The rural youth caste (district of St. Pölten) is one of the new groups taking part in the rural youth project marathon for the first time this year. “The joy is huge,” says Lisa Zuser, the deputy head of the rural youth box, “but so is the excitement. I’m pretty nervous regarding how we’re going to manage this because it’s the first time.”
A total of 30 rural youth groups will take part in the first of two project weekends, 58 will follow on the weekend of September 9th to 11th, five other groups will have different dates due to scheduling reasons. Each group is given a different task that they don’t know regarding beforehand. They then have 42.195 hours to implement the project for their community. “We are already fully motivated,” emphasizes Katharina Beitl, head of the rural youth box.
30 members of the country youth box
Establishing a rural youth group in one’s own community has been discussed for a long time, says Lorenz Zöchling, the male manager. “We’ve been considering founding a rural youth in castes for a long time, because we don’t have that in this form yet. This spring we then made the decision to get started, we did it and founded ourselves in June.”
A lot has happened since then. The 30 members meet once a month in a room across from the church. There is chatting, planning and from time to time also celebrating. “We have already helped at various festivals and also plan to organize the soap box race,” reports Deputy Manager Lisa Zuser. But now the project marathon is on the agenda.
Numerous projects were implemented last year, from themed trails to the renovation of a club garden to the construction of seating near a chapel. On Friday they will find out what is in store for young people and young adults this year. Anton Harm, the deputy head of the rural youth caste, would prefer “something manual”.
