A little over a week ago we were able to celebrate with over 150 community members at our Annual Fundraiser! On behalf of the Milford Youth Commission and staff, we would like to thank everyone who attended, donated, supported, and volunteered to make the 8th annual St. Pat's Fundraiser successful, raising $7,500 for Youth Center programs! The event was held on Friday, March 23, 2017 and was held at CraftRoots Brewing! The event included great beer and food, live music, raffles and community awards!

The Youth Commission selects one business and/or organization and individual each year for this honor, due to their years of dedication and support of the Youth Center. The 2018 Community Appreciation Award was presented to Consilgi Construction. Consilgi has been a longtime supporter of the Center and supported the building through many projects throughout the building, including installing and donating new windows, prior to the Renovation, taking part in a $30,000 landscaping project (with Nydam Landscaping and ADP Bellingham) and recently offering to donate labor to complete a dance and fitness area in the basement of the Youth Center! 

The Individual Appreciation Awardee was presented to Steve Manguso, who was a dedicated and active member of the Milford Youth Commission, was an advocate for the acquisition of the National Guard Armory from the Commonwealth, and ultimately became the longest standing member of the Commission with 16 years of service. It's due to the generosity of local businesses and individuals, like Consilgi Construction and Steven Manguso that we are able to continue to offer free after school programming, an affordable summer camp and provide a safe and fun environment for the youth of Milford! We are thankful for these long-lasting relationships that have helped the Center live up to its mission in providing a safe environment that promotes self-esteem, builds character, and fosters the notion of community and the importance of respecting and serving others. 

We would like to extend a huge thank you to CraftRoots Brewing for allowing us to host our event at their awesome location. Robin, Maureen and Irene were amazing to work with and we loved being able to support a local business in town (everyone enjoyed their flight of beer which was included with the price of a ticket)! We would also like to thank the band, The Rockery, for volunteering their time and talents to perform, for FREE, at our fundraiser from 9-11 PM! The Rockery is a pop and rock cover band out of Eastern New England. They pull the best from each era mixing in crowd favorites and a few surprises. Established in 2013, they have played bars, clubs and private events all our around the region. Thank you Jack, Sarah. Mike, Jay, Chris, and Andy! For more info on the band, click here. 

We would like to thank every individual, organization and/or businesses that contributed to this fundraiser with a monetary donations and/or raffle prize: Neighborhood Home Improvement, Ciccone Plumbing and Heating, Brian Murray Law Office, Seaver Family, Morais Family, Fernandes Family, Nathan Jewelers, Clerk of Courts Dennis McManus, Herminia Costa, Alicia White, Milford Girls Softball League, Milford Permanent Firefighters Asso., Rose Mary Natelson, Bryan Cole, Danielle Hilliard, Hunt International LLC., Turtle Tavern, Bailey White, Jacqueline Rorriguez, Tim & Evan Ward, Walsh Family, Signs Plus, Barbara Brashier, Antonio Lopes, Juliana Valente, Walsh Brothers Incorporated (Gentile Family), Cornhole Tailgate (David Anderson), Joanna Abrantes, Abrantes Building Company, Applebees New England, Pretty Nails, Edible Arrangements, Garden Pizza, Elegant Nails, 99 Restaurant, Astin's Auto Service, Dogfish Head Brewery (Sam Calagione), Consilgi Construction, Jay Lapierre, CraftRoots Brewing, Music and Arts, Chilli's and Big Y! Thank you to Gene's Variety and Oliva's Market for also providing delicious appetizers at a discounted price!  Thank you to Milford Town Crier, Milford Daily News, Myfm 101.3 and Milford TV for helping us promote the fundraiser. We would lastly like to thank our amazing staff, board members and volunteers who helped with the planning, raffles, desserts and set-up! For more photos, click here. 

The Milford Youth Center would like to thank the Greater Milford Community Health Network for awarding the Youth Center a $54,706 grant to support the finishing out of 955 sq ft of existing but undeveloped space in the basement of the Youth Center! 

The grant will specifically address the Community Health Improvement Plan, Priority Area 1: Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,' with the goal of creating healthier communities and preventing chronic disease by improving nutrition and increasing physical activity! This will be achieved through the creation of new space, to be used in conjunction with the Milford Regional Medical Center (MRMC), who hosts free courses for after-school use in the space. Currently, the MRMC has offered several course offerings at the MYC facility, but due to space constraints, classes were offered in hallways and other spaces out of sheer necessity and convenience. Even with limited space last year, 150 youths participated in course offerings. We anticipate that with new space and the growing positive reputation that the Milford Youth Center is fostering in the community, that a total number of 350 youths will be able to participate in coordinated classes such as martial arts, yoga, CrossFit, and various 'bootcamp' style programs. In addition the Youth Center would like to thank Consigli Construction, locally founded and committed to the community, who has generously agreed to donate labor for the finishing out of space, which significantly reduces costs of the project by an estimated value of $15,500. Finally, we would like to thank Milford Regional Medical Center for supporting the fitness programs and for their letter of support for this opportunity. We can't wait to see the room transformed!

