KPC Youth is a charity based in Pyle, which was set up in 1998 by a local lady – Helena Parobij – who had sadly lost her 18 year old son Brett to a drugs-related incident. Helena and other local residents didn’t want this to happen to any other young people or families in our area, but to give young people somewhere safe and fun to attend, away from hanging out on the streets, and the potential dangers of boredom.
This continues to be our ethos now – 15 years later, and we currently have over 400 members aged 8 – 25 attending, with attendance on many nights as high as 80 young people, coming from across the Borough of Bridgend!
When Helena set up KPC in 1998 she had a lot of local support for what she was trying to do, and a lot of local businesses donated to help KPC set up as a centre. Over the years we have now worked with 1000s of young people, and many local organisations, and members of the community. We hope you will appreciate that this has not been without struggle, and commitment to the project and our community. It is difficult to measure the impact we will have had on the community as a whole, with reduced youth annoyance, anti-social behaviour etc., but the police have really valued the work we have done to help reduce these issues.
KPC has expanded on what it delivers over the year and now works in the daytimes with excluded pupils, those not in education, employment or training, to give them support and better opportunities in life. In addition our open access evening provision has gone from strength to strength with some great on-site facilities.
Our original building was a portakabin, originally used as a canteen when Parc Prison was being built. This was sited 15 years ago, and has been an incredible space for us. However, due to being a temporary building, we now have to look towards replacement, in order that our project can continue. We have had a structural survey done, which highlights the urgency of this, due to major maintenance issues. We are looking to replace this temporary structure with a permanent 2 storey building, to give us more space, and the ability to expand on what we currently do, in order to become more of a community facility. This is where we need your help …… We launched our “Buy a Brick” Campaign last week, and are asking for the community and local businesses to support us – with donations from as little of £2.00. Our target is £250K which we need as match funding for major capital funding.
If you kindly supported us back in 1998/1999 when KPC was first set up, we thank you so much for your support then and hope you can see how much this has benefitted the young people of our community. We hope you are you proud to have been part of this project and the work we have done. If you know of any other contacts from that time, perhaps you can pass this on to them also . Our project is still needed for young people and we want to see it continue to grow and benefit future generations of the area.
We can’t do this on our own – but hope you can support us and help spread the word to other business contacts, family, friends & neighbours. I have attached more info, if you are able to do some fundraising for us in your business, with staff, contacts etc. Please can you email me if you are able to support us in this way, or donations can be made by either cash, cheque or through: https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/kpcyouth
This is a huge and ambitious campaign for us to help us improve and continue with our centre, and also to help with our future sustainability. All support – large or small – would be fantastic in helping us to achieve our goals. All donors will be named on our “brick wall” to show our progress and support!
If you don’t know much about KPC Youth, you are welcome to call in and see us at first hand to find out more about the great work that our staff do with young people.
Contact:
Tel: 01656 749219
Twitter @KPC_Pyle
Facebook Kpcyouth Centre
Charity No: 1123339 - Website: www.kpcyouth.com
