The MYC Youth Council is a leadership and community service-based group, created to encourage MYC members to help make a difference in the community through facilitating several youth community events as well as taking part in volunteer opportunities! Registered after-school members, ranging in ages from 8-18, can join this program and commit to making changes together!
For the 2024-2025 school year, the Youth Council program began in the month of October. It was a very busy month as they were helping to make our Fright Night Event possible! We had numerous members of our Youth Council volunteer at the event whether it was scaring people in the haunted house or running the games in the Kid’s Zone. They were essential in the night’s success.
In October, the Youth Council also had the amazing opportunity to work alongside special guests from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Together, members of the Youth Council were able to share their thoughts and opinions on how to improve our community in Milford and discuss the future growth and development of the town in an environment where their voices were heard!
In November the MYC Youth Council had another busy month, and we plan to keep the momentum going! We opened the month on November 7th by representing the Youth Center at Woodland Elementary’s Potluck, an event where various people’s cultures, traditions and custom foods are available for all to enjoy and experience. With our kids helping to distribute prizes, we were able to speak to parents and help them learn about all the free programs that would benefit them and their children. The potluck was a success by all accounts – many more people got to learn about the services we provide.
The MYC Youth Council members also participated in the Veterans Day Parade on Veterans Day, November 11th. The Youth Council gathered and marched alongside a variety of other organizations. Together, we marched from the Veterans Memorial Drive all the way to Draper Park via Main Street. Our children were able to see the importance of memorializing our soldiers and were able to contribute to it by representing the Youth of Milford. One of our members, Olivia B., volunteered to read a poem about the veterans. We are thankful for this opportunity and very proud of her accomplishment!
The annual MYC Thanksgiving event held on November 26th for all registered after-school members is easily our biggest event of this month in terms of sheer participants. The Youth Council members donated various items such as waters and desserts. They also helped at the tables that were set up during the event. They helped and decorated seashells for children in foster care, made holiday cards for active soldiers and retired veterans for the Thanks to Yanks foundation, and made various crafts for patients in hospice care at Ascend Hospice. The event was an overall success!
On November 30th we attended the annual Craft Fair at Milford High School and represented the Milford Youth Center. The Youth Council members took shifts in volunteering to be at the table to help with the free crafts we provided for any who wanted to make one! They also helped in distributing MYC merch to those who were so kind to donate to our Center. They also helped explain what the Youth Center is and how it works!
We are proud of the Youth Council members and all their hard work thus far. We look forward to meeting, planning and being a part of many more community events and those of the Milford Youth Center. You can join at any time!