2003-2004 PCI YAC Report
The third year of the Youth in Philanthropy project at Portage Collegiate has been an excellent experience for our group. We held our initial meeting at noon in September, 2003 with a large group of prospective YIP members. The students who are currently members of our group are Kimmie Halwas, Caitlin Gobert, Nikki McLeod, Ashley Edgar, Gillian Thornton, Kaitlynd Brown, Devin Nelissen, and Brenna Mauws.
L to R: Devin Nelissen, Brenna Mauws, Gillian Thornton, Jeff Harder, Nikki McLeod, Caitlin Gobert, Ashley Edgar, and Devon Jones. Missing: Kimmie Halwas and Kaitlynd Brown.
On October 28 we had an orientation workshop at AMHS with the groups from both schools followed by a pizza luncheon for everyone. Our workshop leaders were Karen Braden and Jim Rennie. As a result of this workshop and further discussion at the following meeting our group decided to research charities which worked to help people with medical needs, children and seniors in need, and animals. Subsequently we were unable to find a local charity that works to help animals.
We received letters from the charitable organizations that we donated money to in 2003-2004. The letters included a description of the use of the funds in the programs that we had helped. We were very pleased to learn the results of our grants.
We agreed to work with the AMHS Youth in Philanthropy group on a fund raising project for our endowment funds. We're hoping to sponsor a concert this spring and have a meeting planned for April 14.
On November 21 members of the PCI YIP group worked at an information booth at the Portage mall with Sandra Wallace. We prepared a tri-fold brochure for Youth in Philanthropy students to hand out at the booth.
In January Nikki McLeod attended a Community Leadership Group meeting for the Manitoba Local Canada Volunteer Initiative Network and continues to stay in touch with them and share information with our group.
We diligently chose charitable organizations that we thought would match our values and attended interviews with the members of our chosen organizations. Following their visits with the charities they wrote reports on their site visits and presented them to the Youth in Philanthropy group with a recommendation. The YIP members enjoyed learning about the groups that they researched and made several recommendations for grants. We have come to a consensus on who we would like to recommend for grants and what amount we feel should be granted to each organization.
We had both Senior 2 and Senior 3 students interested in attending the CFC Conference 2004 in Quebec City. Since the Senior 2 students will have another chance to attend a conference Ashley Edgar who is in Senior 3 will be attending from our group.
We are able to make the following recommendations:
Children's Wish Foundation- In support of a local resident who's wish is to go to Hawaii. $250
MDC Residents Benefit Fund - To support quality of life needs which are not funded by the government. $200
Multiple Sclerosis Society - To be used for outings for the local clients of the MS Society. $150
Child and Family Services of Manitoba Foundation Inc. - To sponsor a child in the Chance to Camp program. $250
Portage Women's Shelter Inc. - To support activities and/or equipment for the children and playroom. $300
Young Parents Resource Center - To support the 2 day Parent-Child camp program. $350
Service for Seniors - To assist with an information brochure and to support their programs. $250
Big Brothers and Big Sisters - To support their monthly activities, trips, life skills programs for the children. $400
Diabetes Resource Center - To assist with information pamphlets to increase public awareness and to place an book in the library. $200
Meals on Wheels - To support services they provide for clients $150