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Over 140 youth attended the first "Find Yourself Friday" youth event of the new year! This event was held at the Milford Youth Center on Friday, January 27th from 6:00 - 9:00 PM and included music, dancing, games and a special New Year's Ball Drop!

The JAG Youth Council decided to host this event to show their support for the Milford Play Initiative. The small entrance fee will go towards purchasing a piece of playground equipment for the new playground to be built at Fino Field. There will be a dedication on the equipment to the Milford Youth Center and JAG Youth Council!

Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the event including The Juvenile Advocacy Group, JAG Youth Council, the Milford Youth Center, CHNA-6, United Way of Tri-County, Hannafords of Milford, , Milford High School Art Honor Society and to the many volunteers!

Funding for "Find Yourself Fridays" is supported by the United Way of Tri-County Youth Venture Program and CHNA-6. We would like to especially thank CHNA-6 for renewing our grant, allowing us to continue our "Find Yourself Friday" events!

Click here for more photos of event!

Click here for PDF of Calendar

For PDF of schedule click here: http://jagnetwork.org/files/January%202011.pdf

Jenny Medina of Milford, Rev. Jose Medina of Framingham, Christine Daddario of Milford, Jen Ward, JAG Youth Council Coordinator, and Jidalis and Pedro Gonzalez, members of JAG Youth Council and Stacy Middle School, just returned from a volunteer trip in the Boca Chica region of Dominican Republic. During their time, the group was able to play sports, help prepare and serve meals, distribute sneakers (collected in September at the first “Find Yourself Friday” youth event at the Milford Youth Center) and t-shirts (donated by the Hockomock Area YMCA) to the local children in need.

Over 100 youth were given new or gently used sneakers, along with a craft and a Christmas cookie as a Holiday gift. Considering the very rocky and rough terrain, the sneakers will be very useful for the kids in these communities. In addition, youth from the JAG Youth Council and Milford Girl Scouts created Holiday crafts for the children. As a type of Holiday cultural exchange, the youth in the DR returned the gesture and made Dominican flags, palm trees and bongos for the youth of Milford. Although it was very moving to witness firsthand the poverty these children and their families live in, all the volunteers acknowledged that it never seemed to discourage their passion and spirit for life. Jidalis and Pedro Gonzalez were especially moved by the experience. They had the opportunity to spend two weeks in the community, volunteer with kids their own age and implement their leadership skills learned from JAG and the Milford Youth Center. As a result, the group plans to start the process of creating a non-profit organization to continue their efforts and return in December of 2012 with more volunteers and items. We also hope to initialize the process of investing in the start-up of a skill/learning center and all-purpose sports field. We see this potentially becoming a small source of revenue for the community.

                  Arts & Crafts
                  Giving away the sneakers               
                  Kids waiting for their meal

If you are interested in joining our efforts please contact us at:

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 4th, 2012! Have a Happy Holidays! Attached are the meeting minutes from the December 21st meeting!