A local youth group for young women in Coalisland has been helping girls in the area contribute positively to their community.
The Coalisland Young Women’s Group is made up of 10 female volunteers from the area who promote positive mental health, help to fight period poverty and assist the elderly in the area.
The group meets regularly as well as coordinating a variety of projects which help other young women in the Co Tyrone town.
19-year-old Aine Linden has been volunteering with the group for over five years, and has been involved in community work.
She told MyTyrone: “We really like to get involved with the bigger issues around the town as well for young people.
“We work with the schools around us so they can let people know that there is always somebody there for them if they ever needed to talk.
“The group has helped me grow as a person, and helped me become more confident in myself and let me come out of my shell.
“We have a great group of girls and our youth leader is always there for us, to help us develop and make things possible for us.
“It’s brought us a lot further in life and we’ve had so many experiences since we joined the group.”
The group have travelled to London for a trip with other youth groups in the area, with more trips planned in the near future.
“We try our best to help out in our local community, with a few different programmes,” Aine added.
“A few years back we started to think about the elderly around Halloween time, and what we could do for them.
“Young people in our area have such a bad reputation around that time of year and elderly people don’t really like to come out of their homes.
“So we thought it would be good to bake them apple tarts and write little notes on them and bring them over to their homes.
“It was to let them know that not all young people are bad, that there is still a majority of us who are good people.”
Group leader Leo Quinn says the young women’s group is very proactive in how they can help others in their community.
“They come up with different ideas of how they can help in the community, a lot of them have come through from juniors right through to 19 or 20,” Leo said.
“Initially it would have been set up for themselves but as the thing has developed, they have realised that they have so much to offer to their own community.
“They applied for grants for mental health packs which they then handed out to 30 different young people they thought would benefit from them.
“They are getting a lot out of it, but at the same time they are giving so much back.”
