Why Not Youth Centres
368 Colborne St. East N3S 3N3 Brantford, ON, Canada

We are so proud of Jason! He is one of FOUR of our 18+ youth who are going back to school to restart their high school education on Monday! Jason had worked hard to get registered for school in the spring and was enrolled to start right after March break. Well, we all know what happened over March break... Over the past few months, we have been nurturing a new partnership with Contact North who has been a tremendous help getting these young adults going and registered. Onc...e again, the value of community partnerships has been proven to be gold! This smiling face shows Jason looking at his timetable for Monday. He is pretty excited and so are we. To all four young adults starting school: We believe in you. You've got this!! We could not be prouder!!

Hello wonderful community! A quick survey of our food cupboard shows that meals that can be microwaved (canned meals, frozen meals), pasta SAUCE (not noodles ) and snacks are badly needed at Why Not! Clean, warm blankets/comforters are currently needed as well for a few of our youth. ... Thanks in advance for your generosity. Donations can be dropped off at 368 Colborne between 5-9 nightly!

Still collecting! Can we add wallets to this list?

Why Not Christmas Gift Opportunities! We can't fix all of the world's problems, but we can do our best to make sure that no at-risk teen goes without a Christmas present this holiday season. We are collecting the following generic gifts for our youth: ... Throw Blankets -Pillows -Pyjama Bottoms -Art Supplies -Gift Cards -Headphones -Charging blocks -Candy -Socks -Bath Bombs -Hairbrushes -Chocolate -Lip Balm -Wallets Please Drop Off by December 13th to Why Not Youth Centre 368 Colborne Street, Brantford ON, N3S 3N3 5:00PM-9:00PM, 7 days a week

Filled with gratitude Youth are eating and laughing The pumpkins laugh, too #thanksgivinghaiku

Our clothes closet is currently very low on youth-style sweaters and jackets. With winter coming soon, coats and boots will soon be needed! We can also always use new socks and underwear (all adult sizes). Drop off Monday to Friday from 5-9pm or PM us to arrange another time. Thanks!

We are in need of a 30" wide letter-size filing cabinet similar to what's pictured here (general idea). If you know of a source for one for free or cheap, please shoot us a PM!

Why Not is PUMPED to welcome Erin Connell to the team! Erin and her husband Ken have lived in Brantford for six years. During that time, she has served as the Director of Kids Ministry at Mission City Bible Church. Erin and Ken have three children! Erin joins us in the role of crisis worker and volunteer coordinator. As a social worker by profession, she brings experience in mental health, homelessness, and housing.... Erin has already started to connect with our youth and she is excited to serve them in her new role at Why Not. She is passionate to see the youth find hope and live out the purpose for which they were made!

Great day for a golf tournament!!

Why Not is pumped to introduce Carolyn Freeman, our new kitchen coordinator! As most of you know, a big part of our evening program includes FOOD! Those hungry youth come with an appetite, and coordinating and planning all those meals is a big job. Carolyn comes with all the credentials to rock this role (among others, she is a Certified Chef de Cuisine and has her National Food Handlers' Safety and Smart Serve certificates). As a prior chef instructor at Liaison College in Oakville who has also studied Child and Youth Work, she is perfectly suited to take on the mentorship of youth in the areas of food preparation and balanced nutrition! Carolyn and her husband Richard are parents to five sons ages 10 to 19! Welcome to Why Not, Carolyn!!

What if you spent your life falling between the cracks? What if, finally, someone saw you, noticed how hard you were working just to keep your head above it all? And what if they told you? "Kid, I see you there. I see how hard you are working. What's more, I believe in you. I think you have what it takes, man. You can do this impossible thing." And someone else came along and said, "We think you are amazing! You! You've got something really special. We celebrate you. We love... you. We've got your back." At Why Not, we do this crazy annual thing called awards night. We celebrate personal growth, sobriety, resilience, personal talents, sunny personalities, faith in the future. We have fun! Basically, we tell the youth "We see you and we like what we see." We believe it makes a difference. What do you think?

