GRANTS IN ACTION: The Hanley Institute
This summer at The Hanley Institute, youth are having fun while learning valuable life skills with The Triple S Skills Project, supported by a grant from Community Foundation Grey Bruce. The community-based non-profit in located in Flesherton that offers a range of services and programs for youth while extending opportunities and removing barriers to healthy lifestyles.
During their 2023 Summer Camp, Jenny Hanley, founder of The Hanley Insitute started the Triple ‘S’ expansion: Summer, Sunshine and Skills. Hanley tells the Foundation the project will “respond to a youth's innate need to experience a wide variety of new skills and knowledge as they develop in maturity, purpose and self-direction.”
Two expert instructors, Chef Zach Keeshig, an Indigenous professional chef and culinary educator from Owen Sound, and Will Daize, a professional woodworker and owner of the business Timmerwerk, will help the youth cultivate new competencies they may not have had access to previously. With Keeshig, participants will learn to cook using forged ingredients and Indigenous culinary techniques while gaining a better understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing and being, including Reconciliation. Daize will teach youth the necessary woodworking techniques and safety considerations, and each participant will craft a wooden item from start to finish.
Jenny Hanley, also born and raised in Grey county, recognizes the challenges youth face in rural areas. She says, “there are limited opportunities outside of the local school environment for youth, often because of a lack of transportation or affordability issues”.
The Triple S Skills Project operates out of The Hanley Institute Youth Centre, a safe space for youth to gather and discover opportunities, responding to the expressed need for a designated ‘youth space’ in the Community Foundation’s Vital Focus on Youth Report.
More information on the services offered by The Hanley Institute can be found at www.thehanleyinstitute.ca. To donate to organizations supporting youth in Grey Bruce, please visit www.communityfoundationgreybruce.com/donate.