Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Apr 21/00) - A fund-raising teen dance was held in Fort Providence over the weekend in a place created to make teenagers feel at home.

The Fort Providence youth centre, located in the building formerly home to Noodles restaurant, has become the venue for such events. The project started close to a year ago with the efforts of the Fort Providence RCMP, former Deh Gah teacher Lois Philipp and several students in her Grade 10-12 class.

"I did a school talk with the high school kids and (asked) what they wanted to see in town ... and they were saying a youth centre would be nice," Cpl. Rod Tiller recalled.

The hamlet did its part by designating the building for the cause.

The Brighter Futures program provided $4,500 in funding and a mock jail fund-raiser put on by the students brought in close to $1,300 more.

Couches, chairs, tables, a television, a pool table and a foosball table were also acquired.

The building was renovated and painted by some teen volunteers and a few people performing community service.

Rather than simply turn everything over to the teens, Tiller insisted some of them should take responsibility for events held in the youth centre.

"Instead of the adults running around doing everything for the kids and saying, 'here's your building,' it's more of letting the kids take the lead role and work together," said Tiller. "A lot of kids just volunteered their time."

Laetitia Levavasseur, Allison Steed, Terry Sapp and Robyn McLeod have jumped at the opportunity to hold dances in the building, having put three such events together already.

Through the first two, they raised enough to purchase a satellite dish for the building.

The first dance, a "millennium" dance, was well attended, but the second one, a Sadie Hawkins affair (where girls have to ask boys out), wasn't as popular, they said.

They have movie nights and a pool tournament planned for the future. It's also given a local teen rock band a place to perform.

"It something to do for the youth," Levavasseur said of her involvement with the youth centre.

"I think it's good. It's a place to hang out other than the streets and stuff ... it's just so homey," added Sapp.

A list of adult volunteers has been compiled so the centre can be opened three or four days a week with supervision, said Tiller.

"Basically they (the youth) are doing most of the work and we're just supervising."