Woodland Youth Council makes a difference at Wayfarer Center

by Izabelle Ponce
Youth Engagement Leader,
Woodland Coalition for Youth

Following up on a successful strategy meeting held on Feb. 4, the Woodland Youth Council, a group of young people working with adults in the Woodland Coalition for Youth, is asking local residents to support a community service project at the Yolo Wayfarer Center, a social service agency in Woodland.

Part of the mission of the Wayfarer Center is to feed, clothe and shelter those in need. To accomplish its mission, the center provides programs that meet the emergency, transitional and spiritual needs of people in crisis. There are many ways youth can assist the center in accomplishing its mission. Young people at the strategy meeting suggested they could:

• deliver workshops themselves
• babysit children while parents participate in workshops
• help prepare and serve food
• plant fruits and vegetables
• assist in the Wayfarer’s monthly household item and clothing giveaway

At the meeting, we discussed another way to assist the Wayfarer Center – by organizing their upstairs “donation closet.” The center currently stores clothing and food donations in its attic. However, Wayfarer staff says it receives more donations than it can manage. Donated clothing items need to be sorted, placed on hangers or, if they are no longer usable, disposed of. Staff would like the upstairs “to look like a department store” and have the clothing sorted by sizes and gender. Furthermore, half of the attic is full of canned foods that also need to be sorted. There are shelves that need to be assembled so that the canned foods and hygienic supplies can be organized.

Organizing the Wayfarer attic will give needy individuals in the community better access to clothing and food. The Woodland Youth Council has committed to helping by going through donations in the attic every other Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. We have created a volunteer calendar and are asking youth clubs to consider committing to a date on the calendar to do the same. The Woodland Youth Council will follow up with youth clubs that are interested in other volunteer opportunities at the Wayfarer Center.

To sign up for a day once a month to spend on this community service project, please contact me at iponce@yolofrc.org or call me at the Yolo Family Resource Center at (530) 406-7221 x111.

The community thanks you for your commitment to service!

The Woodland Coalition for Youth is a REACH Community Action coalition.