BY DANI BULL
S-E Staff Reporter

    After 12 years, Kettle Falls Youth Center has a full-time director. The Center’s Dennis Roberts was pleased to have Kaleb Gentry start on the first of August as the new living on-site director at the center.  
    “The community needs a place for youth, more mentoring and guidance and to show them how to give back and have respect,” said Roberts.
    “There wasn’t a program that had the ability to really stick with the kids…with Kaleb we can fill that gap,” said Lloyd Ward, like Roberts, a longtime member of the Youth Center board.
    Gentry graduated from Moody Bible Institute and is looking forward to building relationships with the youth of Kettle Falls. Having grown up in a broken home, Gentry feels he has a real “heart” for kids who need someone to look up to. He describes his mentoring approach as “living life with them, outside of home and school.
    “God led me here, with a vision to change lifestyles and help youth with choices in life. We may not see the results or effects of our mentoring today or tomorrow, but in years to come, we hope to have a positive impact.”
    One program that Gentry is working on is a community service program in cooperation with the Kettle Falls School District.  Instead of expulsions and in-house detentions, through the Youth Center, students would have the opportunity to do community service, with Gentry mentoring students in the program.
    The center continues to look for volunteers for the program.

    

Dennis Roberts welcomes new full time director Kaleb Gentry to the Kettle Falls Youth Center.