Lakefield Youth Unlimited Celebrates 19-Year Anniversary with Online Fundraiser

Lakefield Youth Unlimited (LYU) is celebrating 19 years of ministry on Oct. 27 with an online fundraiser.

File photo.

They will be celebrating the day by sharing stories of hope among youth and families in the community. These stories will be shared through short videos to the LYU website and social media feeds.

Traditionally LYU hosts a fundraising dinner each October, but they have decided to cancel the event this year. Despite this, they are still fundraising online and have a goal to reach $15,000.

“Over the summer much of our energy went into a volunteer and partner appreciation night in June and the grand opening of The Barn, our new facility, in August. We decided to focus our volunteer’s time on helping us rebuild and reconnect with our local youth rather than on pulling off a fundraising event,” said Chris Jones, LYU satellite director.

LYU is accepting donations in-person at their office, by mail, phone or online at lyufundraiser.com.

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Lakefield Youth Unlimited Celebrates Grand Opening Of 'The Barn' A Safe Space For Anyone To Gather

To celebrate the grand opening of the Lakefield Youth Unlimited (LYU) Barn residents gathered on Thursday evening for some rounds of axe throwing, fair games, bar-b-que and celebrations.

Just under three years ago, LYU purchased the Tribal Voices red roofed building located in the middle of the Lakefield bridge through a no-payment, no-interest loan from one of their partners.

Donations from the community then made it possible to do the needed renovations.

In total, over 50 volunteers put in close to 5,000 hours of work towards demolition, planning, framing, dry-walling, mudding, painting, clean-up, moving offices, decorating and organizing the over 4,000 square foot building.

LYU is a satellite of Kawartha Youth for Christ. Their aim is to facilitate programs in Lakefield that create a true community and offer a safe space for anyone to gather.

They offer programs like ‘Courageous Kids’ to help students overcome fear and anxiety, various after school programs and many more opportunities for youth in Lakefield to spend time with each other in a safe environment.

Throughout the summer, Peterborough Axe Club was set up in the parking lot of the LYU Barn for their summer youth league.

In addition to programs the LYU House works to meet the need of affordable housing in Lakefield for youth and families.

The LYU house is situated along the Trent River and has two individual apartments, offered at an affordable price. Tenants at this house are also offered educational, emotional, physical, and spiritual support if they wish.

Over the 19 years that LYU has been in existence, the opening of the Barn puts LYU in a position to use this facility to develop more programming using resources and people within the Village.

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Lakefield Youth Unlimited (LYU) Purchases Tribal Voices Building In Lakefield

Lakefield Youth Unlimited (LYU) has purchased the Tribal Voices building, which is directly off the bridge in Lakefield. This was made possible due to an anonymous lender who provided a no interest, no payments loan for as long as they own the building. They move into their new facility in mid-September.

LYU has been part of the Lakefield community for 15 years, working together with local residents, businesses, churches, schools, and government for the youth of our community. Through various programs and events, their vision “is to see the lives of youth in Lakefield attain their full life potential as God designed it.”

LYU envisions many possibilities as to how their new building will be used. Some ideas that could happen in the space include shared meeting rooms, life skill programs for youth, Jr. and Sr. High programs, gathering spaces for families and after-school programming.

Most of the funds were provided for the purchase of their new home but they still need to raise $20,000 by August 14th to pay off the remainder of short-term loans, plus an additional $55,000 by October 1st to begin their renovations in the fall. For more information about their purchase or how to donate, contact Chris Jones at 705.761.2903 or via email here.

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