Your generous gifts on Human Relations Day Sunday allows mentors to help at-risk-youth to find a purpose in their lives in the Pacific Northwest Conference.
The General Board of Church and Society awarded a grant to fund MAP: My Action Planning for Incarcerated Youth. The Rev. Terri Stewart and the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition accepted the grant. The coalition, a task force of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, works with incarcerated youth in King County and Washington State detention facilities. With the MAP program, Stewart envisions training volunteers to mentor youth so that they transition out of detention with the skills and confidence they need to stay out and build productive lives.
The grant allows for the time, travel and recruiting efforts of new volunteers. The Youth Chaplaincy Coalition still needs additional funding in order to pay for the supplies for mentors and youth. For mentoring 120 youth in 2016, supplies will cost about $3,000.
MAP allows youth and trained mentors to come together and see where the youth has come from, who they are now and who they want to be. Pictured is an exercise that shows an actual map of important life events. MAP trains mentors to be mirrors for the youth so they can see the absolute sacred worth that they have as children of God. Mentors also reflect and identify gifts and talents for youth often labeled worthless.
The goal is to recruit 30 new mentors and to create a solid 12-hour program to teach in a retreat format or in one-on-one mentoring. For more information, contact Stewart at 425-531-1756 or [email protected].
Funds for grants come from the United Methodist Special Sunday offering received on Human Relations Day in January.
Adapted, Cloaked Monk, The Youth Chaplaincy Coalition
One of six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings of The United Methodist Church, Human Relations Day calls United Methodists to recognize the right of all God's children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with one another. The special offering benefits neighborhood ministries through Community Developers, community advocacy through United Methodist Voluntary Services and work with at-risk teens through the Youth Offender Rehabilitation Program.
When you give generously on Human Relations Day, you encourage ordinary people to have a voice in changing the world. Give now.
