One local organization is $5,000 richer, and others might see an increase in volunteers, after students went to bat for them Wednesday.
The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) made its Orillia Secondary School debut, where five groups of Grade 10 students made pitches to four judges in a bid to earn money for their charities of choice.
Judges were asked to put any biases aside and make their decision based on the students’ presentation skills. In the end, Grace Juneau, Megan Schneider and Summer Steele won over the judges and earned $5,000 for the Orillia Pregnancy Resource Centre.
The students’ presentation included a number of visual components, including a video interview with the centre’s executive director, Shirley Gillett.
All three students told the audience they knew someone who had been, or could have been, helped by the centre.
It was useful information for the presenters, too, who visited the centre as part of the YPI project.
“We want to know our resources just in case anything were to happen,” said Schneider.
Julia Dawson, Hannah Lye and Brynne McKellar chose New Path Youth and Family Services. Lye began by asking the students in the audience to raise their hands if they had ever struggled with mental health. About half of them put their hands up. She then showed them a graph illustrating the trend of youth mental illness.
“It’s not going down. It’s not staying the same. It’s going up,” Lye said.
After the presentation, she urged her peers to seek help if needed.
“This is a resource you guys can all use, so we hope you take advantage of it.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orillia and District was also in the running for funding, thanks to Kailee Hughes, Emily Lockfeld and Chloe Lye. Their presentation featured an interview with executive director James Maxwell and a tour of the offices. The students focused on the group served by the agency: youth.
“If we want to lead the future, we need these resources,” Lye said.
Next up was the Child Advocacy Centre (CAC) Simcoe/Muskoka, which opened its office in Orillia in 2014. The CAC would have used the money for operational costs and providing snacks, drinks and “comfort items,” such as blankets and stuffed animals, to its clients — children who have suffered abuse.
The final pitch of the day saw Emily Atkey, Max Carter, Mason Godwin and Madi Noganosh making a case for why the Enaahtig Healing Lodge and Learning Centre should get the funding. The money would have helped the organization — whose main centre is in Victoria Harbour, though it also has an Orillia location — expand its programming, including mental health services.
There were no losers in the YPI exercise, said Nathan Box, the teacher who oversaw the competition. He noted some of the students have said they will volunteer with the groups for which they were advocating Wednesday.
“You instil this in them when they’re young so they stay involved in their community,” Box said. “You could see from the presentations there’s a lot of effort put into it. For a lot of people, it impacted them personally.”
Including Wednesday’s donation, $25,000 has been awarded to local charities through YPI.
Find out more about the program here.