Our summer staff, Connor and Ashwiiny have had a great summer connecting with our youth in a variety of ways. Here, they are taking their last bike ride of the summer. They are joined by Seth White who was on loan to us for much of the summer by the Boys and Girls Club! (The BGC is an incredibly generous partner of ours and we are very grateful for their ongoing support.) Ash and Connor, thanks for a great summer! See you in the fall when you return as Lead Advocates in our volunteer program. (In a ridiculous side note that reflects the strange world we are living in, I introduced myself to Seth yesterday after working with him for 3 months. It was the first time I had seen him without a mask on and I didn't recognize him!... Sue)

We are super excited to introduce Robbie Nagle to you! Robbie joined Why Not as a Youth Worker in early August. He will be specializing in youth crisis support and organizing youth programming. Robbie was born and raised in Brantford and lives here with his wife Nicole and their son Sam. We "share" Robbie with Celebration Church, where he also works, serving as the pastor for children and youth. In his spare time, Robbie writes plays for and directs a theatre group he started and continues to run, called Spiritus! We are blessed to have Robbie at Why Not! Please help us welcome him!

We need your help!! As a way to really get behind the idea of youth advancement, changing the trajectory from the one they have inherited to a new, positive future, we want to award a specific kind of change in a youth's life. We are having a tough time coming up with a name for this award that really captures what is in our hearts. This award will be given to a youth who BREAKS THE BARRIER of relying on social assistance by getting a job or some other indication of advan...cement, OR BUSTS OUT OF a generational cycle of dependence on social welfare OR of addictions OR of any kind of cyclical patterns. These patterns typically entrap the youth into repeating the patterns that have existed - usually for generations - within their families. Key words that came to our minds included (but are not limited to) BARRIER, GENERATION, CYCLE, BREAK, SOCIAL, TRAJECTORY... This will be a prestigious award that will be engraved in marble and will be placed in a prominent location in the centre. Five other awards are also being given, but we are stumped to try to come up with just the right name for this one. Your ideas? GO!

Would you like to be part of the impact, allowing more youth like Mike to step into a better future? You can! As Why Not staff gets to know the unique and exceptional needs of some of our most at-risk youth, we recognize that gaining identification, extreme medical costs (emergency dental, eyewear), or even the application fee for post-secondary are keeping that youth from moving into a positive future. Your one-time donation earmarked the Youth Futures Fund will enable u...s to cover more of these types of costs, aiding the youth to envision a new and better future for themselves. Simply visit our webpage to donate! Or message us for more information! https://whynotyouthcentres.com/

Everyone, meet Mike. "I’ve lived in Canada for more than ten years. I was born in New York State and lived there for a while with my parents. My dad was an American, but my mom was Canadian. "My mom brought my brothers and I to Canada in 2009. I was about 13 years old and my two brothers were 11 and 9. We went to school and I graduated from GELA in 2017.... "In all the years I lived in Canada, I didn’t have any status as a Canadian citizen. Now that I am an adult, money is an issue. I can’t work because I don’t have a social insurance number. I can’t even go on OW. Also, I’ve never seen a doctor since I’ve been in Canada because I don’t have a health card." "The director of Why Not, Becca McLellan, caught on that ID was a real problem for my brothers and I. She assigned the new social navigation staff member, Sue Zuidema, to the job." Late in February 2020, Sue started the process of getting the identification we needed to apply for a Canadian Citizenship Certificate. COVID slowed the process considerably but today WHY NOT CONGRATULATES MIKE, a new Canadian Citizen! What does Mike have to say? I’m so excited! I can work finallyl! He plans to attend the upcoming St. Leonard’s Job Fair and distribute his new resume. Mike’s two brothers are still waiting for their certificates (delayed due to additional minor complications). We look forward to welcoming them as citizens very soon! >>>You can get involved!! Here's how! >>> More and more, we at Why Not are recognizing that without a financial leg-up at key points in a youth’s life, it can be almost impossible to take the next step toward a new, better future. Getting identification for the three brothers above has cost hundreds of dollars. This type of need is growing and these costs can be hard to absorb from our operating fund. We would like to give you the opportunity to invest directly into this. As Why Not staff gets to know the unique and exceptional needs of some of our most at-risk youth, we recognize that gaining identification, extreme medic al costs (emergency dental, eyewear), or even the application fee for post-secondary are keeping that youth from moving into a positive future. Your one-time donation earmarked the Youth Futures Fund will enable us to cover more of these types of costs, aiding the youth to envision a new and better future for themselves.

Wow! What a haul! Shout out to the employees of Starbucks at Henry Street and Colborne for their generous donations of toiletries for the youth! Not just great coffee but great people too!