Feel Good Friday: Phoenix's Story

For every pair of full-price Deuce sneakers sold, $5 goes towards our charity, The Young Hearts Project, an organisation that funds multiple initiatives within Aotearoa, including Youthline. The funding of these initiatives supports our Kiwi youth and helps to positively shape their futures. Today, we spotlight on Phoenix Moore and learn about her journey with Youthline. Phoenix Moore has been a member of Youthline’s mentoring programme for over a year. The mentoring programme is designed to help youth determine their goals and implement a plan to achieve them so that they get to where they want to be.

After a year of hard work, perseverance and commitment, Youthline nominated Phoenix for the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, which she took part in last January. The Prime Minister’s Youth Programme was created for Aucklander’s aged 14 to 17, who have faced challenges however are making positive changes to move forward. During the Youth Programme, Phoenix learnt a significant amount. “I learned so much about myself in those three days, and I made two of my closest friends.” From her time as a Youthline volunteer, Phoenix has truly discovered the positive influence. “I have learned the impact I have on people,” she says, “Youthline has taught me so much about the influence I have and leading by example, especially to my younger peers.”

Since joining Youthline’s mentoring programme, Phoenix has identified her future goals and she is currently studying Early Childhood Education at Manukau Institute of Technology. She has three goals going forward:

- To continue making positive change and to reach her fullest capabilities

- To make her parents proud and to show them that their hard work never goes unnoticed

- To be a positive role model for youth that have been through or are going through the same things that she has.

Phoenix wants others to know that Youthline saves lives. “It saved my life and is helping me with the goals that I never thought would be achievable. Sounds super clichē, but Youthline gave me hope. To have so many Youth Development Workers who genuinely care about what you do with your life makes such a huge difference.” For youth like Phoenix, programmes like the Youthline mentoring programme truly make a positive difference and allow individuals to meet their full potential. Remember that your donation to the Young Hearts Project counts.