The CCO of Pet Pangaea (Crescent) gives Vets With Pets program 2 paws up! Courtesy photo

Village Arts has Taylor Swift coloring books to purchase while dropping off pet supplies. Courtesy photo

By BERNADETTE LAURITZEN
Champions of Youth Ambitions

Our non-profit, Champions of Youth Ambitions (C’YA) will celebrate 10 years in June of 2024.

This year our non-profit will have several new additions to our programs in an attempt to give back. Our goals are to educate community members and provide resources for them to help someone they know who they believe is struggling.

This spring we will start with several mental health initiatives including; teaching adult classes about suicide prevention. The program is QPR (Question, Persuade and Refer), and can be taught in one hour. We’re still a community that doesn’t talk, and we hope to nudge the door open a bit.

Another step is to have Care Packages people can send to someone they are worried about. I often think of the young people who leave town and they might be struggling, but friends don’t know where to start. This allows you to spend a small amount of money, provide some details and we send a care package from their home town.

We-Care is the idea behind it and that it doesn’t matter who, sometimes you just need to know someone cares. We’ve sent a test package out, which made the receiver happy and we had a chance to ask for feedback. Some items are silly, some add a New Mexico touch and some are meant to lift the spirit. Each small gift is wrapped and has its own handmade note.

No, we can’t afford to just send them for free, but perhaps at some point people might pay the idea forward for someone we hear about. It wouldn’t be just for young adults, because many times the elderly struggle too. It also doesn’t mean everyone is suicidal, but I am fairly certain we all know many people that could use a boost.

Additionally, we plan to offer some diversity gatherings. Often people have questions, but don’t know how, who or what to ask. So, we keep quiet for fear of offending everyone. Plus, in a divided nation, there needs to be a safe place to talk without anger. Again, these will be geared for adults that want to learn more about a variety of things that fit under the diversity umbrella.

Our first give back project is taking place as we speak. Vets & Pets or Vets with Pets, is the theme and collections are underway. We’re collecting pet items at four locations to start; Metzger’s in Los Alamos, Smith’s in Los Alamos, Village Arts and Pet Pangaea. We will collect throughout the entire month to benefit local veterans and two animal shelters (Los Alamos & Santa Fe). Metzger’s is enhancing the shelter programs by selling and allowing us to pick up mulch or small rock for the shelters.

Visit www.cya-nm.org.

Metzger’s has mulch at the ready to help local animal shelters. Courtesy photo