Jayden, 17, has frequented the Eurobodalla Youth Café since he was 12 and it has played a big part in getting his life back on track.

“This place has made a huge difference,” he said.

“It has helped me a lot.”

The Youth Café, based at the Batemans Bay Community Centre in Museum Place, has wound up for the year and as Jayden turns 18 in January, he’s no longer a youth and no longer eligible to come along each week.

It has helped him through many difficult times.

“I’ve been around the ropes,” he said.

“When I was younger I was a bit slack. It was tough at home for me, and when I broke up with my girlfriend it hit me pretty hard. Just having somewhere to come on a Friday night, to talk to people and play ping-pong, pool and chess made such a difference.”

Changing schools also worked out well for him.

“When I was at Bay High I fell in with the wrong crowd and went downhill,” he said.

He changed to Moruya High School, at which he recently completed year 11, and is far happier.

He did work experience at Bunnings Hardware, and this was another turning point.

“I learnt all about things I had to do at work, like ethics and the like,” he said.

He now has a paid job at Bunnings, working in the nursery, and has plans to study horticulture at TAFE.

He has joined Batemans Bay Surf Life Saving Club as a rower, and trains with them three (sometimes four) times a week.

He gives much of the credit for his turnaround to former Youth Café supervisor Josh Waterson.

“Steve Smith (current supervisor) has been very good too,” he said.

 “If I didn’t have a lot of good people in my life I would be stuffed.”

However, the staff and volunteers are hoping they have not seen the last of him.

“I would like to see him do the course with Eurobodalla Shire Council which would allow him to be a volunteer there,” volunteer Judy Elliott said.

She believes this would be appropriate given the way he has developed into a leader during his time here.

“He is wonderful,” she said.

“He is always helping out, cleaning up and stopping people mucking up. He is never disrespectful and has turned into a really good leader.”

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