Bright Futures Spotlight
MARCH 2009
HOME PRINCE AND PRINCESS CONTEST The Torch of Life wants to help all at-risk youth, but we can't do it alone. We need your help. 'The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' -Matthew 25:40
ABOUT US
WHO IS AT RISK?
TORCH OF LIFE SPONSORS
EVENTS
CONTACT US
820 Elmwood Cr Noblesville, IN 46062
The Need...
As many as 15 million youth are at risk of not reaching productive adulthood falling prey to crime, drugs, and other problems that make it difficult to obtain an education or successfully enter the workforce.
Nearly 2 million children have at least one parent incarcerated in State or Federal prisons.
The number of babies born out of wedlock has increased more than six fold since 1960.
Children growing up in single-parent families and families with at least one incarcerated parent are more likely to perform poorly in school, drop out of school, engage in criminal activities, abuse alcohol and drugs, have children out of wedlock, and live in poverty.
More than 800,000 youth belong to gangs.
(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)
Torch of Life (TOL) is a not-for-profit organization that provides at-risk youth with products and services they would not normally be able to obtain. It is our vision to assist families and organizations in providing well-rounded physical, mental, and spiritual lives for at-risk youth. We work with other organizations within the community to identify needs in the lives of at-risk youth. TOL programs are designed with the therapeutic needs of the youth in mind.
Some of our programs include tutoring, sports involvement, and classes to encourage and expand personal talents. The Youth Connection Program also focuses on participation within the community to improve social and decision-making skills, to learn leadership, and to be involved with character-building experiences
At-risk youth benefit greatly through their involvement in the programs. They are given opportunities that will promote positive peer relationships. We encourage activities that help them to identify and build on their individual strengths. They learn to practice healthy behaviors and take on leadership roles; all of this builds self confidence and an appreciation of self and community.
What are we doing to help?
Torch of Life believes in investing in the early years to put children on track for
success. Children that are encouraged to explore, recognize, and develop their talents,
are more likely to mature in a more positive manner. Encouragement and guidance in adolescence moves youth towards productive adulthood.
Torch of life has developed several programs that will assist at-risk youth and their families in ways that will benefit them spiritually, mentally and physically.
In 2009 we opened the Youth Connection Program. This program assists at-risk youth in several ways. Torch of Life accepts requests for assistance for at-risk youth from other organizations and agencies in the community. We then screen these requests and assist in finding tutoring, sports involvement, and classes to encourage and expand personal talents. The program expects participation by the youth within the community in an effort to improve their social and decision-making skills, to learn leadership, and to be involved with character-building experiences.
Later this year we will be introducing the Age Out program. The Age-Out Program is developed to assist older children with transitional assistance. This assistance can be provided in the form of practical life training classes, occupational training, financial support, counseling, mentoring, or both.
Our goal is to assist at-risk youth to acquire the skills and the tools necessary to function and live independently, including the ability to maintain employment while holding them accountable.
Thank you to Torch of life’s Taste of Business sponsors:
NOBLESVILLE ATLETIC CLUB and NOBLE MARKETNG GROUP!
OUT OF FOSTER CARE,
INTO A HOMELESS SHELTER
Tyondra is 19. Her round cheeks are marked by deep dimples when she smiles. Her eyes often glance downward, shyly. On her neck, her nickname, Ty, is tattooed in curly script.
Ty went into foster care when she was a baby, because her mother was addicted to drugs. Ty lived in so many foster homes and institutions she lost count.
When she aged out at 18, Ty walked out of her foster home and into a homeless shelter. She stayed in shelters for the first year on her own, and in one of them she met Jamah.
Jamah is an orphan. Her family was killed in Liberia. The two girls with no one else clung to each other. Ty says she was with Jamah the night their options ran out.
"One night we had absolutely nowhere to go. We called almost every shelter," Ty recalls. "They were all full for our ages. I knew it was getting dark and I knew I didn't have no place to stay."
Ty remembered this low-roofed building, which overlooks the playground she spent time in as a child. And so, they climbed up there to sleep. It was hot and dark, and they were scared to be caught trespassing, and scared of the men who walked through the park.
"It felt like I hit rock bottom," she says. "When I was little I saw people sleeping on the streets, and I never understood because -- I just didn't understand. I mean, when I used to stay in shelters, I knew I was homeless. But when I had to sleep outside, I just knew -- my life is over. I was nobody."
Ty's story is not uncommon among foster kids who age out at 18. One out of seven of them will become homeless by the time they're 20. They're not ready to survive on their own at 18 years old.
(Guettler, 2008) Minisota.publicradio.org
Torch of Life Fall Festival
Community-Youth Connection
September 5, 2009
11:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M
White River Christian Church
1685 N. 10th Street
Noblesville, IN.
(This Festival is a Torch of Life event and is not a ministry of White River Christian Church).
The first annual Torch of Life Fall Festival will raise funds that will provide financial stability for our Youth Connection Program. This program will benefit at-risk youth with:
- Opportunities that promote positive peer relationships
- Emphasis on individual strengths
- Opportunities to practice healthy behaviors
- Empowerment to be leaders
- Challenges that build self-confidence
- Appreciation of and participation in community involvement projects