R is for REACH OUT

Last night I went along to a youth group here in Dubbo. It's called publicDOMAIN. Every Friday night they get from 35 to 60 kids "drop in" for a couple of hours of fun, games, milkshakes, music, serious message and video presentations. The kids are aged from 12 to 17, are mostly indigenous and include quite a few from dysfunctional families. There are two small buses that do a couple of runs to collect and return kids who otherwise wouldn't be coming.
The leaders are a dedicated bunch of young people aged 18 to 25. There are a few older folks like myself who help out where we can.
It's fantastic to see these youngsters reaching out to the community and making sure they are also catering for the less privileged.
Probably the two biggest problems with these dysfunctional families are alcoholism and domestic violence. However there could also be a drug culture having quite an effect as well.
Isn't it great to see opporunities for youngsters like this?
Last night was pretty tough with quite a few kids being extremely defiant. Five girls actually just cleared out and walked down town , about 2 km from the church where publicDOMAIN happens.There was nothing we could do to prevent these girls from leaving. There were a few others who were told that they are not welcome next week because of their poor behaviour.
So you can see there are plenty of challenges for the leaders - even experienced old guys like me!