Youth Center

Great News!

Woo hoo! The IRS approved us as a non-profit 501(c)(3). I made sure not to include "tea party" or related words in my application. Now I can go after grants and give individuals a tax write-off for their contributions.

Destination Youth Center opens on Nov 12th! A flurry of hard work between now and then to get done, including publicity. The local paper wants to cover our opening night, so that helps. But the real deal is getting kids to tell other kids.

Congrats!

That should keep you busy for a while.

Two weeks away from opening! Finished the website, if you want to view it.

www.destinationyc.com (Man, that was stressful work for a old codger like me!)

V E R Y   N I C E.

Neat Background, and a lot of information at the Resource Pages!

joecool wrote: ..............................for a old codger like me!.......................

Well,

...................you're honest.

Looks good. I had a good laugh at myself though when I looked at it. Now to preface this, I've just gotten up for work, so I was reading through tired eyes, but... when I looked at the website I read destinationyc as "destini" "nation" "yc", and was thinking that it was interesting that you had spelled destiny with an "I" like the "Beatles" kind of thing. Then I realized it was actually "destination".

That background looks like the clouds that come in and out of the top of Hemmend in Hollow. It's a cool thing to see. Praying for a well received opening night and for blessings for the youth center.

Mark Jones

Claymore wrote:V E R Y    N IE.

Neat Background, and a lot of information at the Resource Pages!

joecool wrote: ..............................for a old codger like me!.......................

Well,

...................you're honest.

Back home from the grand opening. Man, I'm tired. I was there for 10+ hours, before, during and after. I think it was Eisenhower who said something like
"When the first shot is fired, the plans go out the window."

Just went with the flow of what the kids felt like doing. They were appreciative of having a place to hang out.

Congratulations.

What are the planned Hours of Operation?

Fridays and Saturdays, 4-8 pm. We'll adjust when we find out what they need. Tonight, we're showing Master and Commander, easily in my top 10 ever.

Awesome! Eager to hear how it all goes.

Prediction of clear skies and 5 degrees for the parade tonight. Got the float all decorated and ready to go. Santa's sleigh being pulled by a couple of "reindeer" kids on 4-wheelers. Fired up the generator for a light test, but it's hard to tell how good it'll look until the sun's down.

Take pictures. We always enjoy a picture.

joecool wrote:Prediction of clear skies and 5 degrees for the parade tonight. Got the float all decorated and ready to go. Santa's sleigh being pulled by a couple of "reindeer" kids on 4-wheelers. Fired up the generator for a light test, but it's hard to tell how good it'll look until the sun's down.

Heat wave. Turned out to be 9 degrees. Free advertising for the youth center. Probably 5000 people out there. Which reminds me...5000 lights for next year, just like a couple of the other floats. (Hard to compete with "corporate" floats.)

Rome wasn't built in a day.

Any updates?

Fridays average a dozen. We've hosted a few kids who weren't from the Christian school, so that's good. I originally had "Happy Hour" that night, which was a comedian's video. They weren't interested, so I dropped it. Saturdays don't bring kids in. I show a movie that night. Maybe that's the reason. Maybe they just want to hang out with each other.

Started a Facebook page, but that's more for parents. Kids are on Twitter and Instagram, so those should be up after New Year's. In short, I'm making adjustments that I knew I'd have to make. Even though I conducted a survey earlier this year, this old guy wasn't going to get everything right.

Good to hear. Interested to find out what works for you guys.

There's a big university town in this state that a survey revealed as being 80% agnostic/atheist. This, despite having 197 churches (most must be very small). Anyway, a big facility was bought and converted into a Christian youth center for $2.5 million. At first, it had the support of 100 churches. Then, a small cabal of ministers turned everything sour. Felt threatened? Now, only 6 churches support it, and it's rented out to the city 6 days a week. On the one day it's open, 12 kids show up. I have that many kids, at 1/10th of 1 percent the cost.

All of that was shared by the editor of a statewide Christian magazine who called me last night. He has offered to help profile and advertise us at no cost, and even help with fundraising. What a blessing! But I also feel a need to continue with baby steps and build a good foundation to grow on. Don't want to crash and burn like the other place.

Same thing happened here in Springfield with a Assemblies of God School. 30 churches started it. Only 1 was faithful to their promises to the end.

Folk are fickel with their promises. With out God's Grace we would all be doomed.

Mark Jones

A great opportunity in a couple of weeks. Our youth center recently began life skills classes, with "self-defense" being the next one. Concurrently, we have a parents' open house, and the newspaper is going to give us a little coverage.

Well, the open house was a bust. No reporter, no parents and only 2 teens. I feel like we're pounding our head against a wall. Many nights we don't have anyone. We've tried all kinds of things, but nothing is really working. Discouraging. And I got a rejection letter from a grant foundation that seemed like a perfect fit.

A couple of months ago, someone in our church said that he and a few other people got together and formed a Youth For Christ "franchise". He said they were just in the formative stages and felt like they would have kids meet in their homes for awhile. Well, it's picked up steam. Land was donated, money is coming in, and builders are stepping up. There's a community fundraising event in 2 weeks. I'll attend and see what kind of timeline they have.

I'm not jealous or anything. Maybe we were just meant to be the warm-up act and get the community used to the idea. It does reminds me of John the Baptist. "I must decrease, so he can increase."

It's hard to say..............

You obviously have the Organization Skills, the Heart, a Worthy Goal, and the Effort Invested. But sometimes things don't fly.

It might be good to have someone who is not involved in the Project to come by and make an evaluation; maybe a community leader, or someone in the Lyons, a Banker, or other Organization Member.

Sometimes, you can get better input if the person evaluating it is not in love with the Project. (Kind-of like having someone from the Naval Inspector General's Office come by for a visit.)

Went to a fundraising event for Youth For Christ last night. Impressed that 150 were in attendance. They're pretty new, so they didn't offer much detail or a timeline. Their first goal is to establish student Bible study clubs on each school campus. #2 is having a brick-and-mortar youth center. Based on something the director told me previously, I think they see our location as an opportunity to get a big head start, even if it's just a temporary home.

One of the night's sub-events was a David Frost-style interview with a graduating senior. The hand-picked student likely misinterpreted one of the questions, as he gushed about how some of his friends were Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist. And they were all finding God in their own way. Like, it was really cool, man. (Sigh)