At Youth in Motion, my fellow interns and I engaged with the community of Little Burgundy in a myriad of ways. We directly interacted with people in the community as we organized community events and supported Youth In Motion’s daily function. The impact we made had a clear difference, and hopefully, has helped make the organization even more effective since our departure.
We directly interacted with kids, teens, and adults in Burgundy in four ways. Each Wednesday, we went to the centre sportif de la petite-bourgogne to play with the local kids. Youth In Motion works closely with BUMP, another community organization in Burgundy, to organize weekly after school sports during the school year, then on weekends during the summer. For six weeks I played soccer with eight to ten-year olds, and I was able to introduce them to ball hockey, which was an excellent way to share a passion of mine with others, especially because several of the kids had never had an opportunity to try hockey.
We organized and ran several community events during our stage. In our first week, we hosted a barbeque, and got to meet some of the people who we would see every day during our time in Burgundy. On May 14th we helped club énergie host their final performance, where I learned how to run a soundboard and we again got to meet people in the community while serving food. On June 3rd my fellow intern Pryor and I co-hosted part of the Gala de la Persévérance de la Petite-Bourgogne, and we met even more people in the community. Finally, we hosted Burgundy’s Fête Nationale, which involved weeks of interaction with the city, the province, the federal government, and of course local companies and organizations. On the day itself, I ran the lunch barbeque with my other fellow intern, Juliette, and a community volunteer, Serge, and together we served what felt like the whole province. We met Marc Miller and Dominique Anglade, respectively Burgundy’s MP and MNA, after working with their offices to organize funding and their appearances at the celebration. Before we left, we prepared Youth in Motion to host events for Canada Day, Spice Island Day, and the Burgundy Festival.
We of course interacted with everyone involved with Youth in Motion. In Burgundy, YiM runs a program, Occupation des Parcs, which enlists local teens to stay in the parks Oscar Peterson and Vinet to keep the parks safe and, more importantly, to give said teens an opportunity to help their community and see the importance of positive involvement. We helped hire twelve counselors for Occupation des Parcs, then worked with them to get the program going, as their work really began after we finished ours. I organized the budget for the program, and with our supervisor, Michael Farkas, was able to make room for two more employees, before preparing the counselors for their roles hosting the Fête Nationale.
Finally, we learned so much from shadowing our supervisor, and supporting him as he bounced between organizations and tasks, all to support the Burgundy community and Montréal as a whole. The funding from the Faculty of Arts Internship Award was so helpful to me because it allowed me to further work with Youth in Motion. My time at Youth in Motion, though short, was incredibly valuable to me because I was able to develop some professional skills, get to know Little Burgundy and Montréal better, and learn from some interesting people.
