Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 04/99) - Storefront for Voluntary Agencies announced Friday that they are one of six organizations, chosen from 200 across Canada, to receive funding for a new national program called Generation V.

Storefront received the funding to hire four managers who must each create and administer a youth volunteer program from scratch.

"The result of this in Yellowknife will be more youth volunteers, special projects will be completed and hopefully, at the end of the program, the agencies involved will be able to continue the volunteer programs that our managers create," said Storefront executive director, Denise Bekkema.

Four college graduates have been hired for the positions and all are from the North.

Natasha McCagg, who was born in Inuvik and raised in Fort Simpson, will be developing a volunteer program for the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre.

"I've always been involved with volunteering. I do it because I realized that just by stepping forward and giving a little time, I could see positive change happening," McCagg said.

"What I've learned through those experiences I can bring forward into this position."

Ray Eskelson was given the environmental beat and will be working closely with Ecology North. Raised in Yellowknife, Eskelson received a diploma in renewable resource management from Yukon College.

"I'm hoping that through my volunteer projects I can raise awareness about environmental issues in the North," Eskelson said.

"At the same time, I'll be learning more about the environment myself so I'll benefit too."

Shawn McCann will be working to develop a volunteer program out of the Stanton Regional Hospital. She was born and raised in Yellowknife and completed her degree at the University of Calgary in Canadian studies.

"The important thing in solving youth problems is ensuring there's places for youth to interact positively in the community," McCann said.

"I want to give something back to Yellowknife because I've taken a lot from the youth programs that were available when I was growing up. I can see where there's a need for more programs for youth and those are the areas I hope to make a difference in."

Crystal Gaudry is the last of the four Generation V managers. She will be working in social services and was unavailable for comment, because she was attending her graduation ceremonies at the University of Saskatchewan.