it, except he said his head was really bothering him. Matt asked what type of shampoo he had used only to find out that this young man had used Tide granular clothes detergent on his scalp. It was at that point the Youth Center started carrying hygiene products so that we could hand them out to our members and make sure they knew about proper use.
Learning from a real Youth Center moment:
Family Is Who You Eat With
One day a 12-year-old girl asked to use the phone. She wanted to call her mom to see if there was going to be dinner that night. Her stepfather answered and, as soon as he heard her voice, began to scream at her, calling her every name in the book for daring to bother him. “What makes you think we want you home at all?” he shouted. She hung up the phone, turned to Matt and Molly and said, “Looks like I’m eating with you guys again tonight.” She had dinner at the Youth Center every single night until she graduated from high school.
Learning from a real Youth Center moment:
We Take Care of Each Other
One winter, during a snowstorm, Matt was shocked to see two young boys, not even 10 years old, shoveling the Youth Center walkway. Despite the frigid temperature, they were dressed only in shorts, sneakers, and T-shirts. Their skin was bright red from the cold, but there they were, trying to help the Youth Center. Matt opened the door and said, “Hi fellas, it’s so nice of you to clear this snow for us, but you don’t need to! You must be freezing out here.” They looked up at him and said, “Are you the guy who does the cooking?” He wasn’t, but he still invited them inside for something to eat. The boys quickly shuffled inside, thanking him profusely. They were too young to start coming to the Youth Center, but Matt told them that they could come in for dinner each and every night—and they did just that, for many years to come.