rsu 13 « Latest Broadreach News

May 18, 2015

Youthlinks Yard, Bake & Seedling Sale on Saturday, May 23rd

Filed under: Fundraiser,Teens,Youthlinks — Tags: after-school, Bake, Broadreach, Food, fundraiser, Knox County, maine, midcoast, midcoast maine, Oceanside High School, Rockland, rsu 13, Seedling Sale, teens, Yard, Youthlinks — Sue Dirosario @ 9:37 am

It’s everybody’s favorite season…Yard sale season! Come support Youthlinks next weekend at their second annual bake-yard seedling sale. On Saturday, May 23^rd, there will be tables of treasures, homemade baked goods and seedlings raised by students. Every purchase you make helps to fund our programs. Start your spring by coming to 420 Broadway in Rockland from 8:00am-2:00pm. All parking will be at Oceanside East High School. Don’t miss this one!

Youthlinks offers programs to middle school and high school students that provide them with opportunities to engage with their community, to learn life skills, self- reflection, and healthy outdoor time. Youthlinks is a program of Broadreach Family and Community Services. For more information about Youthlinks like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/youthlinks. For more information about Broadreach visit brmaine.org

September 11, 2014

Broadreach’s Youthlinks Program Achieves Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 Gold Status

Filed under: Teens,Youthlinks — Tags: after-school, Broadreach, education, Food, Knox County, maine, midcoast, midcoast maine, Middle School, Oceanside High School, rsu 13, teens, Youthlinks — Vicky @ 3:33 pm

Youthlinks, a Rockland area program serving middle and high school students, has been notified that it has attained Gold Status in the Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 Program. Let’s Go! is a nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention program that promotes the increase of physical activity and healthy eating for youth.

Gold status requires that the program implement all five Let’s Go! priority strategies, have them in written policy format, and enforce these policies.

As a Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 site, Youthlinks is dedicated to carrying out these strategies by providing healthy choices for snacks and celebrations, providing water and low-fat milk instead of sugary beverages, providing opportunities for daily physical activity, and engaging with community partners to help support and promote a healthy lifestyle for youth. Youthlinks collaborates with RSU 13, the Good Tern Co-op, Cooking Matters, a program of the Knox County Community Health Coalition (KCCHS) which is funded by the Good Shepard Food Bank, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Program, and Foo Corps, to provide consistently healthy lifestyle choices for students in middle and high school.

For example, the Student Garden Army, summer camp, and other programs offered by Youthlinks for 11- 17 year olds emphasize the tenets of 5-2-1-0 which signify eating at least 5 vegetables and fruits per day, 2 hours or less of recreational screen time, 1 hour or more of physical activity, and 0 sugary beverages. At Youthlinks, students have opportunities to grow, harvest, and eat their own garden produce. Many students try vegetables that are new to them and learn they like them and find out ways through interactive cooking demonstrations to incorporate more healthy ingredients into their meals. They bring this knowledge home with them to their families and it adds to their store of knowledge needed to become a healthier adolescent and adult.

Youthlinks is a program of Broadreach Family & Community Services. For more information on Youthlinks please call (207) 594-2221 or visit the following website: http://www.youthlinksonline.org/ or for information about Broadreach Family & Community Services the website is www.broadreachmaine.org .

Broadreach’s Youthlinks Program Awarded Quimby Family Foundation Grant

Filed under: Teens,Youthlinks — Tags: after-school, Broadreach, Broadreach grants, education, Knox County, maine, midcoast, midcoast maine, Middle School, Oceanside High School, Rockland, rsu 13, teens, Youthlinks — Vicky @ 3:30 pm

The Quimby Family Foundation has awarded Broadreach Family & Community Services Youthlinks Program a grant in the amount of $15,000. The funds will be used to expand the summer pilot Student Garden Army into a sustainable year-round program for middle and high school students in the greater Rockland region – Rockland, Cushing, St. George/Tenants Harbor,Thomaston, South Thomaston, and Owls Head).

Youth, age 11 – 17 living in towns served by RSU 13 will have an opportunity to participate in the program that teaches young people to learn to grow, cook, and eat healthy food and to make food choices that positively impact their health, and that of their community and their world. Student Garden Army also teaches students how to operate a micro-business through the operation of a local farm stand, and to give back to the community through support of the local food cupboards with fresh garden vegetables and fruit.

