Congrats, CHAMPS!

CHAMPS is after school program that I help with on Tuesdays. This has been a very unique experience for me as it has given me opportunity to see how after school programming is run in New Zealand and in a Pacific Island culture as well as given me a chance to interact with many different people in the community. 

CHAMPS began about two years ago when the Housing Corporation of New Zealand saw a need in the community. The community that CHAMPS is in is a government housing area that was falling apart. Students as young as seven and eight years old were getting involved with gangs and causing trouble in the community. Students began dressing in colors and 'pretending' to be in gangs. 

In an effort to change this mentality and to offer the students a positive activity alternative, one of the Housing New Zealand staff members decided to try her hand at giving the students a place to hang out after school. This program started in a neighborhood garage with a handful of students who wanted somewhere safe to go after school. 

Now, over two years later, the CHAMPS program has changed it's community! Parents, teens, and students alike have come together for the common cause of giving young students in the neighborhood a positive place to hang out. This program went from a handful of students to over sixty kids who meet at a school hall. We have games, food, and encourage good morals through teaching a word of the day such as "courage" or "honesty". 

The attitude of these students who were once "playing gangs" has changed to an attitude that cares about their community and wants to see positive change. The students and volunteers refer to this program as one big whanau or family. 

The CHAMPS program was recently nominated for a community excellence award for the work that is taking place. On Friday evening I joined the other volunteers who help with CHAMPS at an awards evening. The CHAMPS program won! We were all very excited and proud of the program. For winning we received an amazing prize of different sports equipment and games for the program--we had none before!

We are excited to share the good news with the students on Tuesday. Congrats, CHAMPS, you are doing great things for the youth in the community!