STANWOOD — Shelby White snuggles down in one of the plush brown couches in a room warmed by a gas fireplace.
A member of the teen advisory board at Stanwood’s new youth center, Shelby said she likes to get together with friends at the center, curl up on a comfortable new couch and visit.
Sometimes the group plays “Guitar Hero” on the center’s Wii, works on homework and eats pizza, the 16-year-old said.
“You can come down here and just hang out. It’s a gorgeous place and very calm,” Shelby said. “The adults here aren’t judgmental, and they don’t look down on us.”
With the help of donations, the nonprofit Community Resources Foundation recently bought, renovated and furnished a small house next door to the foundation’s Stanwood Camano Community Resource Center on 271st Street NW, across from the Stanwood Library.
The house will serve as the youth center until the foundation has raised enough money to tear down the centers and construct a new building for both, foundation director Christie Connors said.
For now, the youth center includes a computer room, a large area for making music and crafts, a full kitchen and a garage that eventually will be a place where volunteers can teach teenagers how to maintain their cars, Connors said.
Adult volunteers also are needed to act as chaperones, math tutors, leaders of a teen beach-watch environmental group and someone to help kids learn to play musical instruments, she said.
The primary function of the center, however, is just a place for young people to go, Connors said.
“Youth centers come and go, in part because they are too scheduled or offer just an open gym,” Connors said. “Adults want programs and outcomes, but kids just want to hang out together. It can be difficult to find people to donate their time and money to that idea.”
One person who did contribute recently to the youth center was state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, who personally bought the carpet for the center, Connors said.
Haugen praised Connors for her work to help individuals and families on Camano Island and around Stanwood. Programs offered by the resource center include parenting and household budget classes, a youth arts festival, English as a second language courses and opportunities for teens to earn community service hours.
“The resource center and the youth program has just blossomed under Christie’s leadership,” Haugen said. “In small communities, there’s not an awful lot for young people to do. The center has really reached out to them.”
Shelby and her friends are looking forward this winter to hosting an open mike night for poetry slams and musical acts at the youth center.
“I love this place,” Shelby said. “It’s a big part of my life.”
Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427 or gfiege@heraldnet.com.
Learn more
To learn more about the youth programs run by the Stanwood Camano Community Resource Center or to volunteer at the youth center, call 360-629-5257 or e-mail programs@stanwood camanoresources.org.
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