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Time to celebrate youth with Youth Week in Penticton

Public invited for BBQ and to watch scooter and skateboard competition May 6
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Andy Anderson competes in the men’s park skateboarding preliminary heats at the Tokyo Summer Olympics on Aug. 5. Though he didn’t advance to the final round, he gained a fan in legendary skater Tony Hawk. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Penticton will be hosting provincial Youth Week 2022 from May 1 to 7 to celebrate youth in the community and to draw attention to the issue of youth homelessness.

There will be a variety of activities and opportunities available for youth to take part in, such as cooking classes, art classes and Rent Smart training, a course which educates young people on how to maintain successful housing tenancies.

The feature event will be on Friday, May 6, from 3-7 p.m., at the Penticton Skate Park with a skate competition featuring three categories: scooter, beginner skateboarding, and intermediate skateboarding.

Friday’s event is family-friendly to the public and will have a barbecue meal sponsored by The Penticton Fire Department with pop, chips and hotdogs available by donation with proceeds going to youth homelessness initiatives in Penticton.

“Youth have had a challenging couple of years, and we need to show them it’s going to get better. They lost their sense of community and purpose. I want to remind them that they have so many people who care about them and want to celebrate them,” explained Melisa Edgerly, youth peer support supervisor at Foundry Penticton.

Edgerly has worked to bring together community partners and organizations to support the event. “I want this week to be a community wide celebration for our youth, not just the organizations arranging special events, but business, employers, families, community members.”

Tanya Behardien, chair of 100 More Homes Penticton and executive director of OneSky Community Resources, says that Youth Week 2022 in Penticton will draw specific attention to the issue of youth homelessness in the community. “Celebrating youth in our community is so important, now more than ever. With the No Where to Go report being unanimously endorsed by our City Council in February, it just shows there is a need to bring youth homelessness to the forefront of the many issues youth are facing.”

Brochures with maps of the different events for youth throughout the week can be found at the Penticton Library, Penticton Community Centre, Penticton Arts Council and Foundry Penticton, or by clicking here.

READ MORE: Report to Penticton council says 1 in 20 youth may be homeless



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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