"In our organisation, young people choose who their mentor is. We don't appoint them to people. We're a youth work organisation, we're very much about being holistic, very much about community and the local people in our community.
"We've got a pool table, boxing bag, table tennis, weights, skipping rope and exercise equipment. Pahiatua On Track purchased the building specifically for young people to have a presence in their community.
"We rent it off them at a nominal cost. I think they are an amazing community organisation. They're very much about supporting young people. We are lucky to have this.
"Jase runs all the programmes in the holidays for the young men, with Tommy from Dannevirke. We just ran a Beach Survivor programme for boys with 27 registered. They literally had to live off the land for a week and do other activities to win food.
They had to fish, eel, dive - an amazing activity. We ran one for the girls in December - we had young people from Woodville and Dannevirke attending. The courses build self-esteem, self-worth and build resilience. Some attendees had never been away from home before. Some had never got a certificate before.
"Touch in the Park, Ki-o-rahi, Foxton Fizzer (with wake boarding) were other activities for the youth. A day in the Bay with windsurfing was a highlight. Kathleen and Tira took a group from Pahiatua to Palmerston North for the day.
"We build quality relationships with our youth over the school holidays. Check out our Facebook page, come along, everybody is welcome in our events and activities. Come and meet the team, see what we can do to help. We are here to serve young people.
"We help them with: drivers licences, CVs, if they need help at school, life skills or getting a bank account," said Jeanne.
"By the time they've come to our service, they've got an update on their CV, bank account, IRD number and learners restricted licence, said Tira. They're work-ready when they leave our service. We learn from them as much as they learn from us," she said.
"We put them on defensive driving courses, we look outside the square," said Jeanne.
"We help them to stand on their feet. We can help them to enrol for voting, we can keep a copy of their licence in case it needs to be re-issued, we can hold passwords in case they lose their phone. It's about teaching them the benefits of these things.
"Young people are very good on phones and social media. They can log into things better than we can.
"Come and visit us at the Pahiatua Youth Centre on 183 Main St, Pahiatua, or flick us a message via our Facebook page if you need any further info – we are here to support our district's young people in whatever way or form we can, just ask," she said.
