Updating the Camp Standards in France 3
Latest News Updating the Camp Standards in France 3 Jul, 2019 This event is a continuation of the activities for agreeing upon the common standards for the camps in YMCA Europe. This project is a part of wider and long-term international cooperation, coordinated by YMCA Europe. This time we focused on management of human resources. The host of the conference was YMCA France, and the project was funded by a grant obtained from the French National Agency of Erasmus+. The partner organisations represent 16 European countries that sent 40 participants. Traditionally, the team of trainers had an expert provided by YMCA USA. The programme of training was implemented in the form of workshops that belonged to 5 key modules: Module l’Bullding a Good Team is Essential” Module 2. “Tra ning System for Camp Staff and Volunteers” Module 3: To Be Employer, To Be Employee” Module 41-Human Resources – Challenges) Module 5: “Camps in Euroce Programme Coalitiont The prograrime me edoc estes thet pnesented frasma Page 1 Pease. – 00 + Youthpass. The venue was Le Rocheton YMCA Centre – a place, which has all the necessary facilities for running training events. This is also a place where migrants, refugees and asylum seekers have their temporary home – the YMCA of France is well known as an organization that runs such projects. This was very important for the conference programme as it included sessions, where the matter of diversity, tolerance, prevention from xenophobia and violence at camps was a crucial topic. The project was the continuation and development of the YMCA Europe Camp programme, however, it has brought some new elements: for the first time we had participants and trainers from Southern and Eastern Europe and there were some representatives of non-YMCA organisations that run camps. All that makes the project and its outcome widely available and open to European communities. Wator wew mn o testr actwioCo ns iem s Bermang hron hca cagSoaCsa Traditionally the YMCA of the USA sent a trainer – Bernard Rocca (second time in this role) provided several sessions that helped to ear and adopt American methodology of running summer camps and training human resources – that was extremely valuable. The entire conference was a good example of the interaction of overseas and European experts. Among the participants and facilitators was Claude Redoute, President of YMCA Le Rocheton Thanks to him a lot of erganisationa Issues Vient smoothly and the conference became much more attractive for the participants. Аctvties and dissemination of the тtraining was co-funded by the French National Aгеncy or Erasmus+. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Service Projects of GLOW & YMLP clubs (Spring) 2019
Latest News Service Projects of GLOW & YMLP clubs (Spring) 2019 The GLOW and YMLP Youth Fund by YMCA provides opportunities for GLOW&YMLP Clubs throughout the country to implement skills theyve learned in service project design and management by writing a grant and implementing a project to improve their community, In this years round of grant applications, 11 clubs were awarded the grant based on their project proposals, written by youth leaders, in the areas of environment, civic engagement and arts. GLOW & YMLP Club Ohrid decided to use their Service Project Grant -to establish recycling stations at each of the four secondary schools in Ohrid. Working with the student leaders from each of “St Cyril and Metodius? sister schools. (St. Kliment Ohridski, St Naum Ohrldski and Vanco Pitoseski), the Club provided each school with paint, tools and banner material so each could create its own unique recycling banner and containers. PAKOMAK Skopje agreed to donate four recycling containers to each school, and a local recycling company agreed to pick up the collected materials on a regular basis during the school year, After this, students trom each school wil be able to recycle paper, plastle, aluminum and glass every day! GLOW & YMLP Club Kocani had their spring service project where they picked up trash and spray painted over graffiti at a local kindergarten. As previous GLOW & YMLP campers, the leaders as well as the mentors were more than proud to lead the club by allowing members to talk about tabboos, organize parties with them and share their knowledge. We sincerely hope they taught them something worth knowing! As leaders, their hope is that the club becomes even better with the next-year leaders. FORESTS ALE CAREN ICEANS ARE BLUE EEP THE EARTH CLEAN GLOW & YMLP Club Kumanovo volunteers painted a beautiful environmental awareness mural at the local high school, as well as doing a trash clean up! Here is what they had to say about their club and the past year: Just realizing how fast time flies as this year’s club meetings comes to an end. it was truly an interesting experience and as people came and left all leaving a unique mark with their words and actions our club bloomed and grew into what it is right now, and this is just the beginning. Our biggest success would have to be when we all gathered in one place for the service project which turned out beyond arnazing and we’re all super proud of it. Having an impact on the society in which we live in is one of the main things about GLOW and YMIR, and we are planning