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                                    (Advertising Section)In 1968 students from W agner College marchedinto Park Slope and began working with severalchurch and community groups to start a modestrecreation program. On Friday nights classes incarpenti y, sewing, crafts and gaming were offered.Out of that grew a host of services to South Brooklynand Park Slope.Today PRY offers a great variety of services for allage groups and throughout the year. They include:career education, one-to-one tutoring, learning labs,kindergarten workshops, girls%u2019 recreation, basketball, softball for boys and girls, day camp, handballcompetition, career clubs, information and referral.The services are organized Into four m ajorprograms: The Career Exploration Center, TheC reative Learning C enter, The PRY SummerProgram, and the Recreation program.The programs are offered in a number ofcommunity settings, including the Park SlopeMethodist Church, the Community Center of St.John-St. Matthew-Emanuel Lutheran Church, TheFree Methodist Church, JHS High School 51,Prospect Park and J.J. Byrne Park, Park SlopeBaptist Church. The main office is located at 421-7thStreet. It%u2019s the nerve center, a hot box, for meetings,counseling, and administration.IN TH E PAST YEAR PRY has gained the supportand cooperation of numerous community groups andagencies. Financially it is assisted oy a mixture offoundation, corporate, church, individual andcommunity donation, fund-raising projects and citygrants. But this is only the beginning. For years theeducation, social and recreation goals of PRY haveP.R.Y. 10th ANNIVERSARYAs part of its decade celebration,Project Reach Youth is initiating anindividual gift drive. Please givegenerously. All contributions are taxdeductible. A PRY T-shirt will be given todonors who contribute $25 or more.HOW YOURGIFT H U P S :$10 %u2014 Buys 1 /2doz. new softballs$ 2 5 ------Purchases 1978-79 CollegeInformation Manuel.$100------Buys science book series forlearning center.$500 %u2014 supports cost of one Grad.work-study student for 1 year!PLEASE SENDYGv k GIFT TO:P.R.Y. Anniversary Drive421-7th StreetBrooklyn, N.Y. 11215been adopted as part of the social witness of severalPark Slope churches.%u201c PRY%u2019s services are secular and will remain so,%u201dstates the Reverend Fred Melton, Executive Directorof PRY. %u201c The churches are fully supportive of thesegoals and assist us tremendously with contributionof materials and supplies, space, volunteers, accessto church funding, and just plain love and concern.They helped to start PRY and are with us today.%u201d Inaddition, numerous volunteers from the communityhave assisted PRY for years. The Board ofEducation, through the District Offices and specificDistrict 15 schools has been very supportive andcom plem entary in facilitatin g some of P R Y %u2019seducational effo rts. This past year the PRYBasketball League was held in Alexander JuniorHigh School 51 's gymnasium, with assistance fromthe Park Slope Recreation Task Force.In addition guidance counselors refer youth toPRY programs. Jean Koch, a member of staff at theCreative Learning Center, supervises parent tutorsat two elementary schools for in-school programs.The Career Center has been working within JuniorHigh School 51 for years, helping junior highstudents to select a high school. So the effort iscommunity based with many helping components.TH E DEVELOPMENT OF PRY over the past tenyears was not carefully devised, blueprinteddesigned. Rather it has expanded as the needs andinterests of young people become evident. When thefirst children participated in the recreation andactivities program it became evident that they werehaving difficulty reading cooking recipes, woodworking instructions. So a tutoring program evolved. AsPRY youth grew older and it became apparent moreindividualized guidance was needed, it camethrough the Children & Youth Development Serviceswhich opened the Career Exploration Center.Soon it was clear that PRY was only serving toopen the Center from September to May. And so, in1974 PRY implemented a day camp. And on and on.The tutoring program developed into the CreativeLearning Center. The one day camp now serves over300 youth in a variety of services. At the end of eachprogram year the strengths and weaknesses areanalyzed. And so PRY grows, changes, tries to fiilthe gaps and sustain its strengths.Over the years PRY has developed a care for youththat is enduring%u2014call it Long Term Caring. Some ofthe youth who were assisted in 1968 are counselorstoday. The hope is that PRY be a family, a place oflife and support for youth, for year after year. PhyllisGillete is presently a college student at John JayCollege of Criminal Justice in preparation to be aparole officer. In 1968 she was a youth of ten.%u2019T likebeing around people. Being helped and helpingpeople is why I want to be a parole officer. It startedin PRY.%u201d Phyllis presently is a day camp counselorwith the Summer Program.%u201c No one would have guessed that the arrival oftwenty college students on Friday nights in 1968would iead to an agency. But I guess someone wasdreaming. And many decided to make it come true, %u2019 %u2019states Melton.For PRY it has not been an easy ten years. Butthen to he involved with youth on a deDth basis isnot an easy took. Nevertheless it becomes a place offun, of belonging, of hope for many. And it looksforward to another decade ef dedication to youth.August 24,1978, TH E PHOENIX, Page 11
                                
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