Joel's Place: Live and Unplugged: The April Alumni Challenge is over!

Friday, May 1, 2015

The April Alumni Challenge is over!

There are some weeks when I have three or four ideas about what I want to write about for this blog...this is not one of those weeks. First, allow me to take care of some housekeeping:

The April Alumni Challenge is finished. Thank you to everyone who contributed and allowed it to be so successful. How successful? I will announce the numbers at our BBQ tomorrow, May 2nd from noon to 2pm at Joel's Place. This is an open invitation to you all to stop by, whether you gave in April or not. We would love to see you. The kiddos are welcome as well since we will not have youth at JP until 3pm.
The Annual Walk for Charity happens next Friday evening. If you are interested in walking with the Joel's Place team or would just like to give towards a good cause (us)...take a look at our homepage through this link.

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Why do we fundraise? Why even bother gathering donations or making big pushes like the April event? There are two significant pieces to that answer.

First: Fairbanks has seen a few for profit youth centers over the years. It is hard to keep them open. If we were to try balancing our budget solely through earned income (i.e. ride sessions, ride shop sales, building rentals, concerts and memberships) each two-hour ride session would need to generate around $200. If we had ten riders that would mean charging them $20 per session. Can you guess how many teenage skateboarders, bikers and scooters would be able to afford that rate? Not very many. Charging $7 per session reduces our number of riders by half so charging $20 would put us out of business...which we want to avoid.
Second: Fundraising is good for us and the community and our kids. If someone approached us with millions of dollars for an endowment that met our entire budget...I would gladly thank them and accept. But then I would continue raising funds within the community. What we are doing here is too big for the Joel's Place staff and Board by themselves. Building assets within high-risk youth takes time and energy and money that is larger than any one person or group of people. I want the staff to know that they are not alone in caring for these kids. I want our youth to know that there are members of the community who find them a worthwhile investment. I want this community to be building up young people instead of degrading and discarding them because that is a significant marker of communal health. A person's heart follows their money or their money follows their heart...either way they will end up in the same place. Every check that we receive...every deposit that we make...every dollar that comes in is another partner who is pouring resources into kids who are on the edge of crisis and deciding how to deal with it.

Thanks to everyone who partnered with us this past month. We deeply appreciate you. I hope to see you at the BBQ tomorrow and hear your stories about what Joel's Place has meant to you over the years.

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Giving

If you would like to become a financial partner with us and support the work of Joel's Place, here's how:

1.) To make an online donation:

2.)Mail us a check at P.O. Box 83584, Fairbanks, AK 99708

Or

3.)Call our front desk at 452-2621 with your credit card information. Our official hours are Mon- Fri, 12pm-6pm , but there is usually someone by the phones from 8am on.

And

4.) You can link your Fred Meyer Rewards card to Joel's Place at this link. Every purchase on your card increases the Fred Meyer Foundation's annual donations to our organization.

Thank you for your encouragement and support.

From the Staff

Leah Byam, Program Assistant

On Sunday after Church a group of us went to Subway to eat lunch. When we get in line it's very busy, so we wait patiently in line. As I'm waiting in line I see CS, a young man who has been coming to Joel's Place for a very long time. He's working behind the counter. He's assertive, polite, taking peoples orders, and going on to the next costumer giving them kindness and the same professional service. As I watch him from afar my eye's tear up. I know his past. I've walked with him on so many journeys. I love this kid so much, I am so so so proud of him. As I get closer he see's me and his face lights up. We were able to talk. He tells me that he just graduated with his high school degree, that he's still saving up, he will be going to Hawaii as planned in September to work. I was able to tell him, How proud I am of Him, and I meant it in every sense of the word.