Youth-Seniors Time Banking Project

Bay St. Lawrence Community Centre

The Mission of the Bay St. Lawrence Community Center is to serve the social, health, and recreational needs of the Bay St Lawrence Community (and surrounding area) by providing activities that promote physical, mental and social well-being. The Bay St. Lawrence Community Centre is multi-purpose and includes a tearoom, laundromat, preschool center, public washroom, health and wellness room, gym facility, teen center, CAPSITE (public internet access), and library.

Youth-Seniors Time Banking Project (Time Bank)

The Time Bank project is intended to contribute to community development and crime prevention in several communities located in Northern Cape Breton Island. In reality, Time Bank acts as mechanism to link youth with seniors. Youth are encouraged to contribute their time to participating in a variety of community development activities, and they are provided incentives to do so. Specifically, youth are encouraged to work with or assist seniors with a variety of activities. Time Bank is important because it allows both youth and seniors to contribute to their community in a positive way.

One of the main goals of Time Bank is to bridge the inter-generational gap that exists in so many communities. In the process of bridging this gap, seniors are encouraged to be mentors for youth and promote the Bay St. Lawrence community’s heritage and traditions.

Crime Prevention

Time Bank prevents crime by:

• Keeping teens active and alleviating boredom
• Bridging the inter-generational gap
• Fostering civic-mindedness in the community’s youth
• Developing a sense of accomplishment
• Providing youth with mentors
• Encouraging youth to learn about their heritage and community traditions
• Increasing self-confidence and self-esteem of youth and seniors
• Nurturing the emotional and physical well-being of youth and seniors