PPL Montana's $10,000 Grant to MCC Allows Youth to Serve Community

The residents at the Aspen View Retirement Residence are seeing through cleaner windows thanks to a team of local teens who committed half their summer to meeting needs in the community. The youth are participants in Montana Conservation Corps’ MontanaYES (Youth Engaged in Service) program, a five-week summer program partially funded by PPL Montana.

The MontanaYES program provides youth ages 14 to 16 with an opportunity to cultivate an ethic of volunteer service and environmental stewardship, develop employment and team skills, and experience a sense of purpose and self-value that comes from completing challenging projects that have a lasting benefit for the environment and community.

When asked what he learned during the five weeks, MontanaYES participant Tim Elkins says with great enthusiasm, “MCC is the best thing that's happened to me.  It's awesome. I have more energy and once I joined the MCC, I learned how to push myself. I learned how to really work and work as a team.”

Jono McKinney, executive director for the Montana Conservation Corps explains: “We want youth to experience the great feeling that comes from doing something challenging that benefits other people.

“Completing meaningful projects of lasting benefit to the community helps young people discover they can be part of the solution to their community’s problems. It just plain feels good!”

On July 8 at the South Park Pavilion in Billings, MCC held a recognition picnic for the youth volunteers and their families. In addition, PPL Montana presented MCC with a check for $10,000.

Lisa Perry, PPL Montana Community Affairs manager, said, “Our support for the YES program is a natural fit. MCC has been a great resource for implementing many of our environmental stewardship and community-building objectives.

“The MontanaYES program helps us put our commitments as a company into action by developing young people as responsible users of natural resources and as engaged citizens in their community.”

PPL Montana’s sustained support since 2002 has allowed MCC to grow the program to engage teens from Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Libby and Missoula in the MontanaYES program.

Tauzha Rukstad, MCC regional supervisor in Billings, said, “Great partners like PPL Montana, plus generous sponsors willing to share their expertise on projects always add up to a fulfilling experience for youth in the community.”

During the first session of the Billings MontanaYES program this summer, projects tackled by the youth have included refurbishing a handicap-accessible trail to the amphitheater at Makoshika State Park, maintaining a barbed-wire living snow fence with the Yellowstone Conservation District, mentoring youth at the Friendship House, repainting the fence and entrance sign at Pompeys Pillar National Monument in preparation for the Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration, and restoration work at the Will James Cabin near Four Dances.

One sponsor, Dave Hagstrom of Community Leadership Development, Inc., spent time teaching basic carpentry skills to the MontanaYES crew. The crew was able to see the fruits of their labor when the walls came together and a home was built for a family in need. Upon completion of this particular project one MontanaYES participant said, “I felt like I was actually doing something good.”

In return for their effort, each youth earns the national Presidential Volunteer Service Award, a modest service award from MCC, and the knowledge that he or she made a lasting difference in the community. The program gives teens the conviction that they can be part of the solution to the challenges that face our communities, and the skills and confidence to try.

For more information about the MontanaYES program or other MCC activities in the area, call 406-248-7913, or visit MCC online at www.mtcorps.org.