SEBASTIAN — The Exchange Club of Sebastian, at its Aug. 27 luncheon meeting, was pleased to present Doug Borrie and Felix Cruz from Youth Guidance with a check for $7,500.
This gift was made possible by the highly successful Sebastian Exchange Blue Water Open Charity Offshore Fishing Tournament held on June 7. All proceeds from this tournament are donated to non-profit organizations in the community, with emphasis on those supporting the prevention of child abuse and youth activities.
Youth Guidance, with its long history of nurturing and mentoring children from low income, single family homes, is particularly worthy of Sebastian Exchange’s support.
As with many non-profits, county and state funding has been significantly curtailed due to budget constraints. Youth Guidance funding is supported 99 percent by donations, grants, and United Way.
Doug Borrie stated that with only four paid staff members, 98 percent of the time spent with the children is with volunteers. They are always looking for volunteers – people interested in helping these young people succeed.
Youth Guidance stresses obtaining a high school diploma and gives each senior $200 toward school associated costs.
There are four tracks taught to each child: Health and Environment, Character, Academic, and Giving Back. The mentoring Academy, led by Felix Cruz, is focusing on group mentoring in order to reach more children.
The volunteers each work with four or five youth and sometimes a 1/1 relationship develops from those groups.
All volunteers also attend the academy training which teaches the basic social skills through three programs: Discovery (age appropriate self-awareness and social skills), Revolving Programs (cooking, art, chorus, Legos, fun science, etc.), and Special Interests (community service, outdoor camp, equestrian camp, SAT camp, etc.).
Doug and Felix said, “Twenty-five percent of our population is children, which is 100 percent of our future.”
For more information on how to become a mentor contact www.youthguidanceprogram.org or call (772) 770-5040.
If you are interested in making a positive difference in the community and helping to prevent child abuse collectively with other like-minded people, please consider attending a Sebastian Exchange Club luncheon meeting any Wednesday (except the first Wednesday of each month) at noon at Capt. Hiram’s Tiffany Room in Sebastian.
They welcome visitors and new members.