Being a young person can be tough, but some bikers with big hearts are reaching out to young people who are struggling with bullying and abuse.
The Huntsville chapter of the Protectors of Youth Riders Club supports both parents and kids in communities across the 705 through mentorship. The goal is to lift up young people by reminding them that they are not alone, and that people care about the struggles they are going through.
“Parents will come to us and ask how we can help,” says Jason Arsenio, President of the Huntsville club. “We do have paperwork that we fill out so we can help the kids out. A lot of members do police checks and VC checks (vulnerable sector checks) so they’re covered. Different members of ours do different things. We have a child liaison who works with the children directly. We also have a chapter mom who can sit there with the children and talk to them about different things and then each of our members all help out as much as possible.”
And the group receives support from other riding clubs in the 705. Riders from the Parry Sound Bike Night have raised tens of thousands of dollars for families coping with cancer and came out to support their friends in Huntsville.
“I love what he’s doing here,” said Lee Dixon, Sergeant-At-Arms for the Red Riders. “Actually, I had a friend of mine that I had them call, they live in Bracebridge, I had them call to talk to Jay about bullying because their son is being bullied, and I think he put a word in there at the school and it stopped.”
The Protectors of Youth meet Friday evenings at the 1 Capstone Lane location of Tim Hortons in Huntsville and invite the community to come out and meet them. They have a special event for youth coming up in August featuring a ride, games, and a dance. We’ll keep you posted on that!
For more info about the Protectors Of Youth and the Parry Sound Bike Night check out their Facebook pages.
