Clarkston’s Anita Demster decided to give Clarkston Area Youth Assistance a try eight years ago, and she hopes current residents follow her lead.
“I have really enjoyed the experience. You really get a feeling that you are making a difference in a child’s life. You really watch it happening,” President of the Board of Directors Demster said.
The Clarkston Area Youth Assistance was founded by the court system to prevent juvenile delinquency. The program has some youth offenders not directed into the courtroom and instead handled by the community.
Fred Morden works as the case worker for the Clarkston Area Youth Assistance and take referrals from the police, school system and parents. These are first time offenders who individuals believe would benefit from going through the youth assistance program.
“These are not bad children, but rather children who made a bad mistake,” Demster said.
The group also has a volunteer program where individuals who live in the community try to give guidance to youth. The “Mentors Plus Program” matches at risk kids with their own mentors.
Volunteers from the area meet with their youth for one or two hours each week.
“They can do anything with their kid. Some go to movies or sporting events while some just go over to their house and talk,” Demster said.
The entire group meets once a month to enjoy some sort of activity.
However, there is a 14 kid waiting list for mentors. While these individuals participate in the once a month meeting, they do not get any one-on-one interaction with a mentor each week.
“We just can’t find enough mentors. I urge anyone new in the community, who is looking for a way to volunteer, to think about joining us here at Clarkston Area Youth Assistance. It is really a great program to be a part of,” Demster said.
The group also has a camping program during the summer where 70 kids go to a week long overnight camp and 10 more kids go to a day camp.
“These are kids that really just need some help, so to have them go to the camp is a great experience,” Demster said.
In addition to the case work and mentoring programs, Clarkston Area Youth Assistance also has educational programs it provides for the community.
Recently they had a small group program entitled, “No More Whining,” which was a parenting program. Clarkston’s Jennifer Arkwright organizes the programs.
“We had a real interesting program for dads only which talked about what a difference it makes for a family to have a father. The statistics were very interesting,” Demster said.
There are a total of 26 youth assistance programs in Oakland County, but the programs are unique to Oakland County.
“A lot of people travel here to learn about the program with the hopes of taking it back to their area. It is a very unique program,” Demster said.
The program was established in 1961. It currently has 30 members on the board of directors.
“They do all the work but have different levels of involvement. The program has expanded so much during a membership drive we had in the fall,” Demster said. “We need more help because the program is expanding so fast.”
Demster hopes people in the community will give their time to help the youth in the area.
“Clarkston is such a wonderful place to live because so many people volunteer. With so many people moving into the area, it is a good way to feel a part of Clarkston. It is not just mentors we need but also people to be on the board of directors and give of their time,” Demster said.
Demster said volunteers do not need to have children, but rather simply must want to make a difference.
“We have people with no children involved. We have retired school administrators involved. We have young people involved. We run the whole gamut,” Demster said. “We have a lot of people with children in the Clarkston school system.”
The group also makes a point to recognize the youth in the area who participate in volunteer work. Last year they recognized 189 kids.
“A lot of time the youth get a bad rap but I wish people would understand how many students are giving back to their community in the form of volunteer work. I imagine the statistics would surprise a lot of people.”
As President of the Board of Directors, Demster runs the meetings and keeps a general oversight on everything going on with the organization. She joined the group eight years ago when she moved to Clarkston from Menominee, MI.
“I was new in the community and was looking for some volunteer work to do. I really wanted to be involved in the community and this popped up. My children were in school so it seemed like a great cause to be a part of,” Demster said. “It has been great and gives me a great deal of satisfaction.”
If you would like to volunteer with the Clarkston Area Youth Assistance you can call (248) 625-9007.