Skip to content

Youth For Community team to assist seniors in need in North Cowichan

Funding will allow first steps toward employment to be made
16975550_web1_RBCFutureLaunch
Cheque for $10,000 is presented by RBC to the Municipality of North Cowichan. From left are: Veena Sidhu, Community Manager for Cowichan Valley RBC; Laura McIntyre, North Cowichan’s Youth Outreach Programmer in the Parks and Recreation department; Martin Thibodeau, Regional President of RBC for B.C.; and Jonathan Do, Regional Vice-President of North Vancouver Island for RBC. (Photo submitted)

North Cowichan’s Youth for Community team is back in action this summer, looking for seniors who might need a hand with household chores.

Thanks to a generous donation from RBC’s Future Launch program, Youth Outreach is once again able to give local youth their first steps to employment.

The program will employ youth aged 12-18 years in Crofton and Chemainus who have regularly participated in our youth outreach programs,” explained the municipality’s Youth Outreach Programmer, Laura McIntyre. “Our youth team’s primary focus this summer will be to assist seniors within the community with pre-arranged tasks.”

Need weeds pulled? Plants watered? A little bit of painting done? Other household chores starting to pile up? This dedicated crew is willing to knock those off your to-do list.

The service is absolutely free to seniors in need, while youth will earn a wage funded through RBC’s Future Launch program.

“When experience is so important to getting a job, but so hard to come by, young people are left feeling uncertain about their futures in the new world of work,” noted Mark Beckles, Senior Director, Youth Strategy and Innovation, RBC. “We hope that through our partnership with North Cowichan on our RBC Future Launch initiative, we can help young people get those all-important first jobs and break the ‘no experience, no job’ cycle.”

While at work, the Youth for Community participants will be mentored and supervised by the program coordinator,” McIntyre added. “Youth participating in the program will have the opportunity to gain employment experience and on the job skills and participate in a variety of employment workshops throughout the summer.

Youth for Community is set to begin July 2. For more information, contact Laura McIntyre at 250-246-4217.