Happy August!

Summer is winding down fast, and the United Way Youth Venture Team is preparing for a new and exciting school year. Even though summer is slowing down, that doesn't mean our Venture Teams are slowing down.

Just yesterday two Venturers represented their Venture Teams on Discussing Fitchburg Now with host Councilwoman Sam Squailia on FATV! Estelle Arseneau from Fitchburg High School Current Events Club, and Genevieve Raboin from Helping Paws at McKay Arts Academy, sat down for a conversation about their Ventures and about their experiences in Youth Venture.

Also this month, Paws for Psych, a team from Oakmont Regional High School, participated in Gardner's annual sidewalk sale. What a great way to connect with the community!

UWYV still has openings for Outreach Specialists! Please read below to learn more about this exciting and rewarding position.

As always, we appreciate all of our readers and we are very grateful for your continued support of our program. Thank you!

~the United Way Youth Venture Team!

UWYV was honored to be invited to be guests on Sam Squailia's Discussing Fitchburg Now show on FATV. Along with Jake VanHillo, Outreach Specialist with UWYV, two Fitchburg Venture Team leaders sat down with Sam for a great conversation about Youth Venture, and about their Venture Teams.

Estelle Arseneau of Fitchburg High School Current Events Club and Genevieve Raboin of Helping Paws shared with Sam their experiences in Youth Venture and the mission of each of their Ventures.

Fitchburg High School Current Events Club understands the importance of doing community service, particularly for youth, but wanted to ensure that they and their peers could connect to service that they are passionate about. The Current Events Club is helping FHS students to earn community service hours for causes they truly care about while learning about issues affecting the community — often straight from news headlines. The examination and discussion about cause and effect of social issues, natural disasters, and more, aims to help their peers understand the responsibility they have to participate in leading change.

Helping Paws launched this past year, and the Team's focus is on trying to help animals who are desperately waiting on a nice family to bring them home. This team is using their connections throughout the Fitchburg and Leominster communities to raise awareness about the issue of stray and homeless animals, and to raise money to support the efforts of the Fitchburg and Leominster Animal Shelters.

We are so proud of the amazing work both teams have done, and we were so excited to see Estelle and Genevieve on the air!

The Venture Team, Paws for Psych, recently had a table at the Gardner Sidewalk sale. They had a "make your own dog toy" activity and a kids coloring table with educational pages to color. They also sold their own handmade dog toys! What a great way to get the local community involved with their venture!

Paws for Psych is a Venture team from Oakmont Regional High School. This Venture Team, with a passion for both psychology and animals, learned that individuals with a mental health challenge who may benefit from having a therapy dog, can't always afford one. Paws for Psych is raising awareness of this issue and the benefits, as well as fundraising for locals who cannot afford the average expense to adopt a therapy dog of their own.

You can check out their website to learn more about this cause!

Interested in writing for the official UWYV blog? Our audience wants to hear from YOU!

The Venturer Voice blog seeks students, Champions, Allies and community contributors to write pieces for our new official blog!

Learn about how to get involved here.

Do you have a UWYV story (or idea, event, news item) that you would like to see featured in YV Monthly?

Submit your story here via our Noteworthy Story Form