The challenge including cutting grass and clearing brush. (Men of the North/Facebook)

By Derek Cornet

giving back

Tri-community youth beat 40-Yard Challenge

Aug 6, 2021 | 4:15 PM

The tri-communities are a nice place to live thanks to the efforts by the Men of the North and a dozen young men.

Beginning July 2, those who were interested embarked on the 40-Yard Challenge by spending a few hours each doing basic yard care for Elders, the disabled and single-parent households. The final day of the challenge was Aug. 1 when participants cleaned 14 yards for a total of 53.

“This year was 100 per cent successful,” Men of the North founder Christopher Merasty said. “We did more than what we set our goal for and now we are looking at doing a four-day canoe trip.”

As a reward for their efforts, the volunteers will be taken on a canoe trip between Missinipe and Stanley Mission starting Aug. 20. Merasty explained cooking, cleaning and the setting up of camp will all be done for them, so they can spend as much time as possible fishing, swimming and relaxing.

This marked the second time Men of the North hosted such a challenge. In 2020, the group aimed to clean 60 yards, but ultimately failed to reach their goal.

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“Last year, we did the challenge and we definitely made a lot of mistakes along the way,” he said. “We overextended ourselves a little bit too much and we did fall short.”

By the end of the challenge, a dozen young boys were taking part. (Men of the North/Facebook)

Merasty mentioned the goal of the challenge was to provide an opportunity for youth to give back to the community and stay active during the summer break. He noted the challenge will be held for a third time next summer and he hopes one day it will occur in several communities in Northern Saskatchewan.

“Maybe two or three years down the road, we can have a 100-yard challenge with four or five communities involved,” Merasty said.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno