Thrive Mat-Su – A Year of Amazing Growth for Mat-Su Youth Program
Contributed by Matt Clayton
Thrive Mat-Su is a youth substance use prevention coalition operated by the United Way of Mat-Su. The coalition is made of up dozens of organizations in the Mat-Su Valley who work with youth. In 2020 the Thrive Coalition launched a full-time youth program. Please take a moment and help us celebrate the insane growth the Thrive Mat-Su youth program has had over the past year. This stat sums up the grow well:
On October 29, 2022, Thrive Mat-Su hosted a Halloween party for 146 people!
On October 28, 2023, Thrive Mat-Su hosted a Halloween party for 639 people!!!
The bigger victory I celebrate within this is that out of the 639 total people who attended, we had a total of around 100 adults made up of staff, volunteers, parents, security, coalition partners, etc. The reason we shoot for such a high ratio (1:6) of adults to students is because the adults at our events are not there just to make sure the students behave themselves. The adults are there to make a positive impact on the students' lives and to help them know that Mat-Su Valley cares about Mat-Su youth! The fun and games are often what attracts students to attend in the first place. The community of caring students and adults is what keeps students coming back!
Has your family joined our Thrive Text Alerts yet? Once you sign up, we send text invites for youth (6th grade & up) activities and events. Text "Thrive" to 907-745-5826 to join. Be sure to complete the activity survey we send to not miss out on any fun. Over 2300 hundred families in our community are receiving these invites to our events and activities.
We KNOW that more and more youth are going to keep showing up at our events because the need for more youth activities and events is evident.
We HOPE that more and more adults join this effort to impact Mat-Su youth!
The backbone of our events is our Volunteer Team. We depend on our volunteers to commit to a specific event area and help with the same activities each time they are available to volunteer (we don't expect anyone to be available every time). If you are interested in applying to join our volunteer team, please text the word "Volunteer" to 907-745-5826. No obligations, we will send a volunteer application, and, with an approved background check, we will let you know about upcoming opportunities.
These events are only possible because of the leadership our Event Team provides for each event area. Our Event Team is paid for around 10 hours of work per month for providing leadership in one of our event areas. We host a few events per semester, and they are always on Saturday evening. If you are interested in applying for our paid Thrive Event Team please text "Event Team" to 907-745-5826. The Event Team must go through the same background check used for Mat-Su Schools.
Finally, our Thrive Coalition Partners were the catalyst which resulted in Thrive being created. Every organization in the Valley who serve youth are welcome to join our youth substance use prevention coalition. Each Coalition Partner's contribution is unique. Many attend our monthly Coalition meeting, either in person or virtually, where we coordinate our efforts for Mat-Su youth. (Noon-2pm, 3rd Tuesday of the Month @ Mat-Su Public Health) Many coalition partners also help by providing activities at some of our monthly youth events.
If you are part of a youth-serving organization in the Mat-Su valley and would like more info about joining this effort, please email us at Connect@ThriveMatSu.org
Thank you, to everyone in the Mat-Su who is joining this effort to value and support Mat-Su youth! - Thrive Mat-Su, because youth matter!