Northland YES trust donates $15K to needy youth

Northland Youth Development Trust chairman Mike Preece (left) with trustee/secretary Sophia Warren, Foster Hope Northland co-ordinator Debbie Sutcliffe and NYDT trustee Robyn Terlesk.

Northland Youth Development Trust has made one final contribution to the community before winding up its operation.

On shutting the books after 10 years in the role, Northland Youth Development (NYDT) trustees decided the $15,000 surplus balance should be donated to a youth-oriented charity, choosing Foster Hope Northland.

"Our trustees were delighted to support such a noble cause as Foster Hope, where in times of domestic crisis, disenfranchised youth are offered meaningful and relevant assistance,'' departing chairman Mike Preece said.

He said the trust, set up to oversee the Far North's chapter of the Lion Foundation's Young Enterprise Scheme at its inception, was winding up after being made ''redundant''.

The Lion Foundation has decided the scheme will be governed centrally from Wellington.

Far North YES co-ordinator Gary Larkan will remain in his role.

The learning programme offers students the chance to start up a business and run it for a year, matching student enterprises with mentors in their communities.

Debbie Sutcliffe, Foster Hope's Northland co-ordinator, said the trust's donation would make a difference to the help offered local vulnerable youth, many of whom lived in foster homes.

Among various packages of aid, displaced youngsters receive a backpack filled with personal items from Foster Hope. It would now include a sporting item suitable for teenagers, as well as the usual pyjamas, toiletries, sundries and a towel.

The youths will also get an educational book to help them ''navigate their world and encourage and enhance connections that will help them in realising their full potential", Sutcliffe said.