The After School members are loving the new free dinner program! Every day the After School members are able to have a free snack from 2:15-4:30 and/or a free dinner from 4:30-5:30 PM! Thank you to Marykate Bergen and Shannon Nisbett from the Hockomock Area YMCA and Carla Tuttle from the Milford High School for collaborating on this effort. This would not be possible without your time and effort! Thank you again to Fr. Mac and  Trinity Episcopal Church  for donating a larger milk cooler to allow us to hold and keep all the food refrigerated for the members!

On Thursday, March 29, 2018, we ended our month long March Madness Tourney with the 3 vs. 3 championship with team Kentucky (Will Pointer, Nick Caruso, Antoniyo Christiansen, Yael Lopez DeVictoria ) taking the win and team LSU (Shapel Feaster, Matt Varteresian, Owen Callahan, Angelize Santiago) taking second place! We also had our High School 3-point contest with Shapel Feaster taking first place and Kayo Coutinho taking second! Our middle school 3-point contest winner was Andrew Zagame and Antoniyo Christiansen took second! 

Thank you Mike Doherty, Earl Wilson and Lisa White for volunteering all month for us! Thank you Milford TV for letting us use your cameras to take some footage of the competition and Imprint Graphics Inc. for getting us t-shirts so quickly! This is one of our favorite annual events, where every team consists of After School members in middle school and high school! They learn to play together and enjoy a fun competition all month! Congrats to all the participants! For more photos of the event, please visit our Facebook page!

We are pleased to announce the date of our 8th annual "Dressed Up, Not Messed Up" Fashion Show! The show will take place on  Saturday, June 9th . Through this event we plan to raise awareness about underage drinking and help teens become better informed about the dangers of alcohol so they can make healthy decisions throughout life. We also hope this event will increase youth self-esteem and attitudes toward their body image!

An information session and sign-ups will take place on  Wednesday, April 25th at 6:30 pm  at the Milford Youth Center. This is a mandatory meeting that all parents/guardians and participants must attend! TJ Maxx of Milford will be providing outfits for the show and local businesses will be providing hair and makeup. At this meeting all participants will sign up for time slots to try on outfits and appointments for hair and makeup. Youth will also need a permission form and photo release, which will be done during the meeting. We hope to see you there. 

We are so excited for this event, it is always a huge success and a lot of fun! 

We are also in need of hair dressers/makeup artists to help out for a couple hours before the show, on June 9th to do hair and makeup. BVT used to do it, but unfortunately are not able to anymore. Any help is appreciated! Please contact our Program Coordinator if you are interested here. 

Our MYC Kid's Play Group is growing each week!  This is a children's play group for parents and/or guardians to bring their kids to play, craft and socialize! The groups will run every  Tuesday afternoon from 12:30 pm to 2:00 PM (No program April 17th)

Each session will include activities such as circle time, free play, crafts, snack, story time and clean up! There is a requested donation of $5 per family per session, so the MYC can continue and expand groups and programming. Come on down and bring your child to run and play while adults socialize and meet other families in the community!  

The Milford Youth Center will continue to be open from 9 AM to 10:30 AM on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings for Milford residents to use the gym for walking(weather permitting).  For April the Center will be open during these hours on the following dates (we have coffee too!):

 

** PLEASE NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO WALKING THURSDAY APRIL 4th**

• April 3rd
• April 10th & April 12th
• April 17th & April 19th
• April 24th & April 26th

The Milford Youth Center is collecting toiletries and socks to bring to the Daily Bread Food Pantry in Milford during the month of April!

Did you know that socks are the most needed but least  donated article of clothing in homeless shelters?  In addition to socks, we will be collecting toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, deodorant, combs, brushes, nail clippers, q-tips, disposable razors, shampoo, conditioner, soap, feminine products, body creams, lotion and chapstick!  Donations can made from 9 am-10 pm, Monday through Friday, when the building is open. You can call the Center at 508-473-1756, prior to coming down to make sure we haven't stepped out!

• Consigli Construction for donating kids bicycles built from their team building exercise;

• Milford Highway Dept. for helping us pick up a pool table;

• L.T.Robert C. Franscotti Post No. 1544 V.F.W. INC. for their monetary donation;

• National Grid and their Employee Giving Campaign donation;

• Kerry Pepe for her monetary donation and kind note;

• Homefield Credit Union for their donation towards our Summer Camp Scholarship Program;