AS has been reported in local media, during the week Bendigo has been celebrating the Festival of Cultures, which concludes on March 23.
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Police from Bendigo have attended a number of events including the opening ceremony on Monday and the multi-faith dinner and forum on Wednesday evening.
Both events highlighted to me the rich and diverse community that we have here in Bendigo.
A special thank you to Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services Incorporated for organising the festival.
Yesterday Victoria Police Recruitment operated an information stall in the Hargreaves Mall, which was aimed at encouraging young people from our culturally and linguistically diverse communities to seek information and consider a career in policing.
Of course, the stall was there to provide information to all members of the community considering such a career.
After 30 years in the police force I would recommend it to anyone as a great and rewarding career.
On Thursday I visited to the Blue Light Youth Camp in Maldon, which is a magnificent facility run by staff that are passionate about the camp and the excellent activities they conduct.
At the camp I met Abeselom Nega from an organisation called iEmpower.
IEmpower is running a youth development and empowerment program for Karen youth living in Bendigo.
The program is being supported by Bendigo Community Health, Bendigo TAFE, the Department of Justice and Regulation, and Victoria Police.
As part of the program we will be taking the Karen youth to the Blue Light Camp, which for most of them will be the first time they have experienced the types of activities that will be conducted over the weekend.
Tomorrow at 9am a team from the Bendigo Police Station will be playing a team of Karen youth in a friendly game of soccer at the Spring Gully Reserve. Please come along and support the game.
During the week leaders from police, government departments and community support groups have been involved in discussions about how we can collectively support and assist some of the more disadvantaged and vulnerable youth in our community.
Hopefully, in the future we will be able to organise some camps at the Blue Light in Maldon for groups of such youth from around central Victoria. Our youth are our future and anything that we can do to assist them to achieve their goals and aims in life will be of benefit to the whole community.
And of course maybe we can encourage some of these young people to think about a career in Victoria Police.