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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday February 10, 2007 - 7 Five years of providing youth with somewhere to go By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The Oakville Youth Development Centre is celebrating five years of keeping kids off the street. At a small ceremony, held at the Cross Avenue centre last Tuesday, Town councillors, youth centre operators and attending children enjoyed cake and pizza after listening to a presentation by Ward 5 Councillor Jeff Knoll about what it took to make the centre a reality. "The concept of the development centre had floundered around for a number of years largely because when we found an ideal site residents would voice concerns about building a place where intimidating young people would gather," said Knoll. Eventually the Town was able to settle on a location and on January of 2002 it opened its doors to the community's young people. Complete with big screen television, pool table, computer access and board games, the centre was created to offer young people between 13 and 18 a safe place to socialize. "Youth are sometimes at a loss of things to do or places to be," said Acting Mayor Mary Chapin. "There's a time in your life when you don't want to be at home and you haven't got a safe place to be where someone doesn't say `move on.' This provides a safe place for people like that to come and receive whatever support they need." Susan Fanelli, the centre's recreation supervisor, has been with the centre since the beginning. She takes great pride in the work the centre has been doing for the town's youth. "The biggest thing is just the number of kids DAVID LEA / OAKVILLE BEAVER HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Celebrating the Oakville Youth Development Centre's fifth anniversary are (l-r): Ryan Mitton, Lynn Bedard, Jacob Pike, Demond Mallory, Justin Nevill, Jamal Harb and Luke Dwarnik we get and how important it is to them. For some of these kids, if they weren't here they'd be out on the street somewhere and the centre's just such a great place for them to go," she said. Besides being a place for kids to hang out, the centre also houses programs that focus on anything from movie discussion to homework assistance to education on sexual health. Downtown Oakville Village Constable Sue Biggs believes in the value of the centre to such an extent that she is trying to get one established on Dorval Drive. "The problem with youth hanging around on the street is that people perceive that they're get- ting into trouble and often that's not the case. They're just hanging around because they have nowhere else to go," she said. Lynn Bedard, 17, explained just what the centre means to her. "I was going through some hard times at home and I would do anything not to go home. Once I found this place, I came pretty much everyday. Before I came here I'd sit in fields for hours doing nothing," she said. "There's always new people and it never gets boring. I've gotten to know the staff very well and they've been very supportive and helpful for things like getting a job or getting volunteer hours." Other centre attendees also sang the centre's praises. "It's awesome. There's always something to do here. If there's nothing to do outside of here, we come here right after school, whenever it's open," said 14-year-old Jacob Pike. The Oakville Youth Development Centre is located at 177 Cross Ave. and is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Pud By Steve Nease snease@haltonsearch.com