The Yard Challenge is an annual summer program hosted by Men of the North for youth between 14 and 18. (Facebook/Men of the North)

By Derek Cornet

skill building

Buffalo Narrows, La Ronge youth complete annual Yard Challenge

Aug 20, 2024 | 3:53 PM

Men of the North have completed their annual Yard Challenge in a big way.

This year, the Yard Challenge was held in the Lac La Ronge region, as well as Buffalo Narrows. It consisted of 31 individuals with four mentors and 14 youth in La Ronge and three mentors and 11 youth in Buffalo Narrows.

The goal of the challenge was to complete 65 yards, but Men of the North were able to beat that goal by seven. In all, 45 yards were completed in the La Ronge area and 27 were done in Buffalo Narrows.

“Many of the youth who were involved were running out the house when we pulled up with the truck and the trailer,” Men of the North founder Christopher Merasty said.

“It was really engaging helping them, teaching them and meeting new people. They loved it, so we hope to expand next year and look at partnering with one or two more communities, get more mentors involved and get more youth involved.”

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During the yard maintenance challenge, youth learned skill development, mental health and well-being, community engagement and healthy lifestyles. Most of the yards that were tended to were homes of local Elders, but some single-parent homes and the homes of the disabled were also completed.

As a reward for completing the challenge, the youth and mentors will travel to Saskatoon at the end of August. There, they will spend some time engaging in recreational activities, but also spend time attending the Battle for Recovery summit at Saskatoon’s TCU Place.

“There are 23 guest speakers coming in from all over Canada to come and talk about addictions, overcoming challenges and coming out of gangs,” Merasty said.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com