Youth centre a goal for Kindersley man

Kevin McBain
of The Clarion

On a mission!

The Kindersley Christian Fellowship building has been busy this year – with iKids camp being held all summer and youth group nights on Friday and Saturday.

This is definitely going to continue for the foreseeable future, with an even larger goal in mind.

Scott Matchett, who attends the church, has been working full time as a volunteer youth co-ordinator and has put a lot of time and effort into devising ideas and plans to help keep the youth in the community busy with fun activities/learning opportunities. He hopes that, in the end, there will be enough interest to expand.

“Really, the end game is to open up a youth centre,” he says. “We have been working to establish charitable status so we can get sponsorship, grants, etc. We want to make things more accessible for the youth here.

“We have been based out of Kindersley Christian Fellowship and they have been great, but we are working toward something bigger and something exclusive for the youth.”

Over the summer, they had some great turnouts for youth nights and had to go from one night to two nights, splitting the group into junior and senior youth.

This will work the same in the spring, with youth nights will continue throughout the year.

Friday will be junior nights for kids 10 to 12 years of age and Saturday it’s the senior night, going from 7 to 10 p.m. for ages 13 to 18 years old. There’s no cost for the weekly program unless it is a special event. The program is open to all youth.

Along with the fun and games, there will be special events, possibly three or four a year that may encompass a day or maybe even a weekend. One example is a Hunger Games event planned for next spring.

“It’s a great time and we have wacky, crazy events planned,” he said. “We will have youth rallies, concerts and fundraising events as well.”

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For example, last weekend, the junior youth hosted a Nerf Wars night in the gym. And Saturday, a bunch of the senior youth went to participating restaurants in the community and judged each one to see who had the best fries.

Matchett has worked with youth for a long time. He said that this centre will be his fourth he will have worked on.

The Eston native is trained as a youth pastor and is a former child and youth worker. He has worked in Alberta and Ontario, and has spoken a number of times at school assemblies talking to kids about finding their identity.

He said that he grew up in an abusive family dynamic and left home when he was 16. He became a framer and “10 years later, I had to leave the teen years behind,” he said. “I went through a lot of stuff and I want to work with kids – especially those youth at risk.”

He added that his family also used to house children in the foster care system.

He moved to Kindersley six years ago and was working at Home Hardware as a building estimator.

Along with the youth centre, he wants to do even more. That might include getting kids involved in trades or getting them to set up their own businesses – helping them to prepare for life after school.

“We want to make a difference in the kids’ lives. We want to give them a positive experience and help them with life,” he said. “Everything we do, we use as a teaching opportunity.

“There are so many older teens who don’t know what they want to do and we want to help them with that,” he added. “We also want to have a mentorship program to help find themselves, find their identity, who they are and what they are capable of doing.”

Matchett said that he plans to call the youth centre The Kicks. The theme is kicking out negative patterns and behaviours, and changing them into positives – respect, honour, faith, compassion, integrity – then getting them to put it back into the community.

He mentioned a recent report that said Kindersley has the third highest rate of fentanyl deaths from 2013 to 2017 in Saskatchewan. He wants to help change the culture among the Kindersley youth.

Matchett said something needs to be done for the youth and hopes that the community will get behind the project.

For more information check out Friday FX on Facebook for the junior youth group. For the senior group, go to The FX.

iKids program

The iKids summer camp is winding up this week and leader Chantal McDougall hopes that the enthusiasm will carry forward to the iKids Club this fall.

iKids will be hosted at the church on Thursday nights from 6 to 8 p.m. starting on Sept. 7 for children ages four to nine.

Cost will be $5 per child.

“It’s great for parents if they want to go shopping or have a couple of hours off from their kids. Just drop them off here,” she said.

It will happen every Thursday, with the exception of holidays.

There will be games, crafts and a whole lot of fun each week.

For more information, email her at [email protected].

A Facebook page will also be up soon.

If you’re looking for a place to host your child’s birthday party, iKids can take care of it. Starting in late September, staff will be available to host birthday parties with lots of fun things to do, from bouncy castles to games – almost anything to keep your child and their friends busy.

The iKids staff is working on pricing and more information will be available soon.

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© Kindersley Clarion