Back, back, back to Balaklava!

Heading up to Balaklava last week we really stayed true to that phrase ‘rain, hail or shine’, in what seemed to be a race against the weather, it was so amazing to be greeted by so many smiling faces!

We last visited the Balaklava community back in March to deliver our covid-delayed Get Stoked! Community Ride Day, this time the pandemic threatened to derail our plans again, but thankfully we were still able to proceed.

The Wallace Road skatepark is quickly becoming one of our favourite spots on the map. Located just across from the high school it’s an excellent example of how our Community Ride Days can work to revitalise a local riding spot and get the local kids keen to ride again.

As the school bell rang to signal the start of school holidays we were inundated by kids of all ages wanting to hit up the skate park and skills activities we had set up close by. There were some familiar faces back in full force, namely Lottie who we donated one of our bikes to last visit. To see her beaming smile riding around was truly heart-warming. Even though the weather kept trying to hound us inside, everyone was happy to take shelter as the showers blew through and then keep rolling as soon as the sun came out.

During our travels week to week our mentors always keep an eye out for hard rubbish gems in the rough. We recently came around a Airwalk BMX that only needed a minor spruce up before going to a new home. This ‘new home’ was in the hands of young lad, Keenen. Keenen was so appreciative on the day and has since got in touch to offer to donate his old bikes so other kids can end up as lucky as he was.

The best part of these days for all of our crew it seeing the entire community come together to get behind the event. With some recent hard times for a number of Balaklava residents, this day is a way to perhaps shrug off the heaviness of those feelings and just enjoy seeing the future of their town learn new skills and enjoy the moment on the bike.

We would like to thank everyone involved in the hosting of this event. We’ll be sure to come visit soon, hopefully without so much of the cold, wind and rain! To see for yourself what a great day it is have a flick through our photo gallery and hit our edit!

#KEEPTHESTOKE

A MESSAGE FROM OUR CO-FOUNDERS JAMIE & RYAN
With every single being on this planet affected by this new virus, it’s vital for us to look after ourselves and everyone around us, we need to find a way for everyone to find a way to keep sane and healthy as best as we can, a chance for us to step up and change the way we go about our day to day life and hopefully have a laugh along the way!

Due to this we will be adapting and evolving our mentoring programmes and program delivery according to recommendations from peak bodies including the Australian Government and the World Health Organisation. 

Riding a bicycle does not require you to be stuck indoors, it needs to be done in the fresh air and you can always ride alone. Riding a bicycle is a known depression beater and the perfect antidote to all of the negativity that this virus has dredged up.  We would love to know that everyone that has come into contact with Lighthouse Youth Projects over the last seven years has come away feeling better about themselves with the help of some good old vitamin G after pedalling their cares away….

So where to now? Just like the rest of the world, we are working out our pathway forward. To keep our mindset positive and stay active we’re embarking on what we are calling #keepthestoke. Read on below on how you can join us on this journey and stay safe and show love all at the same time. 

To every one of you, we send our care and good vibes and hope that we can all come out of this together. 

With all our hearts,
The crew at Lighthouse Youth Projects