Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Journalist
Jaycie Hodgins spent a lot of time at the Shawville District Recreation Association as a kid.
Through the RA’s summer camps and soccer program, not to mention the years she’s spent playing hockey with the Pontiac Lions, she’s benefitted from the countless hours given by community volunteers towards her development as an athlete, and as a leader. And she sees this.
Now in Grade 11 at Pontiac High School (PHS), Hodgins is stepping into these leadership roles herself.
This summer, she returned to the RA’s summer camp, this time as a counselor. She felt she was able to wrangle and care for the kids with confidence thanks to certain training she’s already received, including CPR training offered in a Grade 9 science class and communication skills learned in teacher Matt Greer’s leadership class.
“Without the class I probably would have been like a chicken with my head cut off. I just wouldn’t know how to deal with certain conversations, especially as a teenager talking to adults about their children,” Hodgins said.
“There was an incident at the RA one time, and I was really glad I knew how to do CPR and the heimlich. I had that skill under my belt, and if we can maybe open that up to other people to make sure that there are more youth certified in that, I think it’s really important.”
A new fundraising effort from the Shawville RA, led by Matt Greer, also an RA council member of many years, aims to offer these foundational leadership skills to more youth in Shawville and across the Pontiac in an effort to increase the pool of youth who can volunteer to lead sports and recreation programs.
The campaign’s goal is to raise $6,000 from the community in the next 76 days. If the RA achieves this, it will be given an additional $24,000 from La Ruche, a Quebec crowdfunding platform for community projects.
The $30,000 total will be used to offer interested youth various trainings, including First Aid and CPR courses, as well as coaching and refereeing training across various sports.
“In the spring there were definitely some concerns raised about a lack of volunteers, and part of the discussion was tapping into our youth and really trying to cultivate that, and build the pool,” Greer said, noting the RA has seen a significant increase in demand for services since more people have moved to the community from the city over the last five or so years.
“People, mostly parents, are stepping up to make it happen, but we’re feeling like there’s an untapped resource in our community, which is our young people,” Greer said.
He emphasized that while this campaign is being led by the Shawville RA, his vision is that it can support the growth of recreation and summer camp programs across the region.
“It’s not just about fighting for Shawville, it’s about the Pontiac. Let’s say we had 50 kids doing different things through this training, it would be amazing if they were scattered, and helping out in Fort Coulonge and Otter Lake.”
People interested in supporting this effort can do so by visiting https://laruchequebec.com/en/projects/leaders-of-tomorrow-shawville-ra.