Mentor power

A donation of HP hardware is helping at-risk youth in Surrey, B.C. get the skills they need to make the transition from the street to school and employment.

Professional athletes are often frustrated by retirement, unsure of what productive work they can do once the glory days are over. Not Orville Lee, a Schenley Award-winning Canadian Football League player. After retirement, he began working with youth in B.C.’s lower mainland. His experience showed him how mentoring can profoundly change the direction of young lives and led to the founding of the Pathfinder Youth Centre Society in 2003.

“We give them life skills, job skills and mentorship, so that they can achieve their academic and employment goals,” says Ruth Lee, administrator at Pathfinder Youth Centre Society in Surrey, B.C. “Right now, we’re serving about 100 clients. The mentors are both volunteers and staff. They give the kids the tools and the confidence they need.”

Pathfinder has strong community support, with a long list of donors that contribute time, skills, facilities, and equipment. Last year, the group was struggling with ancient PCs that just weren’t up to the job of supporting the multi-media training needs of their clients. Ray Jung, who works in pre-sales in HP’s Vancouver office, handled Pathfinder’s philanthropy request.

“The application from Pathfinder stood out,” says Ray, an eight-year HP employee. “They focus on 15-30 year olds who face real barriers to employment that range from single parenthood, to disabilities, to involvement with the justice system. And they have a very good success rate in getting these people employed.”

Donation helps put kids on the right path

Former Ottawa Roughrider (and rookie of the year) Orville Lee used his team building skills to found Pathfinder Youth Society.

HP’s donation of 10 multi-media PCs is enabling a lot of learning at Pathfinder. The society offers four separate programs for youth, including school completion and employment. In the Video & PSA course, the clients use the HP PCs to create Public Service Announcement videos, focusing on social issues such as teen pregnancy, bullying, and teen suicide.

“We’re moving to a bigger space at a new location, where we will have a separate computer lab,” says Ruth. “Our old computers were dinosaurs, and with the 10 new PCs we received from HP and the 10 more we hope to secure next year, we will have a great set-up for these kids. A lot of them don’t have any access to computers. ”

Other Pathfinder programs provide training and on-the-job experience in the food services industry and recreation and community service. Whatever their area, the youth emerge with a new set of skills and determination. A recent Pathfinder client describes it best in her testimonial:

“It is a very helpful program that has helped me to learn to control myself,” writes Sara, who is 20 years old. “I’ve learned how to cope with things and I’m learning how to work in the working world so I don’t get fired in a week. It’s also teaching me to be more open with the community and myself. I hope to have a full-time job when I complete this program."

Ray Jung says his experience on this and other HP philanthropy projects has been very rewarding.

“It was a great project to work on,” says Ray, “because Pathfinder has solid operating principles, and they really do a lot of good things for the kids. I just joined the citizenship committee this year, and I’m pleasantly surprised at how rewarding it can be.”

Website: www.pathfinderyouthsociety.org

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Donation helps put kids on the right path