The mission of the Down Syndrome Association of Greater St. Louis is to serve, support and celebrate the lives of all individuals with Down syndrome and their families, through every stage of life. The pillar of the organization is family support from the moment that a family receives notice that their unborn child may have Down syndrome through the end of the loved one’s life – and even beyond.
St. Francis Community Services (SFCS), a ministry of Catholic Charities of St. Louis, received a YouthBridge YEP STL! grant the first time they applied. YEP STL!
When Marian and Larry McCord’s teenage son, Chad, took his life in 2004, they mourned his passing but also worried about the next family to experience “a living hell,” says Marian. “Actually, at first, I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out, but eventually I realized that the things I’d learned through all of it had the potential to help someone else.”
The YEP (Youth Engaged in Philanthropy) STL!, a partnership between YouthBridge and First Bank, was recently recognized with an Innovation in Philanthropy award by the St. Louis Business Journal.
For 100 years now, the Center for Hearing and Speech has been helping to connect people with others through programs that empower communication. In its 100th year, the Center was awarded a YouthBridge YEP STL! Grant towards hearing and vision screenings for students in St. Louis Public Schools.
There’s a stigma attached to the homeless, but not everyone is to blame for their situation. COVID-19 has shown us how tenuous our security can be and how one crisis can become a disaster.
Of the many effects of the Coronavirus crisis, food security has been one of its major victims. In the last few years, we had seen child hunger drop to one in six children in America. With the pandemic, that number has gone back up to one in four.
Paul Spearing admits that he was knocked off his seat the first time he met with the YouthBridge YEP (Youth Engaged in Philanthropy) committee.
“Many parents come to us worried that their dreams for their child will not come true – that they won’t be able to share milestones such as high school graduation, marriage, starting a career,” he says. “But as we’re able to break through to their child, they begin to have hope for the future.”
YEP STL! shows we can still work together (but separately!) to serve our community. On April 5th, YEP STL! presented their 2020 grant awards, totaling $10,000, to seven organizations.
Each week, hundreds of volunteers experience the adventure of reading with about 10,000 preschoolers across the St. Louis region, as part of Ready Readers’ mission to prepare children entering Kindergarten in low-income communities with the skills to be ready to read.
HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis, the region’s only children’s museum dedicated solely to health education. HealthWorks! is a 2019 YouthBridge YEP (Youth Engaged in Philanthropy) grant recipient.
Evidenced by the name, Angels’ Arms has a deep admiration for foster parents. “They welcome these children with open arms and assure them that this is their home for as long as needed – no matter what,” says Wilfong. “We provide the homes, but they offer the security a displaced child so desperately needs…an angel looking out for them until their forever home.”
YEP STL! (Youth Engaged in Philanthropy) presented grant awards totaling $10,000 to nine nonprofit organizations from the Greater St. Louis area.
YEP (Youth Engaged in Philanthropy) STL is a YouthBridge-led program introducing area high school students to the world of philanthropy.
It was all hands on deck on October 6, as YEP (Youth Engaged in Philanthropy) participants joined with employees from their sponsor, First Bank, for a day of service at Kingdom House.
Now that St. Louis kids are back at school, we want to highlight a few programs that help them learn, grow, and succeed.
First Bank, a family-owned, privately-held bank headquartered in St. Louis, has long seen the value in supporting the communities in which they serve.
Through YEP STL!, high school students from across a range of school districts and backgrounds come together to learn about philanthropy.
We checked in on the crew at YEP STL (Youth Engaged in Philanthropy) at one of their recent meetings, and found them hard at work evaluating grant proposals.