ShareThisIt's amazing that over a week has passed already since we were a part of the Shine Conference which was put on by Celebration Church in Jacksonville.
I almost don't quite have the words to say that really explain how amazing not only the conference was but the connections we made in Jacksonville and the amazing relationships we've started to build with the incredible organizations down there working with homeless youth.
I want to thank Celebration again for the amazing opportunity to be a part of such a life changing event. Not only was the Shine conference an amazing opportunity for our organization but to say the conference was life changing would be an understatement. Shine 2011 is already in the works and I HIGHLY encourage you to not miss this amazing event! It's IMPOSSIBLE to not walk out of Shine without feeling closer to our Creator than you ever have before and being instilled with an incredible sense of worth and empowerment. Heck, I'm a guy...and 'I' felt like I could change the world after the Shine Conference! hint hint ..Celebration...a small guys section in the back of the church would be super cool! We hope to have the opportunity to come back to Shine and further our mission in Jacksonville of changing youth homelessness and child sex trafficking.
So now that you know that the Shine Conference is the best thing happening in Jacksonville let me tell you a little about our trip. Right now Jacksonville and the surrounding areas (NE Florida) according to the Department of Education last year had 8,042 homeless students enrolled in school. When the number for this year a tallied up sadly if the rest of the country is any indication those numbers will be much higher. Nationally in the last 2 years the number of homeless youth in our country have increased by 100%. This is literally a national catastrophe !
We visited with a number of organizations in Jacksonville that are making a huge impact with the homeless youth. But they need help, and a lot of it. So we have made the decision as an organization to launch Forsaken Generation Jacksonville (or Team Jacksonville). We've already begun the process and already have a team of over 20 people ready to create change in Jacksonville!
We visited with the following organizations, and the mission of Team Jacksonville will be to help these organizations to continue to impact and even increase the impact they are already making in their community. The organizations we visited are: Daniel Kids, The Sulzbacher Center, Trinity Rescue Mission, and Youth Crisis Center. The following organizations in Jacksonville also work with homeless youth, but unfortunately we didn't have time to visit with all of them. They are: Family Promise, City Rescue Mission, Community Connections, House of Angels, and Jasmyn.
What we discovered when we toured these shelters was nothing short of heartbreaking. Every shelter is filled to maximum capacity every night. Sulzbacher center for example told us that every night they have somewhere between 80 to 100 children staying at the shelter. What's even worse, there's a 1 month waiting list to get help. Sulzbacher was by far a model agency as far as we can see. They do their job VERY well, but as you can see they still need help. Each of the organizations that we visited are being stretched to their limits. They are doing as much as they can but they all need so much help.
If you visit our YouTube page, you can see the interviews I did with Jimmy Kelly of Daniel Kids and Jim Kilpatrick of Trinity Rescue Mission.
So what is Forsaken Generation going to do about it?
Well as I said previously we are launching Team Jacksonville. Team Jacksonville will be made up of a group of committed volunteers who are passionate about impacting child and youth homelessness in Jacksonville. If you are interested in being a part of this movement visit the Contact Us page on our website and submit your info!
What will Team Jacksonville do?
Well each shelter we visited has a very long list of items that are desperately needed. Because of a severe lack in adequate funding each of these shelters really need the support of the community to help the children, youth and families they are taking care of. Visit our blog page for a list of needs from each of these organizations.
Team Jacksonville will organize drives in their places of business, churches, schools, etc. to collect these items needed by the shelters.
We will work hard to pressure local officials in Jacksonville to begin to allocate more money into funding these organizations.
We are organizing numerous initiatives that will focus on raising awareness in Jacksonville. The community needs to know that there are over 8,000 homeless youth in NE Florida. They also need to know that child sex trafficking is not just a problem overseas but it's happening right in their backyard. One of the ways we will raise awareness is by teaming up with the Speaker's Bureau in Jacksonville. They are working very hard to give a face to youth homelessness.
We also are working on putting together a mentoring program for homeless youth as well at 'at risk' youth. We believe that it's very important to not only focus on helping the problem but also working to prevent the problem. We believe mentoring to be a strong tool in doing that. If you are interested in becoming a mentor to a child submit your information on our Contact Us page.
And lastly we have teamed up with the folks at Legends and Lyrics (a new show airing on PBS) and we are in the process of organizing a benefit concert in early fall in Jacksonville. Some of the biggest names in music will be coming to Jacksonville to show their support for youth homelessness. Stay tuned for more information on this event. Our organization will distribute the proceeds from the event to all of the organizations in Jacksonville that are working with homeless youth.
Our time in Jacksonville was incredible. We are excited at the opportunity that lies ahead of us. God is moving. The movement has already begun, and we believe the impact made in Jacksonville will sweep the entire nation.
Our goal is to show this Forsaken Generation that they are a Chosen Generation.
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