Community rallies to help Warwick youth centre

Centre manager Catherine Goulding-Huckle with Chief Executive Parneet Kang and Benjamin Hamilton from Warwickshire Choristers.

Staff and students at the Positive About Young People Centre, which is on Nelson Lane, were left devastated after thieves broke in and made off with more than 50 items on January 22.

The youth centre is a charity that helps young people from across Warwickshire who are experiencing difficulties at mainstream schools.

Students who attend the centre rely on the electronic items that were stolen to help them in their education.

The thieves stole 19 laptops, two Xbox consoles, two Playstation consoles, 15 games and 20 DVDs from the centre.

After the break-in the charity launched an appeal asking the community for donations of spare laptops or any items that could help them.

Just one day after the appeal was featured in The Courier, the charity started receiving donations.

So far members of the community have donated a television, a Wii console, a printer, a laptop and a computer screen.

As well as those items, a local choir, The Warwickshire Choristers, who use the centre for rehearsal space, also donated £260 to the centre.

Staff and students at the youth centre are grateful for the help and support they have had from the  community.

Parneet Kang, chief executive at Positive About Young People, said: “We would like to thank the Warwickshire Choristers for the donation of £260, we can’t thank them enough and it will help go towards replacing some of the items stolen in the break-in.

“The response from the community with providing us with IT equipment has been fantastic, we cannot thank people enough.

“This has encouraged the students to take ownership of the building and made them realise that people do care.”

Benjamin Hamilton, choral director at Warwickshire Choristers, said: “Positive About Young People is extremely generous in the donation of its facilities for our weekly rehearsals as well as our singing days each term – we wouldn’t be able to function without its generosity.

“It affects us all when such a beacon of hope for the local community is targeted and I’m so pleased that we are able to contribute to replacing the resources that were stolen.

“I would encourage others in the community to support the organisation after the break-in.”

Staff at the centre would welcome any further donations from the community. To donate call 024 7631 2295.