BELLAIRE - The Bellaire Youth Initiative in Antrim County started in 2005, when the only after school activities were sports related. Now, there are dozens of after school programs to choose from throughout the year.
“We have a garden at the back of the elementary school where the students raised all of the producers all summer long, and now we have cooking classes. We made, salsa a few weeks ago. We give it to the shut ins. Monday of this week, we made applesauce. It goes to the shut ins,” says Dee Lynch, President Bellaire Youth Initiative.
With more than 28 different year-round programs from guitar lessons to babysitting the students who participate in the programs are learning several skills.
“It’s all with their hands chopping and really the raw things that grandma taught us, our mothers taught us and mothers now,” explains Lynch.
The initiative would not be as successful as it is without support from the community.
“We have donors, we have sponsors, this village of bel air and central lake and Mancelona. They have adopted us. They love us and they’re supporting us. And the parents are supporting us in any way that they can. And I have this marvelous, marvelous, volunteers,” shares Lynch.
The Bellaire Youth Initiative teaches students to not only have fun, but also learn life skills like self-defense.
“The martial arts program has a lot of different activities, like inside of it, where we’ve learned a lot of different, like, skills. We’ve learned, takedowns. We’ve learned how to get out of certain moves and how to get put someone else in a different move,” says Kendra Schuette, Student.
For Volunteer Martial Arts Instructor Ryan Mech, he is seeing the impact on the students.
“I see the, confidence rising a bit, and they are learning techniques really quickly. It’s pretty neat to see,” he says.
“For martial arts student Kendra, she has a message for kids who are considering joining It’s really fun. Like, you meet a lot of cool people, and it’s really interesting. And it’s. It teaches you special skills that you’ll use later in life,” she shares.
The Bellaire Youth Initiative is open to any student in the area.