Other areas seek advice from North Cow's hit youth program

South Cowichan is reaching out to North Cowichan’s youth outreach workers.

And at least one North Cowichan councillor is concerned limited resources mean those fingers may soon have to be slapped away.

Anne Murray said outreach workers Leah Rogerson and Denise Begley excel so much at their jobs that areas outside this pool are asking for help with their own youth programs.

This can leave areas in the Municipality of North Cowichan lacking the attention it pays for.

“All the jurisdictions around want (the outreach workers) to come down,” said Murray. “They’re now being called into the south end, Cobble Hill, Shawnigan Bay, (areas that) don’t actually pay into our outreach workers.”

Currently, Duncan, North Cowichan Cowichan Bay, and Sahtlam/Glenora, pool funds together for two outreach programmers based out of the Cowichan Centre.

The programmers focus on recreational and sports programming in Duncan as a way to keep youth occupied and out of trouble.

This year, Rogerson said she and Begley have built up a strong enough presence that they’ve started their first full year of programming.

This summer, their program will expand to Crofton and Chemainus with a “Summer Break-out Program” in each town for a few days a week.

But it can be hard to put in this attention when other areas see the progress made with their programming and request help.

“There’s pressure for sure,” Rogerson said. “We don’t have the staffing or the time to be able to go out there.”

“We get paid for seven hours a day but I know we sometimes work more than that.”

Helping communities outside their jurisdiction is starting to overwhelm the programmers — not because of the time it takes to participate in the programs, but because of the time it takes to drive there, said Rogerson.

But it’s hard as a youth outreach programmer to turn a blind eye to groups trying to help kids, she said.

“We want to support what’s already there,” Rogerson said. “We want to be able to share info.”

Murray had a solution for these communities in need.

“If they pay for some, we could get three,” Murray said. “We could really use a gal or two or a guy.”