Ian Hill said his father bought him in Iran for two cases of scotch.
It was the start of a rough childhood, he said, one that saw him eating out of trashcans and getting arrested. But he also had countless teachers, coaches, and community members who stood by him to set him on the right track. Now, he's a renowned speaker, businessman and philanthropist who builds playgrounds for communities across Canada.
Morinville's kids are no different, he argued, speaking before about 100 residents last Thursday at the town's Community Cultural Centre.
"These kids have dreams. They have hopes and they're looking for some adult to stand with them and stand by them," he said.
Hill, the founder of the playground-building group Let Them Be Kids, gave the keynote address at last week's Discover the Power of One event in Morinville. The daylong event saw him speaking to several hundred kids, councillors, business owners and community leaders about how Morinville can build better citizens.
"We have a responsibility to build these kids a better community," Hill said. "They're not asking you to do it yourself. They're in … How about you?"
Youth (Dis)connection
Hill's visit was meant to kick-start the town's efforts to create a new youth strategy, said Amy Dribnenky, one of the organizers of the event.
A recent survey found that the town's youth did not feel valued or connected to their community, Dribnenky said.
"They have nothing to do, and they don't feel they're a part of the community."
The result is kids in turmoil and kids engaged in high-risk activities.
There's not much for youth to do in town, agreed Jessica Weatherly, a Grade 11 student at Morinville Community High School. "All we do is walk around town, and it's not very fun."
Locals have called for new facilities such as a swimming pool for years, she continued, but to no avail.
"People are giving ideas and want to get involved, [but] it's just not getting done."
That's led some youths to start trouble around town, Weatherly and other youths at the event said, giving all youths a bad reputation. One oft-cited example was the local Sobeys, where, due to thefts, staffers restrict the number of teens that can enter at once.
It takes a village…
Hill urged his audience to work together to build better citizens of tomorrow. He challenged the adults in the room to pick one task they could do over the next month that would help kids, noting that three local businesses had already committed to starting youth scholarships for that purpose.
Youth have to get involved as well, said Miranda Martin, a student at Sturgeon Composite High School who said she feels engaged because she engages herself. Conversation cafés and better publicity for community events would help get more youth involved in their community.
One example of youth engagement launched at last week's event was the Youth in Action team's bracelet project. The team is based at Georges H. Primeau Middle School and works with the town encouraging local youths to hand out green bracelets to adults whenever they see them do something good for a kid. Those bracelets come with a written explanation on what it is the adult did to earn the green band. Those explanations will be sent back to the town, which will then share these youth engagement techniques with everyone. The hope is to eventually get a green band to every adult in town.
The town also plans to start a youth group to organize youth-orientated entertainment in town, she continued, such as dances or paintballing.
"We need to stop deciding what our kids want. We need to start listening to what they want."
The town hopes to have its new youth strategy completed by the end of the year, Dribnenky said.
