After many years of dedication and hard work, Kerry Wright and her team at Hope, Faith and Grace have finally rented a house where they can get their youth centre up and running.
The house is located in Pollak Park and will have all the facilities necessary to achieve its aim of helping the youth of Springs.
Earlier in the year, Irma Cronje, owner of Montessori Primary School, bought two houses on Achilles road and approached Wright about the house that was in a state of disrepair at the time.
Wright and Cronje were able to strike up a deal – if Wright and her team could fix up the house themselves, the first three months of rent would be free.
The Hope, Faith and Grace team quickly went about fixing the house, which included repainting the walls and fixing up the bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms.
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This was a golden opportunity for Wright and her team to change the lives of young adults since the current pandemic made sourcing sponsors more and more difficult.
“The place really did not look good, but we are working hard to turn it into a place we can be proud of,” said Wright.
When all things fall into place, a total of 12 youths, four girls and eight boys from the ages of 18 and up with no fixed abode, will live in the house where they will receive guidance and therapy to prepare them for the turbulent world of adulthood.
Teams of qualified counsellors, life coaches, facilitators (most of them volunteers) have been picked by Wright to work with the youth at the centre.
Wright wants to give them the opportunity to grow mentally, emotionally and spiritually and wants them to be surrounded by people who have gone through similar struggles in their lives.
“I want them to leave this place ready to take on the world, get jobs and live a meaningful life as functional adults,” said Wright.
They will also be taught valuable skills, including computer literacy, coding, business training and various skills and trades such as woodworking.”
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A swimming pool and a vegetable garden are in the works where additional skills will be learned.
Repairing the pool will be one of the projects the youths will work on once all of them have moved in.
Once the youth have completed their programme and have found employment or have started a small business of their own, they will be given the option to rent a bed in a small flat at the back of the property to save enough money to get a place of their own.
Wright expects all the youth members to move into the house by the end of November.
“I am very excited to start this new chapter in our journey. But most of all, I am so extremely thankful to our community who have made this entire thing possible for us.
“This just goes to show how wonderful the people of this community are,” said Wright proudly.
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