on doing exactly that. in the future, With much more organization and With dedicated members we will make our dub a place for improving our inner SeIVeS and Eventhing arcund us.” GLOW Club and YMLP Club Gostivar had their Serne service project where they spread the love w passng out complimentsaround their community GLOW and YMLP Clubs Kicevo completed their Spring service project by handing out handmade bracelets, flower seeds, and compliments all around the city. A beautiful idea that will help their community bloom in multiple ways! GLOW and YMLP Club Gevgelija held their spring service project at the local kindergarten.! The club painted a nice mural on the wall and planted flowers in the garden! GLOW and YMLP Club Shtip had their service project where they partnered with their local rotary club to plant flowers and paint a playground at at local primary school! GLOW and YMLP Club Bitola had their spring service project and partnered with their local Red Cross. Together they painted a mural at the rehabilitation center for children with hearing and speaking impairments. GLOW & YMLP Club Tetovo had their spring service project teamed up with other local organizations and selected areas with the most garbage. They enjoyed the beautiful weather and serving their community by picking up trash. GLOW & YMLP Club Struga had their spring service project where spent the afternoon picking up trash outside a daily center in their community. GLOW & YMLP Club Delchevo had a cleanup and repainted murals at their local park. Check out their before and after pictures of their beautiful murals. We want to especially thank our corporate partners and abhors: mermeren Komolhat UKiA, donors for providing the monetary donations to make this activities possible.
Camp Staff Orientation Training 2019
Latest News Camp Staff Orientation Training 2019 On March 23, 2019, YMCA Bitola hosted a full-day training for camp staff, which took place at Nova International School in Skopje. The event was attended by 80 facilitators, instructors, instructors-in-training and support staff within the framework of the Youth Leadership Project (YMLP ) and Girls Lead Our World (GLOW) – our leadership development programs. YMCA also welcomed two new media interns: Ivo Damanovski and Vera Solevska, who will be hired to support our communications and social media team. . The daily sessions were started by the YMCA leadership team – Viktor Iliev, Jovce Krsteski and Marcus Harris. The leadership team praised the diverse ethnic, religious and geographic backgrounds of this year’s staff, and outlined the expectations of YMLP and GLOW staff. After the opening remarks, participants had the opportunity to break into working groups to discuss topics such as: Effective public speaking and facilitation, camp setup/assembly, and managing behavioral issues among others. We have an energetic team preparing for YMLP and GLOW 2019 and we know this will be the best year yet! We are already hard at work designing the schedule and recruiting this year’s group of campers and would like to especially thank Nova International School for being open to our event, as well as our corporate sponsors Okta, Mermeren Kombinat, TAV Aerodromi and Kromberg and Shubert for sponsoring the activities on your day.This event would not be a great success without you!
Impact Summit GLOW-YMLP 2018
Latest News Impact Summit GLOW-YMLP 2018 On December 14th and 15th, YMCA Bitola hosted the third annual Impact Summit at the Continental Hotel in Skopje. Each year, the Impact Summit serves as an opportunity for YMLP and GLOW club leaders to showcase their service projects and explain the impact of their projects in their communities, and most importantly, it serves as an opportunity for club members to meet and reach out to other civic young leaders throughout Macedonia. This year, 77 club leaders attended the event in Skopje to showcase their service projects. Regional clubs were responsible for designing, implementing and fundraising their own service projects, including applying for grants from YMCA Bitola for any materials they required. Clubs this year had extremely creative and impactful projects including: working with youth with special needs, upgrading playgrounds, running healthy eating workshops and designing city murals among many others. In addition to collaborating on service projects, the YMCA invited special guests from the Peace Corps to train students on topics to encourage clubs to keep giving back. Until now, these summits had one-day agendas, but this year we had two days to offer the following curriculum focused on: 1. Fundraising and development of corporate relations 2. Recruiting and promoting active engagement among clubs 3. Investment management 4. Product Data Management From recent survey results, students were extremely satisfied with the weekend classes and events. We especially want to thank our donors, the European Foundation for Democracy (EED) who supported our work with the development of the clubs, as well as our corporate partners OKTA: Tinex, SASA mine, Alkaloid, Pekabesco, Zhikol and other corporate and individual donors for providing monetary donations to enable our service projects and the impact of the Summit. We look forward to seeing all we can accomplish in our communities this spring.
