IN HONOUR of Youth Month, the Butler Youth Development programme is combatting crime through music in the community of Elsies River as a way of keeping the youth off the streets.
The Butler family related to Grammy Award winning singer- songwriter and guitarist Jonathan Butler are offering free music classes and inviting the youth to be part of the change.
Hailing from Matroosfontein, chairperson of the Butler Youth Development and nephew to Jonathan Butler, Michael-John Sias said that he and his mother Sandra Butler founded the non-profit organisation in 2014 with the aim of educating and equipping youngsters through music.
Michael-John says: “With all the violence happening in Elsies River at the moment, the community has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
"And since it is Youth Month, we would like to share some positivity and highlight the good that is happening in Elsies.
"We try our best to keep our youth occupied through our programme because here is nothing else for the children. We enjoy ourselves and our main focus is to keep the children off the streets, but it is an uphill battle struggling with funds and donations.
"We offer our programme in the ghetto and have children from Clarke Estate, Epping Forest, The Range and Salberau.
"We would like to extend it to other communities but then transport becomes a problem which we cannot afford. Ons is maar 'n arme team.”
The programme offers free music development classes, life skills, music theory, jingle squad, cadets, choir, combined chorus, discipline, houte band, drum major and brass instruments.
Sandra Butler also founded the Butler Youth Development Minstrel Team.
Youth who are interested in joining the free classes are encouraged to stiek uit at Range Primary School every Saturday afternoon between 2pm to 5pm.
As a non-profit organisation, the team consisting of over 100 children are dependent on donations.
To generate funds, a karaoke night will be held this Saturday at the Matroosfontein Civic Centre from 6pm and entry is charged at R50.
Bringing the vibes is DJ Rumby, social media personality Annie and MC Kashief.
Michael-John adds: “We need funds because our children from the Flêtse can’t afford instruments such as trumpets, trombones or saxophones, so we need to be proactive and host our own fundraisers to generate an income and keep our project going.”
John-Micheal is appealing to anyone who would like to donate any instruments towards the programme or any monetary donations will also be welcome to please contact him on 083 669 7623.