Your Donations are Helping to Mentor Our Youth
The Kingswood Youth Center is a nonprofit organization serving students in grades seven through twelve in the Governor Wentworth Regional School District. Our programs also focus on arts and creativity, life skills instruction, and substance use prevention. A key component is positive peer engagement, giving teens time to spend with friends and just be themselves in a supervised environment.
Our services include individual mentoring, a food pantry, and a free thrift store. The students we serve come from diverse backgrounds, with about 75% from low-income households. Because of this, we are proud to say that all our programs are completely free. This includes a hot meal with every program, clothing, food, and all activities.
The Kingswood Youth Center started in 1999 as an initiative of the Wolfeboro Rotary Club. It was a proactive solution by community members who realized there weren't enough opportunities for teenagers to spend their time positively, constructively, and in a supervised space.
Why is your partnership with Granite United Way important to the community?
Our partnership with Granite United Way has provided us with the resources needed to serve our community. We see community members, parents, school officials, and most importantly, teens every week. Granite United Way has given us the resources to meet their emergent needs throughout the year.
How has Kingswood Youth Center utilized Granite United Way’s funding grants to make a positive impact in the community?
We wouldn’t be able to do this work without grant funding. Gants pay for about 60% of the work we do. Granite United Way is one of our longest-standing grant funders and they make a significant impact in the work we do with our life skills program, mentoring program, and other impactful initiatives.
We are very appreciative of Granite United Way's donors who provide those unrestricted gifts. These donations give us the flexibility and agility to serve the emergent needs of our local teens.
How has your organization and Granite United Way worked together outside of the traditional funding cycle?
During the COVID-19 shutdown, we had the opportunity to apply to Granite United Way on behalf of specific families at Kingswood Youth Center who were facing financial hardships due to the pandemic. This was an incredible opportunity to help during a very challenging time.
Through Granite United Way, we secured $11,000 in COVID-19 relief funds directly for the households of the teens we serve. Granite United Way also hosted a cereal drive focusing on children's nutrition that significantly increased our variety and quantity of cereal for our food pantry.
Why do you host a Day of Caring Project?
There are only two of us on staff and there are many projects we want and need to get done that wouldn't happen without the support of volunteers. The Day of Caring has been a huge blessing in helping us accomplish some of these long-term goals.
Over the years, we've hosted many different volunteer projects as part of Granite United Way’s Day of Caring. Volunteers have worked to clean up our grounds and helped out in our thrift store, the Casey Closet. This space offers free, lightly used clothing that any teen in the school district can take home.
How do volunteers feel after Day of Caring?
The passion and excitement we see from volunteers during Day of Caring means so much to us. Their appreciation and understanding of the center is much deeper than it would be from just listening to me talk about it or visiting our website.
Volunteering on-site, they see the space, the resources, and all the community involvement and hard work that went into creating this space. Once the Day of Caring ends, it feels like they are part of the team here, and that means so much to us.
What are the benefits of partnering with Granite United Way?
Partnering with Granite United Way is invaluable to the Kingswood Youth Center because it makes us part of a robust and recognizable network of community support.
I've had the chance to join Granite United Way team members in visiting local businesses and speaking directly with Granite United Way donors. It's a wonderful opportunity for us to spread our mission, share what we're doing, and showcase the programs supported by Granite United Way.
What is the most important thing people should know about Granite United Way?
The most important thing people should know about Granite United Way is the amazing scope of their work. United Way is a network of thousands of donors providing millions of dollars in support to thousands of community members.