By Kyle Marshall, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The GTA-based 100 Teens Who Care youth initiative, aimed at raising money for local charities, has expanded into Burlington and had their first meeting last week.
The organization promotes involvement from teenagers in the community by supporting charities and non-profits through volunteer work and donations.
100 Teens Who Care was founded in Arizona and is an offshoot of 100 Women Who Care. There are other chapters across North America as well as Europe and the Middle East.
There are four in Ontario — in Toronto, Oakville, Mississauga, and now Burlington.
The Burlington chapter was founded and is chaired by Violet Baratto Bristow, a grade 12 student at Hillfield Strathallan College in Hamilton.
She has been with the organization for over a year and held the first meeting for the Burlington chapter on Feb. 12 at Burlington Golf and Country Club.
Charities are nominated via the 100 Teens Burlington website and are voted on at what will be quarterly meetings.
“Three charities will be chosen at random from the nominated charities and from there, the three nominated charities will present at the next meeting and voting will happen at that meeting to determine what charity will be donated to,” Bristow explained to the handful of attendees at the inaugural meeting.
Bristow was in contact with 35 students leading up to the meeting but many did not attend due to illness. The goal is to have 100 students join the initiative and have each member contribute $25 to the charity that is voted on for that quarter, ideally giving them a collective $2,500 to disburse to the charity of choice.
High school students who participate will also receive credit for their volunteer hours.
Right now, the Burlington chapter consists of Bristow as chair, Alia Wahban as vice-chair, and Lisa Bilodeau, who is part of the leadership team for the Burlington chapter of 100 Women Who Care.
The first charity that 100 Teens will be working with is Next Door Social Space, based out of Aldershot. The organization has been around for about 12 years and serves the Warwick Surrey community, helping those with low income, seniors, single mothers, people living with disabilities, and the homeless.
They offer programs that focus on social, skill and spiritual development, and include a no-cost community lunch and breakfast, women’s coffee hour, soup-making for shelters and food markets, youth cooking with ArtHouse, and a Creative Community Hive.
Next Door also features a community resource centre with social space, a commercial kitchen, and Rolling Horse Community Cycle, Burlington’s only non-profit bike shop.
“It’s a place for everybody, so whether it’s someone who’s low income and having a hard time with things, or someone who’s doing alright,” said Marcée Lane, pastor of mission and discipleship/site supervisor for Next Door.
“A place where people can come and talk about what’s going on in their life and it’s also a place where people can talk about what they believe and what they think about spiritually.”
That spiritual association connected Next Door with 100 Teens, as Lane goes to the same church as Bristow and her mom, Diana, who is also involved with 100 Women Who Care.
There will be multiple positions available within the new chapter of 100 Teens, including a social media manager, website manager, finance and communications positions. The position of vice chair will also be available later this year as Wahban will be taking over as chair once Bristow heads to university.
For more information on 100 Teens Who Care Burlington and to nominate a charity, visit 100teens.ca.
