Youth Impact program in Ogden helps students, parents, community

OGDEN, Utah — Thursday is casino night at the Monarch in Ogden where the Youth Impact Program hopes to raise some of the needed $300,000 it takes to help kids, parents and the community.

The service serves snacks and mills to over 100 children a day, but the space is crammed and the equipment is outdated. The organization wants a larger space to teach culinary skills there too.

Youth Impact provides a safe place for young people to spend hours after school while parents are at work, but mentors there teach art, STEM and much more.

Brenda Gerence, the organizer of Thursday’s casino night fundraiser said Youth Impact helped her immensely as a working, single mother with four boys.

“They all benefitted from learning things and arts and crafts and sports and music and snowboarding,” she said. She said there are approximately eight kids per staff member.

“It’s something to do; kids stay out of troubele, get out of trouble and they keep track of their grades.”

She said the kids also go out into the Ogden community to pick up trash, assist the Ogden Marathon and do other activities that give back to the community.

“It’s a learned behavior,” she said. “That learned behavior continues and that’s why the kids have learned to do fundraisers.”

Her son Ethan said he started going to Youth Impact when he was in fourth grade.

“When I first started going there they were definitely a big help as far as getting things done, like homework, getting honed in on school, things like that.”

The casino night runs until 10 p.m. in Ogden but donations can be sent at youthimpactogden.org/donate/