Brooklin Youth Corps
Every summer, kids in red t-shirts dot the Brooklin landscape.
They are the Brooklin Youth Corps, local teenagers who spend up to 30 hours a week earning minimum wage doing chores for homeowners as well as public service projects around town.
With the guidance of local farmers and support from the Brooklin Garden Club, the BYC also tends an organic vegetable garden planted by students at the local school. (The BYCers sell the summer produce at a periodic farmstand, and the fall harvest is included in the school lunch program.) They’re encouraged to goof off occasionally, too—going swimming on a hot day, for instance.
The BYC is a municipal program started in 1997 by the selectmen and citizens of the town with tax dollars and support from a two-year Community Development Block Grant. Nowadays, town support for the program is supplemented by grants and charitable donations as well as the contributions of homeowners who hire the BYCers.
The program’s goal is to help teenagers develop an appreciation for the value of teamwork, as well as a good work ethic and basic job skills. BYCers learn that a job well done yields the best results for everyone.
The BYC is overseen by a steering committee of citizens. A paid coordinator and an assistant work with the teens during the summer, organizing their activities and providing guidance. The program operates out of the second floor of the “old town office” at the town green, site of the Fourth of July barbecue the BYC hosts every year.
For information about the BYC, call 359-2378 July 1 through mid-August, or Ellen Booraem at 359-2123 during the off-season.
The BYC Steering Committee:
- Ellen Booraem, president
- Tammy Andrews, treasurer
- Ann Brayton
- Ken Carpenter
- Bunny Gorski
- Courtenay Haight
- Jean Hylan
- Vicki Richardson
- Toni Smith
- Sherry Streeter