Twenty months ago when we landed in Kansas to serve this area in July 2016, we would have never imagined what God was going to do in and through our efforts of the Affiliate serving Leavenworth County. In the loss of the governmental contracts via partnerships on the military installation, we have now started to seek out more direct opportunities to raise funding for our overall budget, which takes time and building integrity locally. Much of our efforts in the area have been spent in building up moments to share with others what Youth For Christ is all about and what God has motivated us to do for our teens all over this area. Many opportunities have included sharing with the Leavenworth Lions Club, Leavenworth and Lansing Kiwanis Clubs and other folks who come visit the locations where we serve our teens on a regular basis. All the while we have been here, we have stressed the idea of longevity of building trust, integrity and care to the people of Leavenworth County and looking to serve teens "wherever they are." Goodness, was God on the move during all of this patient and humble movement!
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Our provider, Chris Cakes and our leaders behind the
operation as folks come in and support the event.
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| The students and leaders helping out during the fundraiser. |
This month we were able to have our first-ever fundraiser which specifically was geared to raise support to send our teens to summer camp in late-June. This event included a pancake feed, silent auction and 50-50 raffle to raise some money for those teens who will need help attending camp with us. We worked together with our sister-in-law, who had extensive experience in working on a recent silent auction fundraiser. She was able to reach out and help us in many ways to have many generous gifts provided to the cause. Amy was able to secure a highly successful company to provide basically everything except for the coffee which allowed all of our adults to be free to serve and mingle with folks attending the fundraising event. A major God movement was that all of our leaders and board members were able to come and serve during the entirety of the event and see God's hand in all what was happening in the efforts of that day! Some served in the silent auction area, some were receiving money and greeting people as they arrived in the door, some were selling 50-50 tickets, some were making sure coffee was squared away and some just filled in wherever necessary as was needed throughout the morning. Another big blessing during the event was the personal attendance of our own State Representative, Jeff Pittman and his wife Holly. Before showing up, he chose to announce the event at an earlier meeting he was attending to help get more people to come support the fundraiser. If that wasn't enough, Rep. Pittman then went on his own Facebook page and went 'live' from our fundraiser to encourage folks to come enjoy pancakes for our cause. By the end of the event, we had two of our students, Brandon and James come and serve in the whole fundraiser and they had their summer camp fees all paid for via the generosity of so many amazing people! If that wasn't enough, all of our summer camp fundraising needs were squared away via this whole event! To say this was a success would be an understatement. It was incredible due to the fact that it was not only beneficial to our teens and their camp plans, but for the exposure of the Leavenworth Salvation Army and it's location and what they have been doing for our community.
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Rep. Pittman and myself during the
camp fundraiser together.
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As we noted, we have noticed a lot of changes and people's motivation to get involved in many ways we never could have imagined. After the fundraiser, one of our newest leaders shared how they would like their employer to get involved more with Youth For Christ. Before we knew it, we were receiving messages and updates from Regina and her plans for the Lansing Taco John's and what they were planning to do in partnership with us. Join with us as we celebrate our first commercial partner who wishes to see God's movement in reaching more teens!
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| The spread of silent auction items and the artisan items mentioned are pictured above. |
Then, there were other things happening behind the scenes. We had a couple of gifted artisans provide items to our silent auction and were gracious enough to desire to see our teens supported. One was a previous leader we had at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and she has an incredible gift of knitting and crocheting various items. Soon after the silent auction and the success of the selling of her items, she was anxious to get started on a custom quilt so that it can be used to raise even more funding as the quilt has an incredible value and can assist us in a greater way. The other person was our uncle in Iowa who has a gift for creating one of a kind bird feeders, wind chimes and the like from his custom shop at home. One item sold so quickly in our silent auction with multiple bidders and as I shared with our uncle about this item moving fast, he had a baker's dozen of them ready for us in our recent visit back to Iowa. Not only those items were offered, but he loaded up our van with nearly 40+ items to sell to help raise more funding for our budget to impact teens this year.
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All the new equipment we were able to buy
from our amazing generous partners all over
the area who gave to the cause.
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A snapshot of the current equipment
the teens use during free time outdoors
at Patton Jr. High.
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We aren't just on the receiving end of partnerships, but we regularly look to partner with entities who are impacting our teens here. We recently found out that our military youth on Fort Leavenworth at Patton Junior High get to go outdoors and enjoy the nice weather when they have the additional time after eating in the cafeteria. Being that this isn't an official program, their equipment to play outdoors is usually a 'hand-me-down' or extremely used in nature. We immediately saw the need and shared the opportunity and in one day, we had one ministry leader from the Methodist Church in town, a friend of a staff person out of town and a local church plant in the area of Turner in Kansas City, Kansas, join us in supporting the need fully to replace and provide more equipment than imaginable for our military teens to enjoy outside.
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| Phil and Carlos at the Harrold Youth Center. |
Building relationships locally also includes sharing with our friends all over the area what God is up to and that includes our local paper. In serving the Fort Leavenworth Harrold Youth Center, Phil got to mentor and coach the military youth of the year in his interview and speaking skills as he headed onto the state competition level. In doing so, the Leavenworth Lamp newspaper covered the story and got the chance to hear from the young man, Carlos Vega, who expanded on his time with Phil and his help in getting him ready for that next opportunity to compete. Being able to serve him and the youth center was an amazing chance never to be forgotten! Next, while out of town visiting family and partners in Omaha, we were notified that the Leavenworth Times decided to have a front-page full spread on an interview I provided on email to their staff person on the who, what and why of Youth For Christ and what our affiliate was doing to impact teens in Leavenworth County, Kansas. It was a blessing and a true honor to have our local papers cover us in how we are working with our youth and empowering them with a place and space they feel like they have as a home with other teens.
We hope that this is only the beginning of the long-lasting duration of Youth For Christ as we build relationships with other folks and businesses and entities wherever God provides. Please join us in prayer and celebration in all that God is doing in all that He leads us to do to impact our teens in this area.
Humbled to be on His mission for Christ's glory!
~Phil, Amy & Parker
FYI - if you would like to partner with us in any way possible, email us at pparsons@yfcmail.org and we can visit with you about those opportunities.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible gift contribution toward the mission, you can do it directly on this link here: https://yfc.givingfuel.com/30631