Youthlinks works closely with partners such as RSU 13m the Good Tern Co-op, Cooking Maters, a program of the Knox County Community Health Coalition (KCCHC), Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and Food Corps. The Youthlinks Program is located at 420 Broadway in Rockland and has been in operation for nearly 32 years. It provides a safe place to nurture the development of young people, to support youth in becoming positive role models, and create meaningful connections between youth and their community.

For more information on Youthlinks please call (207) 594-2221 or visit the following website: http://www.youthlinksonline.org/ or for information about Broadreach Family & Community Services the website is www.broadreachmaine.org .

February 28, 2014

Broadreach’s Youthlinks Program to Host March 7th Community Open House

Filed under: Broadreach Events,Teens,Youthlinks — Tags: after-school, Community Open House, Knox County, maine, midcoast, Oceanside High School, RASA, Rockland, rsu 13, teens, Youthlinks — Sue Dirosario @ 5:01 pm

The Broadreach Family & Community Services Youthlinks Program will be holding its Community Open House on Friday, March 7^th from 6:00 – 7:00 pm at the Youthlinks location on 420 Broadway in Rockland with all parking next door at Oceanside High School. Light refreshments will be served. All high school and middle school students, families and community members are invited. It is an opportunity to learn about all the exciting activities of Youthlinks and view what the students worked on in their previous sessions. Youthlinks collaborates with RSU 13 to form the Rockland After School Alliance (RASA) to bring a wide range of activities to area students.

Last session those in middle school participated in sessions as varied as Animal Care Team, to CSI: Crime Scene Investigations, Photography with iPads and Extreme Food Science. High school students are also offered an wide array of programs, including those that allow them to provide community service hours, such as Soup Kitchen Saturdays. Both middle school and high school students participated in toboggan building programs in collaboration with The Apprenticeshop with a number of students entering the U.S. National Toboggan Championships in Camden with the toboggans they had built and prepared for the event. Youthlinks also provides summer programs for students including camps and School Garden Army.

March 15, 2013

Fog Bar & Cafe Chef cooks with students in Youthlinks program

Filed under: Teens,Youthlinks — Tags: after-school, Fog Bar, midcoast maine, oceanside, Rockland, rsu 13, sarah woodman, soup kitchen, teens, Youthlinks — Vicky @ 9:16 am

Left to right: Oceanside West student Katherine Howarth, Fog Bar & Cafe chef Nick Krunkkala, Oceanside East student Takoda Peasley

On Tuesday, February 12th, Chef Nick Krunkkala of the Fog Bar and Café in Rockland took time from his busy schedule to teach students in Youthlinks’ Soup Kitchen program how to make a Creole Chowder in honor of Mardi Gras. The Soup Kitchen program meets once a week and is open to all students grades 8-12 in RSU 13. Each week students learn how to prepare a new dish, frequently taught by a guest chef from the Rockland area. Students then put their skills to use one Saturday a month and gain community service hours by preparing a meal from start to finish at the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen at St. Peter’s church in Rockland.

Chef Nick, who spent several years in New York training and working as a chef, chose a dish exemplifying his southern style of cooking while also using flavors suitable for cold Maine winters. Chef Nick showed students how to safely chop vegetables, and explained the difference between a traditional French mirepoix of carrot, onion, and celery and the Cajun style of starting a dish using bell peppers, onions and carrots (known as the “Holy Trinity”.) Chef Nick taught students how to thicken a stew using pureed sweet corn and roasted tomatoes to create body without sacrificing flavor.

The final product was a creamy, lightly spicy, and layered stew of andouille sausage and crawfish, a version of which has won the past two years at the annual Chowder and Chili Challenge hosted by the Rockland Fire Department. The chowder was enjoyed by the program’s participants and Youthlinks staff.
This was Chef Nick’s second visit to the Youthlinks’ Soup Kitchen program. Chef Nick previously taught students his recipe for pickled watermelon rind, and how to create a refreshing smoothie from the fruit of the watermelon and fresh lemon.

Youthlinks is a program of Broadreach Family & Community Services, a non-profit organization that has been serving the children and families of Waldo and Knox Counties since 1983. For more information please call Youthlinks at 594-2221 or visit youthlinksonline.org.