SHELBY – The YMCA of North Central Ohio – Shelby branch is encouraging local teens to help make a difference in their community.
On Monday, Jan. 8, the YMCA Teen Leaders Club will host its first meeting of the year at 5 p.m.
Interested teens in grades 6-12 can register online or visit the Shelby branch at 111 W. Smiley Road.
A YMCA membership is not required to participate. Registration includes a $30 yearly fee, which comes with a Teen Leaders Club shirt. Financial assistance is available for those interested.
Registration will remain open throughout the school year, allowing new members to join past the club’s first meeting.
Irey excited to ‘run with it’
Michele Irey, assistant program director at the YMCA of North Central Ohio – Shelby branch, said the club is a fairly recent addition to youth programming offered in Shelby.
“They’ve done it at the Mansfield YMCA for quite a while and it’s something that we’ve been wanting to get up and running,” she said.
Irey, who’s worked at the Shelby YMCA branch for nearly three years, said she approached Executive Director Ashley Pifer and asked if she could start the Teen Leaders Club in Shelby.
“She’s letting me run with it,” Irey said. “I’m figuring it out as I go, but I’m so excited for it.”
Teens will plan and complete community service projects
The yearlong leadership development and community service program provides local teens with leadership training and volunteer opportunities, which support YMCA programs and community services.
Additionally, Teen Leaders Club advisors share insights about YMCA efforts to help strengthen the community, hoping to inspire and prepare club members for future leadership within the nonprofit organization.
Irey said the club will provide teens with several opportunities to complete community service projects by collaborating with other local organizations and businesses.
She said the first several meetings will include conversations centered around club members’ visions for community service projects, as well as brainstorming fundraising ideas.
Teen Leaders Club members will also have the opportunity to elect a president, vice president and treasurer for the year.
“It will be like their own little community that we’re working on,” Irey said. “They’ll (also) be learning the financial part of it.
“There’s so much to it and I’m just so excited for it.”
Teen Leaders Club provides opportunity for local youth to ‘be included’
Following their first meeting on Jan. 8, Teen Leaders Club members will work together with advisors to set a meeting schedule for each month. Irey said the club is required to meet for at least four hours and complete four hours of community service per month.
Irey said it’s important to have flexibility because she doesn’t want the club to interfere with members’ schooling or extracurricular activities.
“We’ll totally work around everything that they have going on,” she said. “That way, they all have the opportunity to make it to every meeting and to make it to everything that they do for community service.”
Teen Leaders Club offers a welcoming and safe environment, where everybody’s opinions and concerns will be heard, said Irey.
“It’s a good way for a lot of them (teens) to be included, to meet new people and make new friends, because I know that’s so hard for a lot of kids these days,” she said. “It’s something that they’re all going to work on together.”
For more information about Teen Leaders Club, visit the YMCA of North Central Ohio – Shelby branch online.
Those interested may also contact Program and Aquatics Director Stephanie Faulkner, as well as Assistant Program Director Michele Irey by calling 419-347-1312.