(Nicole Reis/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Nicole Reis

Eating healthy

Friday Fill-Up encourages youth to make healthy choices

Feb 7, 2020 | 5:25 PM

Friday Fill-Up at the Alliance Church is an opportunity for adolescents in the community to have a healthy lunch and learn some life skills from a community leader.

Dwayne Mysko, director of Alliance Church board and Barb Mysko, office administrator told meadowlakeNOW the church’s outreach brings people together for fellowship and to bring speakers in who promote a healthy lifestyle.

“Not only just specific life skills, but especially for our young people. [It’s] something where if they come in and see these [speakers] now if they have a question, they have a network. They know where to go to rather than wonder who to go to,” Dwayne said.

This is the first the Friday Fill-up hosted by the Alliance Church. In previous years the program was funded by Saskatchewan Health with HIV grants.

“We want to promote healthy lifestyles in a much broader perspective of being inclusive to all instead of a specific group,” Dwayne said.

Freedom and Flexibility

How App-Based Work Creates Economic Opportunity

Dec 12, 2025

Riderville

Now for the Hard Part

Dec 10, 2025

Seniors Scene

Christmas is Coming

Dec 09, 2025

Barb said she comes across young people who are entering the workforce and have basic questions about what to do.

“We want to bring [speakers] who can educate and inform our young people in practical ways,” she said.

Dwayne offered an example where he had a conversation with a young person who was unaware of how to build a credit rating before financing a vehicle purchase.

“If you don’t have the knowledge about how credit ratings and your lending capability works, you’re just not going to know. In this case, if they were to come here, they may not discuss credit but at least they have a connection of where to go,” Dwayne said.

Barb aims to bring speakers in who understand what adolescents may go though and offer a different dynamic input each week.

“The format is, the kids get here and we do a prayer blessing over the food, while they dish up and while they’re eating is when the speaker speaks. They have about five to seven minutes to make their point and then, if the kids want to eat more, they can eat until they’re full or shoot hoops in the gym. The hour goes by pretty fast,” Barb said.

“We call ourselves a community church and I feel this is a way of meeting the needs of the community and reaching out, as we do in many of our ministries,” she added.

(Nicole Reis/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

Speaking at today’s Friday Fill-Up was a Meadow Lake RCMP officer who told his personal story of how he turned his life around from being a young offender to becoming a cultured and well-rounded community leader.

The officer told the group of teens about the demise of some of his peers which led him to make better choices through post-secondary education, travelling and learning different languages. He said the experiences cultivated a desire to give back to his community.

Sixteen-year-old Harmony was at the event with a dozen other classmates. She said the officer’s point of making healthy choices resonated with her.

“You always have a second chance in life. If you really want to make the right choice you can,” she said.

Grade 9 teacher, Melissa Scrivener brought students from Carpenter High School.

“Any point of connection with someone in the community is good for everybody,” she said.

—

nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722