Takutai Charitable Trust is inviting the community to attend the Youth Volunteering Expo at Beachlands Memorial Hall on Saturday.
The hall will be alive from 12pm-4pm with exciting activities for families to partake in – from a sausage sizzle outside to about 18 stands inside from a large variety of different volunteer organisations, there is no shortage of things to do.
Beautification Trust, Zero Waste, Beachlands Fire Brigade, Rotary, Nature’s Den, Toy Library, Howick Little Theatre, Maraetai Beachlands Predator Free, Auckland Rangers, Friends of Te Wairoa, Pohutukawa Children’s Choir, Takutai Foodbank, Takutai Youth Council, Takutai Youth Project, Papakura Army Cadet Unit, Pohutukawa Brownies and Guides, Te Puru Scouts and the police will all be at the expo, providing young people a vast choice of volunteering opportunities on the coast to get involved in.
Takutai board member Ann Montier says the youth expo is a reflection of all the trust’s work with youth. “It is a culmination of what we’ve been working towards.”
Takutai Youth Volunteering, funded by the Franklin Local Board, has been providing youngsters from primary school age to young adults with a variety of practical skills from around March of this year.
The first stage has Year 1s and 2s from local schools making ‘kindness bees’, where they would colour the bee in and write kindness messages on the wings. The 300 bees will be on display in the hall at the expo.
The second stage has student groups participating in community volunteering, such as making traps for Predator Free New Zealand, making care packages for foster kids, water-testing in Clevedon, and doing rubbish pick-ups.
The third stage is the youth joining senior groups. “It’s intergenerational, mixing older generation with younger people,” Montier says. “It’s so beneficial for both groups.”
The Youth Volunteering Expo is on Saturday September 24 from 12pm-4pm. It’s open to the public with free entry at the Beachlands Memorial Hall.
“This is only the beginning of the future of getting youth involved in the community,” Montier says. “It’s teaching them that it’s not about me, but about the community they’re in.”
The expo will also be open on 9.30am-12.30pm on Friday for schools only.