Service Projects of GLOW & YMLP clubs (Autumn) 2018
Latest News Service Projects of GLOW & YMLP clubs (Autumn) 2018 GLOW and YMLP Clubs Leading Positive Change in Their Communities! Every year, our GLOW and YMLP campers reconvene in their communities to initiate and lead a series of service projects throughout Macedonia. All service projects are developed within regional YMLP and GLOW clubs – local, youth-led clubs which empower young men and women to become leaders in their communities. These youth are often GLOW or YMLP Camp alumni who, through their club activitles, are able to apply what they have learned at camp about leadership and civic engagement in their communities. Our clubs were responsible for designing implementing and fundraising their own service projects including applying to grants from YMCA Bitola for any materials they require. We’re excited to share the below projects YMLP and GLOW leaders carried ou throughout ther communities in Fall 2018! We also want to especially thank our donors: the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), and our corporate partners OKTA. Tinex, SASA Mine. Alkaloid. Pekabesko. Zikol and other corporate and individual donors for providing the monetary donations to make the 2018 service projects possible. Thank you clubs for leading change in your communities! Kocani: Club members purchased blanket making materials for families in need for the winter. Club members worked together to make their own blankets and deliver the blankets to familles who needed additional warm clothes for the winter season. weder. Ohrid and Strumica: In Ohrid and Strumica: club members sought to fight trash around their schools, by cleaning the trash around around local playgrounds and schools. In Ohrid made trash receptacles brighter and more obvious to the eye with bright paints. In Strumica, club members created an environmental awareness campaign so keep their city clean. Kicevo and Bitola: In Kicevo and Bitola, club members and local community members sought to cover hate speech in their community. (a swastika). The Kicevo club painted an electrical box with a friendly mural. Similar in Bitola, club members painted a mural of the mountainous Pelegonia region over hate speech in their community. Shtip: Realizing youth with special needs continue to be a marginalized community in Shtip. The club of Shtip did arts and crafts with 20 disadvantaged students in their community. The community of Shtip hopes to build lasting connections with the youth they Supported. Deicevo: In Delcevo, club members sought to create a more comfortable space for people with special needs in their community. They painted the day center with colorful murals to make the kids feel more welcomed. Skopje: in Skopje, the club led workshops in their community about leadership and the importance of freedom of expression.
Formal reception for corporate partners 2018
Latest News Formal reception for corporate partners 2018 On October 29, 2018, the YMCA for the fifth time received the corporate partners of the premium leadership camps GLOW and IMLP. This was an event where we reminisced about the fond memories of this year’s camps and thanked our corporate partners without whom the entire YMCA youth development program would not be possible. The event was opened by the Executive Director of the YMCA, Viktor Iliev, who welcomed everyone, thanked them for their interest and then invited the American Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia, Jess Bailey, who spoke about his visits to the GLOW and ILMP camps, the progress he saw in the development of the program and determination of the young people who could testify. After that, Sonja Boyarovska, Tinex’s Corporate Social Responsibility Manager spoke about the importance of investing in the youth of this country. Ambassador Bailey shared some thoughts on the importance of investing in the youth in Macedonia and also introduced the attendees to the idea and need for holding these camps. Afterwards, some of our campers gave short speeches and shared their personal experiences of their participation with the guests present. YMCA Executive Director Viktor Iliev spoke about the importance of outdoor education and camps as a form of informal learning, after which he presented the awards to this year’s corporate partners: Gold Sponsor: OKTA, Silver Sponsors: Tinex and SASA Mine, Bronze Sponsors: Alkaloid . Peccabesco and Zhikol. Then there was a period of informal socializing with some of our campers. This was an opportunity for the representatives of the companies to become better acquainted with the results of the program through the personal stories of the campers, but also an opportunity for further cooperation with the YMCA and the Peace Corps. This was an excellent opportunity for companies to demonstrate their corporate responsibility and build a good image for themselves and the products/services they offer. Becoming partners in the implementation of the GLOW and IMLP youth development program of the YMCA means creating a tradition in the development of top leaders in Macedonia supported by one of the best companies in the country and the region. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Just Another YMLP Thing
