Building self esteem and leadership skills while doing fun stuff is what the Saddle Hill Foundation Trust youth community programmes are all about.
The Otago Community Trust donated $5000 this year to assist with activity costs for the Foundation Trust's two main programmes – the Ground Zero for year seven students, and the Summit programme for year eights. The Trust also runs Friday night activities, known as "Random" to give secondary school students a safe place to have fun.
Programme co-ordinator Jeremy Selfe said the funding is much appreciated, as are the programmes themselves. "We challenge our young people to step up and the results are very positive both for the young person and the community – one family told us how thrilled they were that their previously quiet youngster had the courage to attend soccer trials after attending our programme, and had now taken his skills to a representative level. All it took was a boost in self confidence for him to take off.
