Cap teens tap pro WELL INTO its second year, the Capilano Youth Project has become a primary resource for local teens. The program provides a positive alternative to the often disruptive lessons learned in the street. With the help of people like youth worker Neil Huestis and Capilano Community Services Society youth advisory chairman Diane Straith, teens are encourag- ed to participate in social and rec- reational activities at the home base provided by the Griffin Teen Centre at William Griffin Com- munity Centre. The project also works as a community sounding board allow- ing young people the opportunity to question and receive non- judgmental answers in return. The numbers of visits to the ire NEWS photo Nell Lucente YOUTH ADVISORY chairman for the Capilano Community Services Society Diane Straith, left, leads a discussion with loca’ ‘s::uths (I to r) Chad Silvstrone, Stan Sheppard and Shelley Whalley during a Lifeskills workshop sponsored by the society. The eight-week program, held at Delbrook Community Centre, counsels local teens on lifestyle issues in a peer setting. MORTGAGES & LOANS ‘Two of the best reasons for making your next mortgage or loan ours. Find out how accommodating and flexible we can be. Call for an appointment or just drop in. ur current annual interest rates on il our 6 month term variable SOUTH MALL CHRIS PARKER 922-0158 PARK ROYAL tips are tricky PAGE 59 drop-in centre tell the success story in its simplest form. Approximate- ly 3,600 pairs of feet walked through the doors in the first year, April 1, 1986 to April 1, 1987. Over 300 teens participate in the project monthly, connecting with the service through outreach, counselling, recreation and educa- tional programs, The project is currently funded by church, government and foun- dation contributions. Society executive director Alice - Hargreaves would like to see the province take on the funding role during the program’s third year. “*There is a real difficulty in main- taining this project on a purely voluntary basis,’’ she said. Common threads tie the project to the founding roots of the society in 1966. In the early years teen aid to youths at risk was provided by concerned area citizens via coffee houses, youth workers, informal night programs in local schools, and public meetings on drugs and alcohol and the generation gap. Today the ball is carried and rolled into programs such as the eight-week Capilano Youth Project Lifeskills program currently underway at the Delbrook Centre. Through the program, par- : ticipating teens are opened to the straight goods on booze and dope. Said Straith: ‘‘We're not getting into personal situations. We’re try- ing to give them information to equip them with better self- hore News resources knowledge tools.’”’ With a background in criminol- ogy and a job at the Willingdon Youth Detention Centre in Bur- naby in charge of the facility’s volunteer program, Straith sees both sides of the fence when it comes to problems faced by young people. . “Tm trying to continue the theme Neil has set up in his work with local kids in trying to show these kids that there is a more pos- itive way to channel their energy,”’ she said. Straith took on a seat with the Capilano Community Services Society Board shortly after moving to Vancouver. from Calgary. ‘‘I wanted to get involved in volunteer work involving youth and so I answered an ad in the volunteer column of the North Shore News.’’ After taking a chair on the Capilano Youth Advisory Com- mittee, Straith and youth worker Huestis began toying with the idea of launching a drug and alcohol abuse program. The Lifeskills program began on the first Wednesday of October with three teens participating and has grown in scope during the en- suing weeks both in terms of at- tendance and in the types of issues covered such as assertiveness train- ing. For more information about the Capilano Youth Project. and Lifeskills programs call Huestis at 986-2255.