News Archives - Bellaire Youth Initiative

Active seniors engaging in group exercise class for health and wellness Active seniors engaging in group exercise class for health and wellness

Senior Citizens Balance Program

Certified Balance Instructor, Gabby of Yoga Bellaire John R. Rogers Elementary School Gym. $2.00 per session, bring cash. Registration forms are available online, Bellaire Public Library, Bellaire Senior Center, and Bellaire Commission on Aging. Questions? Call Grandma Dee at 231-377-7077 Upcoming Classes Registration and Waiver BYI Senior Balance Program 9_13_26Download

Lego

Lego Club, Grades 3-8. Initiative Coordinator: Peggy Stevens. Upcoming Classes BYI Lego 9.13.26Download

Archery

Classes are held at the Bellaire Conservation and Shooting Club. First priority enrollment. Classes limited to six (6) students.

New Things Coming to Bellaire Youth Initiative in Antrim County

from https://www.9and10news.com/2023/04/20/new-things-coming-to-bellaire-youth-initiative-in-antrim-county/ Click to view video A benefit in Alden is helping out local kids in Antrim County. The PK Store in downtown Alden is shutting down and final sales are happening April 28 and 29, and then again on May 5 and 6. All proceeds from these sales will go to help the Bellaire Youth Initiative. The youth initiative offers several free activities for kids in Antrim County, and for the first time in the county’s history this includes free swimming lessons. These swimming lessons start in May for first through fifth grades at the Shanty Creek Resort. “This is so important. We live with all of these lakes around here, and we want to make sure that we never, ever lose another child in the water,” Dee Lynch, Bellaire Youth Initiative President, said. For more information about the sales happening at the PK Store, click here. And if you would like to register for the swimming lessons, click here.

Cooking

Cooking Classes, Grades 4-12 Initiative Coordinator: Grandma Dee Lynch Lead Coordinator: Chef Rodriguez Assistant Coordinator: Corrine Dowd Upcoming Classes Registration and Waiver https://bellaireyouthinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/BYI-Cooking-Student-permission-and-waiver-fall-form-26-27.pdfDownload BYI Cooking 9_17_26Download

Young chefs transform fresh ingredients into classic treats

BELLAIRE – It’s not surprising that so many kids are enrolled in the Bellaire Youth Initiative (BYI) cooking class. Now in its third year, the class is a great opportunity, with kids from fourth- through ninth grades being trained by two seasoned teachers, “Grandma” Dee Lynch and Scott Udell, a local chef known for his barbeque. The 16 kids attending the class spend five weeks learning to make salsa, spaghetti sauce, applesauce, and zucchini bread. According to current BYI board chair Bryan Hardy, all of the group’s class offerings are intended to provide step-by-step instruction to connect kids with the real world skills that used to be taught as part of a school’s regular curriculum. Since home economics classes are no longer offered in most public schools, the young chefs are savoring the opportunity of learning to navigate a kitchen. “We enlighten them about how life used to be,” Hardy said. “Doing things step-by-step from start to finish helps them understand how life used to be.” He added that all the offerings are meant to provide the kinds of practical education that the local school board cannot afford to offer. Other BYI classes have included biking, guitar, sewing, performing arts…

Collector Handmade Toys Offered at the Rubber Ducky Day in Bellaire

The Bellaire Youth Center offered for sale many beautifully crafted wooden toys and more during the Rubber Ducky Arts and Crafts sale in August 2017. Back in June 1993, the Antrim County News presented an article about the very same, Tatur-Bilt Wooden Toys and Such, a home business that were made by Ed and Alice Tatur. The toy makers created doll houses, furniture, moveable toys and much more. The toys were discovered in a recently purchased home on Lake Bellaire’s Cottage Drive from the 1990s. Proceeds were used for the 501C3 Bellaire Youth Center and programs this 2017-18 school year.

BYC is enjoying their country visits!

Our students have been given an International passport (not real). So far, they have taken out the stickers to place their entrance into Germany and Canada in their passport. For Germany visit, Mrs. Sarah Juntune, our special guest, showed us how to make pretzels, which we ate the next week, and she told us a little about the country that she lived in. We had the opportunity to make a pretend gingerbread cookie from paper, that the children there wear around their neck for Oktoberfest which is really in September. We learned a song as we did an exercise to Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes in German. For another snack, we had a buffet where we got to assemble cracker sandwiches with German sausage and cheese! Canada is our topic last week and this week. Mrs. Debbie had baked us fish sticks from Canada's water. They were gobbled up. We learned that the Maple leaf is the countries emblem and they have 10 types. Learning about the flags from each country, the children have the opportunity to make a wind sock with the flag. Did you know that Canada has more land mass than the USA? Last week, we all…