Latest News Just Another YMLP Thing Here we publish three posts from our guest blogger the Macedonian kid, about the YMLP camp! Enjoy! PART I Chants, core values, s’mores and rough camping. If you know what those four things have in common that means you have been to the Young Men’s Leadership Project (YMLP). For those of you who haven’t had the chance to be there, you need to know that at YMLP we love chanting ALL THE TIME, our 7 core values are our Bible and we love going rough camping and eating s’mores. Because of that, 1 decided to make a series of posts to introduce you to some of the best things we have at camp and get you closer to the action called YMLP. I’m going to start with my personal favorite – the chants. At YMLP, before every meal and every big activity, we have this thing called lineup. All 8 teams would line up next to each other (usually at the basketball court) to hear what’s gonna happen next at camp from the camp coordinators. ANNOUNCEMENTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, ANNO00000UNCMENTS!! After all the announcements are done, each team, one by one, would go and chant their chants. See, on day one, every team is given a couple of hours to come up with their team name, flag and a chant that will represent their team during the week so the campers would start from day one to work as a team. Some decide to do a parody of a popular song, some choose something new and catchy and some just yell (well, most of us do that). Every team has one. In the beginning they’re usually short and not in sync and campers think it’s weird but by the fourth day, everyone is chanting every single word and starting to lose their voice. Everyone just loves them! This year, I was the Counselor-In-Training (CIT) for the RED team, and as soon as we went over the rules, we got together and started to come up with our stuff. First order of business – our name. We had a few good suggestions but we decided to call ourselves – Fire Nation, inspired by the Avatar animated series but don’t ask me what that means and why we chose that name because I don’t know the first thing about Avatar. For the flag and chant, we decided to divide and conquer. Those who were good with drawing went to come up with the flag, and the rest of us stayed to think of a chant. As a CIT, I decided to leave the campers to come up with a chant out after an hour of a few unsuccessful tries, I took matters in my own hands. Remember the song “Country Roads”?! Well, we changed a few words and came up with the best chant at the camp this year. Almost midnight, Shula Mina, Red Fire Nation, Krushevo City, Life is hot there, hotter than the sun, Colder than the mountains, worries we got none. YMLP, take us home, To the place, we belong, Shula Mina, Mountain Mama, Take us home, YMLP Since the very beginning, everyone started singing it alone with us. What can beat a campfire song at a camp? Our short chant was: “WHO ARE WE?! FIRE NATIONI!!! WHAT DO WE DO?I BURN, BURN, BURNI!” Pretty cool, right?! The purple team had a nice remix of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”, the green team did a parody of “We Will Rock You, the white/vanilla team had a nice vanilla scoop at the end of their chant… All in all, we had great chants this year! What makes this chanting thing even cooler is seeing everyone, no matter what team they’re in, chants all the time. It takes a while to become used to all the yelling and noise at the lineup, but once the campers get the memo, you can’t stop them. That’s not all, tough – teams are not the only one to have a chant. All the coordinators, facilitators and staff have their own. Every time our program coordinator Steven would start his announcements we chanted: “He’s Steven, he is quirky!” He hated it in the beginning but got used to it since he had to hear it all the time. The counselors had their own chants from last year: “COUNSELORS ARE WHAT?! DYNAMITEI!! COUNSELORS ARE WHATI DYNAMITE!!! TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK – BOOOOOM DYNAMITEI!” This year, we chanted “CALORIES, CALORIES, CALORIES” when the lineup would go too long and we just wanted to eat. haha. “LEAVE NO TRACE” and “WASH YOUR HANDS” were also an integral part of our lineups. When someone (mostly Connor, our lead counselor) would say. “Sounds good?” Our answer was always: “SOUNDS GREAT! And you were always feeling AWESOME at camp! I can go on and on about all of our chants but you get my point, right? We love chanting (and we chant) so much to a point when its sooo annoying to the outside people. And while we know that, we just can’t stop – it’s bigger than us, haha! I was going to finish this post with the last sentence but then what would be a post about YMLP chant look like without a chant to end it with? Here we go: *I GOT SPIRIT, YES I DO! I GOT SPIRIT, HOW ABOUT YOU????!!!!!” PART II As I stated in my yesterdays post. I’ll be writing a series of posts about the things that make Young Men’s Leadership Project (YMLP) what it is. It’s time for our core values. At camp, we focus on the development of leadership and employability skills, personal development, appreciation and respect for the environment, civic responsibility, diversity, inter-ethnic understanding, and contributing in our communities. The way we do all these things is by following our core values that guide all staff and campers throughout the week at camp. Caring – for yourself, the community, and others. Honesty – be
GLOW Camp 2018
