January 9th, we had our monthly Youth Leadership Retreat. Despite the hardships of COVID, we were able to have around 25 youth in attendance. Just like our other leadership retreats, we focused on development, leadership and fun!
Our young leaders spent the day learning financial literacy skills and how to do more with their money. They also had the opportunity to participate in program coding language in java script through our coding program and made their own mini–Star Wars game with Hour of Code.
Some other fun activities they participated in were ice fishing and scooter soccer. This season has been hard on everyone including our youth, but they were able to experience some joy and community during this retreat. Our youth and volunteers were able to create valuable bonds and share what life is like for them.
We ended our night with a talk from our friend Julian. Our theme for the summer was: Do Not Fear. Julian’s talk was about how we should not live in fear and how we can share the love of God with others.
I spoke with one of our volunteers John, who has worked with us for a few years in our summer program, and this is what he had to say:
“The retreat was very fun, and the youth are very outgoing. I got to see youth who I’ve got to work with this past summer and kids who weren’t able to attend this past summer due to COVID. I saw a lot of growth in the their level of joy and also personal growth. Even though some students had a hard semester, they were able to have fun and learn with their peers. Some already said they can’t wait until the next retreat!”
