A Season for Compassion
by Chuck Sailors (KCUYC CEO)

This spring, I sense a new opportunity for change is in the air. The bright colors and fresh smells of tulips blooming, the sounds of bats and balls as baseball season approaches, the excitement of graduation and all the joy a new season brings. The KCUYC is full of this newness of life and anticipation as we breathe fresh breaths of hopeful air together—knowing that with this newness comes an opportunity for a new season of compassion.

I'm writing to you thank you for investing your life in the compassion and care found at the KCUYC. I’m writing as we celebrate our four year birthday because I am personally grateful for how, working together, we’ve placed ourselves in our neighbor’s shoes; because working together, we are understanding more each day that we were created to care for each other well; that, in the words of Dr. King, “we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.”

And yet, even as we are working together to meet the needs of those around us, there remains countless opportunities to care and to offer compassion: we're still sending our children to failing schools—struggling schools where young people long to succeed; homeless teens still sleep on the streets of our cities; mothers can't afford a doctor when their children get sick; neighborhood grocery stores close down one by one; part-time jobs and living wages are nearly impossible to find. And specifically in our own community, families in poverty were evicted just before Christmas…the opportunities for caring and offering compassion still abound.

And so as we invite you to continue to be a part of this change through compassionate with us, to come alongside our young leaders at the KCUYC, who even in the midst of their struggles, are offering compassion to those around them.

We invite you to invest your time in the young life of a student at the Center; to share a talent you might have with our community; and to offer your resources. Working together, we know that we can continue to care well for each other.

As the KCUYC expands to a second site and are able to move our current programs into a larger, dedicated space, we are confident that the opportunities for offering compassion will increase. If you would like to learn more about how you can offer a gift of your time or talent, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Nick Mucci, at volunteer@kcurbanyouthcenter.org or click here to read about the many ways volunteers are currently needed at the KCUYC.

Thank you for helping us raise more than half of what is needed for our matching grant—we received over $30,000 in the first few months of the year! To partner with us in raising the remaining $30,000, funds critical to allow us begin programming at a second site, I invite you to click here to go to our secure online giving page and offer a gift today-- $30; $75; $500 or $1,000--any gift will be DOUBLED by our current matching grant. Please consider making a gift TODAY!