Latest News GLOW Camp 2018 We had the ultimate summer at Camp GLOW 2018 located in Krushevo at the Begova Korija camp grounds! Our theme this year was, The Future Is Female, in which we spent a week empowering young women across Macedonia from all walks of life. These campers had the opportunity to participate in a variety of workshops on topics including environmentalism, civic responsibility, human rights and diversity, youth employability, and leadership. Through these workshops campers gained important life and leadership skills to apply in their everyday lives and in their future career endeavors. Camp GLOW is an experience unlike any other especially when you arrive at the beginning of camp surrounded by strangers and unsure of what to expect and by the end of the week you have become a part of a GLOW family with.new lifelong friends ready to take on the world! “For me camp meant a welcoming place filled with amazing people from different backgrounds. An accepting place where you can be your true self. Camp was also a great experience that taught me how to love and respect myself and in the meantime love and respect others. It has taught me how to be a great leader who can help and support other people who are struggling with the same problems that I was struggling with before camp.” Jovanka Panova (camper) *GLOW is a life changing experience that everyone has to experience it at least once in their life. It changed me and my attitude, made me feel more confident in myself and it taught me to always say my opinion and to speak out. Also, I met amazing people who I still keep contact with and I’m really grateful for that. Would love to go back again!’ Ana Marija Minova (camper) “So, Camp GLOW was the highlight of 2018 for me, and here is why. One thing I still come back to from time to time are the letters ! received from the Kind words wall. I could never imagine how much those words would help me and encourage me to pursue my goals. It is really great to know that there are people who support you and root for you. Another thing I am sure I learned from Camp Is the fact that Irealized how many more opportunities are out there in the world, and that it is not luck, but hard work that will help me get those chances. That is thanks to the Employment fair, the Project Design Management etc. And last but not least. which I didn’t expect at all, is the fact that i have become so much more confident to express my opinions and thoughts outside of GLOW. Before camp. I thought that people wouldn’t understand, let alone respect, my thoughts on different subjects. At camp I learned that I am not the only one that has such opinions, and now it is so much easier to voice my thoughts. I never knew people were willing to listen to me. Elena Mirova (campen» We want to especially thank our donors: US Embassy. FOOM, European Endowment for Democracy (EED), and our corporate partners OKTA, Tinex, SASA Mine, Alkaloid, Pekabesko, Zikol and other corporate and individual donors for providing the monetary donations to make this unforgettable Camp GLOW 2018 possible.
Orientation Training for Camp Staff 2018
Latest News Orientation Training for Camp Staff 2018 On Saturday March 24, YMCA Bitola hosted the annual GLOW and YMLP Pre-Camp Training for our Camp staff and counselors in training. All in all, 55 camp staff and 15 counselors in training came together at NOVA High School in Skopje to learn about their jobs and responsibilities as facilitators, counselors, support staff, and counselors in training at GLOW and YMLP. The GLOW and YMLP team works hard during the Staff training in order to plan lessons, group activities, meals, camp outs, s’mores and more for our campers to enjoy. This year. they worked on new and exciting aspects to our program. In 2018, GLOW will increase our number of facilitators from 8 to 10, in order to provide a more robust program, and more meaningful classes. This will contribute significantly to the new curriculum subject that can be found at both camps of Youth Employability. The staff also learned about a new aspect to our program that began last year at YMLP – a volunteerism simulation that campers will learn about designing and managing projects through, that will this year be found at both camps in conjunction with the camp service project. Our volunteers learned about all of these parts of camp and more! This year, GLOW and YMLP Coordinators focused on giving our staff usable skills that will be valuable at camp, and also in life that our camp staft will be able to carry with them in other endeavors. Depending on positions at camp, our staff learned such as basic safety procedures, how to manage group dynamics, empathy, how to write a lesson plan, and even classroom management. We are confident our staff will use their newfound skills to make this years camps the best ones yet. Camper leaders also had a chance to participate in the training. While the majority of our campers will be recruited in April, 16 campers will return from last year to act as Counselors in Training (CiTs) at the 2018 camps. These campers are in a valuable position to learn all about what being staff at GLOW and YMLP really means, so that in the future they can come back to be full camp staff. CITs participated in the training by being matched with their counselor mentors, and learning all about how they can be a leader on their team and work with their counselor to make camp an amazing experience for this year’s new campers, just like it was for them. The GLOW and YMLP Staff teams thank NOVA School in Skople for hosting us for our staff training. Also we want to thank the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), our corporate partners OKTA, Tinex, SASA Mine, Alkaloid, Pekabesko, Zikol and other corporate and individual donors for providing the monetary donations to make this training possible.
