Roebourne claims best regional PCYC award

Roebourne PCYC staff and two of the centre’s community partners have been honoured with a spate of prizes, including for best regional centre, at the annual WA PCYC Awards.

The local centre was named the joint winner of regional PCYC of the year, tying with Geraldton, at the State organisation’s awards ceremony last month.

Roebourne PCYC manager Samantha Cornthwaite said the centre had added two new programs and a sports co-ordinator position this year.

“I think in the last year we’ve made a lot of traction, we’ve grown hugely with our program delivery, and we’ve tackled some issues such as a lack of funding and been able to resolve them,” she said.

“Being able to source sustainable ongoing funding is a huge thing, and we’ve been able to find funding for programs that meet the community’s needs and wants.”

WA Football Commission Pilbara regional development manager Vicki Agnew and Roebourne police Sgt Steve Taylor also won awards for regional partnership of the year and best WA police contribution respectively, for their work supporting Roebourne PCYC to deliver sports engagement program Night Fields in the town.

Ms Agnew said the WAFC football-focused program, which began in Roebourne in early 2017 led by the PCYC, has been a hit, attracting about 40 children to each session in its first year and about 20 per game this year.

“The program has been a huge success in Roebourne,” she said.

“We’ve had police versus kids games repeatedly, we’ve had the West Coast Eagles here and we’ve hosted functions, and there have also been kids that have come to Night Fields that have linked in with the PCYC.”

Ms Cornthwaite said the PCYC played an important role in the Roebourne community, providing children with a safe place to go and positive activities to do to build their self-esteem and life skills.