Young people to walk alongside new community group in Point Douglas

A new community group in Winnipeg's Point Douglas neighbourhoodis trying to bring more youth along for the walk.

Sabu's Cubs will launch in September as a youth-focused community walk that will, like other neighbourhood walks, check up on neighbours who may be struggling, handout food, and clean up needles and garbage on the street.

But this group will also prioritize the young people who walk side-by-side with them.

Some youth will stay behind at a neighbourhood school to prepare a mealand, once everyone else returns from thewalk, they'll eat together and enjoy a recreational activity.

"We want youth to feel useful," saidSiobhan Faulkner, a board member with Sabu's Cubs.

"And for those of us asorganizers, we know how much it fills our bucket and we want youth to have that same feeling when they walk away on Wednesday that I have value in the world, that I've made a difference."

The group hosted a community mealatMichalle Jean Park on Wednesday evening to celebrate its launch. They will startweekly walks on Sept. 13.

Giving youth a better path

The group is based in a Winnipeg neighbourhood indistress over high rates of poverty andcrime. It's a fact not lost on Faulkner, whose groupearlier put on walks with around 25 people that wasn't as focused on young people.

"We know the statistics on youth violence," she said.

Theywant to "walk forward in a good way and to provide that connection, that place, that anchor that we know some youth are missing," she added.

Their walks will include stopsat two memorial sites in honour of youth who have died tragically, and visits into some homes with people they've connected with.

Keirston Harvey, a member of TataskweyakCree Nation, started walking because she wantedto make a difference, especially in an area of Winnipeg where many Indigenous people reside.

She doesn't live in Point Douglas, but the 18-year-old has feltdriven to help.

"Before Iwas kind of fearful of going towardMain Street because I was scared of people talking to me or whatever, butonce I started doing these walks, I realized these are just people who are battling with their own struggles and they just needhelp," she said.

Jacob Bercier, 19, was inspired to participate by Harvey.

He lives nearby and has experienced homelessness andhas seen other family members who've battled addictions.

"It's just so muchmore common than people want to believe, but everybody knows somebody," he said. "Why not help a stranger out, becausethey're probably just like that person that you love."

The name "Sabu's Cubs" is inspired by a board member's grandfather, who battled apartheid and strived to empower youth. He looked likeSabu Dastagir, a movie star in the 1930s and 1940s.