Bathurst's Boys to the Bush program booming in its support of children in need

Boys to the Bush, which was co-founded by Adam DeMamiel, Richard Leahy and Tim Sanson, has been headed up by former St Pat's premiership winning coach Kurt Hancock and the program has seen significant growth within the local community in recent times.

On Wednesday morning, Mr Hancock was with children from the Macquarie Tutorial Centre, one of three schools the Boys to the Bush program has set up shop in.

"We've been running a number of school programs, at Kelso High, the Macquarie Tutorial Centre which is apart of Carenne and at Lithgow High School," he said.

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"These are all for kids that sometimes find it hard at school and are sometimes disengaged with the teachers and have behavioural issues. That's when we come in, take them out of the school environment and put positive influences around.

"We talk about respect and resilience, we have a lot of goal setting and how they can go about achieving them.

"On Wednesday morning, it was about connecting the boys from the tut centre with positive influences in the local community.

"The mayor came along and he's been a great support of the program. He connected with the boys really well. We also had Nathan Rollinson from Western Sydney University come and do a bit of first aid and safety talks with them. He's another great supporter and connects with the kids really well."

Mr Hancock said the program has been such a success because of the support it has received from the local community.

"The school programs is just a tiny part of what we've been doing," he said.

"We've been mentoring one-on-one as well. We've just been approved to do some alternative care, when kids become homeless or have no where else to go.

"In the short time we've been here, we're starting to have success and with that success we're becoming a lot busier. I was the only one full-time, but now we have another guy full-time and another casual part-time on board.

"The community has been really good, with some local tradies giving up their local work places and property, where we can do some work and take the boys fishing or camping.

"It's starting to gain a bit momentum but I can see it by the end of the year, we'll probably out grow our space out at Upfold Street."

Mr Hancock said Boys to the Bush is also after sponsors or donators, to help fund children to attend an end-of-year camp, similar to the ones the program hosts at Albury, Forbes and Lake Cargelligo.

To contact Mr Hancock, call 0426 275 664.

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