The Logan Regional Chamber of Commerce is combating youth issues in the Yarrabilba area by providing its Junior Chamber of Commerce with a new bus for transporting students to and from important community events.
The 12 seater mini bus, partly funded by a $35,000 community gambling fund, will be housed at the Yarrabilba Secondary College. However, it can now be booked by any schools or local youth/community groups in the area.
The Logan Regional Chamber of Commerce President Chyerl Pridham coordinated the project with the help of her team.
Ms Pridham said the idea came to her nearly two years ago when she realised the areas lack of public transport, and what their youth were subsequently missing out on.
“One of the things I recognised when working in local community groups is that the youth of this area are really really struggling,” she said.
“The number one issue we have is that we don’t have a lot of public transport out here”.
“A lot of parents will leave for work at six in the morning and then not make it home until six in the evening.
“So getting them (local youth) to interact with the local community after school activities is really difficult when you don’t have that transport.”
Ms Pridham said the decision to keep the bus at Yarrabilba Secondary College to be managed by principal Belinda Tregea was simple.
“Belinda was very forthcoming about being involved when her school was being built,” she said.
“The school didn’t even exist a year ago when I started applying for the grant.
“The agreement is that while the Chamber of Commerce actually owns this bus, the school will manage the bus for us.”
Yarrabilba Secondary College Principal Belinda Tregea said she was looking forward to seeing the bus in action next term.
“We’re very focused on having our kids out in the community and their learning being real life and relevant,” Ms Tregea said.
“Our kids are the future employees in this area so being able to have transport to take them to excursions or industry experiences and move around the community as part of their learning is really important.
“The fact that this bus can be shared between all of the local schools allows everyone to move student representatives around and connect student leaders to bring the whole community together.”
Chamber of Commerce president Ms Pridham said the bus will be running when students return to school for term four and she encourages local schools and youth/community groups to contact Yarrabilba Secondary College to book out the new bus as needed.
“By actually having this low cost means of transport for schools then the schools will be able to look at other opportunities that they wouldn’t have previously done because the bus hire fee is just ridiculous,” she said.
