Gore Young Achiever 'feeling little less proud' of hometown
“I would just ask the people of Gore what there is for kids to do in Gore? Take a look when you are driving around on a Saturday night, what are the kids doing?"
James Wards was in 2019 celebrated at the Gore District Community Awards. He was named Gore’s Young Achiever of the Year.
A significant honour.
Although fast forward the clock four years and Wards feels somewhat let down by his hometown. Or more precisely he feels Gore’s youth has been let down.
Wards founded Your Corps in Gore in 2017. It’s a unique attempt to help tend to the growing mental health challenges amongst youth in his own community.
He runs computer gaming events that effectively bring youth together.
Wards saw that more and more kids were locking themselves in their bedrooms and gaming for long periods. The curtains were drawn, and the outside world was blocked out.
The mission of his Your Corps organisation has been to reduce the number of suicides in New Zealand by bringing young people together and building communities around gaming.
The concept has spread from Gore to other parts of the South Island.
In 2021 Wards was named a Kiwibank Local Heroes for his work with youth.
Despite it all starting in Gore, Wards hasn’t hosted any events in his hometown since June last year.
“It’s dead,” he said.
“We’ve got no plans of coming back. Not through a lack of trying, I can say that. We’ve tried MLT, we’ve tried everything. We’ve tried and tried and got nowhere.”
He initially held gaming events at the Gore RSA, with some financial backing from the Gore RSA which he appreciated.
However, to cover costs Wards was having to charge $20 per kid. That flew against the very thing he was trying to achieve by bringing youth together whatever their situation in life.
For some, the $20 fee was a barrier.
“Even at $20, I was still seeing a lot of kids miss out. That’s where I got upset, everybody has got to have an equal shot at this.”
The latest blow came on Tuesday when the Gore District Council indicated it would not approve a $24,000 funding application.
The council is grappling with a proposed 11.56% rate rise and because of that there was little appetite to back the request for some assistance.
Cr Bronwyn Reid acknowledged she initially supported the funding but said that given the financial times she would need to backtrack on that.
“It’s a nice to have, not a need and I hope we can have a look at it in the long-term plan.”
Cr Richard McPhail shared a similar sentiment.
“This is a victim of where we are. This is one of the things…. this person is providing a great service with a lot of inspiration and passion for the youth in the community and sadly it’s going to be one that misses out.
“As a councillor, I’m hoping there’s other funding groups, or someone else in the community that could pick up on that.”
Mayor Ben Bell said it was unfortunate because of the state of the economy and the cost of living crisis that the council did not have the resource to pay for some grants at the moment.
Wards was disappointed not to get the Gore District Council’s support. He said it was the youth of Gore district that ultimately missed out.
“I’m proud to come from Gore, but I’m feeling a little less proud about it today.
“I would just ask the people of Gore what there is for kids to do in Gore? Take a look when you are driving around on a Saturday night, what are the kids doing?
“They might not be doing anything, there’s nothing to do. I’ve got the answer right there in front of them.”
The $24,000 he was in search of was to help put on 12 events in Gore catering for 40 kids at each event.
Wards said there have been some challenges in regard to older people in community leadership roles who were anti-video games and also despised the thought of kids playing on computers.
There was a common theme that they should instead be playing sport, he said.
Some kids however can’t, or simply feel more at home socialising in a gaming environment.
“How can video gaming be anti-social when a room of 20 kids who have never met each other end up screaming at the top of their lungs having fun? How’s that anti-social?”
However, Wards did add that you cannot just blame “the boomers and grey hairs” for everything.
He said some have embraced the thought that video gaming events can have a positive impact on the region’s youth.
The Invercargill City Council approved $24,000 for 12 events to be held at ILT Stadium Southland.
He’s also found funding to run events for Bluff youth, while the Waikaka community has pitched in for events to be run at the hall.
The Otautau community has also supported it, he said.