Hillsborough, N.B., rallies to save youth drop-in centre

The village of Hillsborough has rallied together to save its community youth drop-in centre.

“It’s been a humbling experience,” said Lynda Carey, the executive director of the Riverview Boys and Girls Club, which runs the program.

The Hillsborough drop-in centre for youth in the community was slated to shut down at the end of February, Carey said, after she was notified in December that the program had lost $30,000 in funding from its largest grant provider.

Roughly 80 youth in the community are enrolled in the program, which is located next to the village’s two schools.

Carey said the village managed to raise almost $50,000 to cover the $30,000 cost to keep the club open for another year, with the surplus being used for the following year.

Carey said a $10,000 donation was made to the club on Friday from the Bennett and Albert County Health Care Foundation.

“It is what will take us to the almost $50,000 total,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It is what will take us to the almost $50,000 total," she said.

The village has been through a lot of late, losing its bank and only grocery store, and people were determined not to lose the drop-in centre, Carey said.

“It’s a small community with very little economic growth but the people who live there are, in many cases, generational residents and are determined to maintain the village status for a long time to come,” she said.

Carey added that funding came from many sources, such as local businesses, private individuals with children in the program, residents who saw the need for support and made “healthy donations.”

She said service organizations and groups such as the Shepody Fish and Game Association, the Hillsborough Women’s Institute, most of the churches in the region, and the municipalities of Riverside Albert and Alma contributed as well.

Carey says she plans to hire a new staff member and also implement new programs to encourage more teens to use the drop-in.