Volunteer actions of GLOW-YMLP clubs (spring) 2018
Latest News Volunteer actions of GLOW-YMLP clubs (spring) 2018 The GLOW and YMLP Youth Fund from YMCA Bitola provides opportunities for GLOW and YMLP clubs across the country to implement the skills they have learned in project design and management through grant writing and project implementation to improve their community. In the first grant applications, seven GLOW and YMLP clubs were awarded grants based on their project proposals, written by youth leaders, in the areas of the environment, civic engagement and the arts. These clubs completed their community service projects with materials provided by GLOW and YMLP funds—each project was completed for less than $100. GLOW and YMLP Bitola held an event to raise awareness for their community about the importance of cycling and other clean, environmentally friendly methods of commuting to work and school. Their event, where guests participated in competitions, reflections and games, had over 35 participants learning about air pollution. Iskra, club mentor and GLOW training advisor in training, said: “What I loved about our service project was the dedication and effort of our team dedicated to the subject – air pollution. especially in a time of insatiable apathy. The project attracted a lot of people to see what we have to say and influence them in a positive way, so that they can be satisfied, because our efforts have paid off and we have seen the results we hoped for – self-awareness and awareness of the power for change that people possess.” GLOW Kriva Palanka gave back to the City Museum, a local community institution where the club made its home. With the materials of the Youth Fund, GLOW Kriva Palanka cleaned the museum spaces and wiped and painted the older benches throughout the property. The seven members of the club devoted a total of 14 hours to this project. The youth leader of Kriva Palanka and alumni of the GLOW camp Adriana said: “What I liked most about our service was that we did something good for our community and for the institution that allowed us to use its halls to realize our amazing meetings. The project make us feel motivated to make more changes in the community, so we can be better! Ohrid GLOW and YMLP club held an event for the recycling of electronic waste in the high school SOSU St. Cyril and Methodius. With the help of the director and employees of the school and a recycling company from Skopje, NULAOTPAD DOO. the club collected and shipped 28 computer processing units, 5 printers, 2 boxes of disassembled components, 178 keyboards, 4 boxes of miscellaneous cables, 88 computer mice, 7 CPU fan units, 87 wired pointing adapters, 42 CRT monitors, 1 scanner, and 10 flat screen monitors in Skopje for environmentally safe recycling. Their club leader, Philip, who attended the YMLP camp in 2017, said: “What I loved most about our community service project was the fact that we inspired a number of people in our school to volunteer and help us get off the ground right. (recycling) from our broken electronic equipment. After our project, the members felt very fulfilled, liberated and happy, because now we made a lot of free space that was not there from all the broken electronic devices. The help from the school, the students, the recycling team from Skopje and the members they became very proud and happy. GLOW Debar ran art workshops for youth in their town – the results of those workshops were put up for sale and all profits were donated to the local center for youth with special needs. GLOW and YMLP Struga held a community recycling event, where community members learned about the importance of recycling through games and contests, including the what-can-be-recycled-from-a-bottle contest, with winners receiving reusable bottles that can to use them to reduce dependence on plastic bottles. Martin from Struga said: “What I liked about the community service project was the coordination of GLOW and YMLP and the goal of it – to make a greener environment. After it was done, the members felt useful and productive. They also felt proud of the large amounts of plastic collected”. GLOW and YMLP Tetovo held an event “Ancient Olympics”, promoting health for all children regardless of ability / disability in their community. They had fun encouraging local youth to get outside and exercise through play. All the money raised through their event was donated to the local center for people with special needs, who were also invited to participate in their event for free. “What I liked most about our project was the organization and dedication of our team members during the project and organization. With the exception of the efforts made by the club mentors and leaders, we are also very grateful for our generous and active participants of the GLOW club in Tetovo. Without them, our project wouldn’t have been possible, and ultimately, the fact that we created an event to raise awareness for underprivileged children and make our society a better place for all of us, regardless of appearance, race, gender, etc.” , said Fatlinda, one of the young leaders of Tetovo and alumni of the GLOW camp. Completing our service and project made me and my club members feel proud and confident and so happy for the work we have done, because all the money that the participants donated was given with so many surprises for children with special needs and finishing it speech with meaning, which made it even more effective and rewarding.” GLOW and YMLP Vinica held a community beautification project. They painted a long section of wall in their shared park that was covered in graffiti. Their project got word of mouth with some local community members in the park coming to see what they were doing. The Vinica Club is excited to open up an opportunity for future community service projects – they want the local high school to paint some beautiful murals on the wall they cleaned and painted for their
