Wil Reynolds

A fresh coat of paint in the shelter, and a story on how your donations help me do great for our young people and our staff.

A month ago, I took a half day off work to paint a room at the shelter, and as another board member and I painted, we heard stories, we met the staff, and we saw greatness in our young people.

The residents

While I painted the room with a new coat of paint, in an attempt to brighten up our spaces, a young man came in and asked..."What are yall doing?".  We responded that we're just painting a room to try to freshen up the space, make it cleaner, next thing you know he picked up a brush...and he started painting. We talked for 15 minutes, we painted, he didn't know me, and I didn't know him.  What he saw was people who took off work to beautify a place and said, I want to be part of helping.  These are the kinds of young people we serve, they want to lend a hand, make things better in this world for others, but we first have to help them, help them to see their goodness, help them be safe. That's why we are here.

The staff

I met with 4 staff members while there from facilities and maintenance, to youth outreach, to fundraising. This is a team focused on a goal, they deal with tough things, from helping people deal with violence at home / on our streets to talking with staffers who have had to perform CPR, on young people coming in off the streets who might have been victims of drug abuse, violence, etc. It stopped me in my tracks to image those days, the work these folks put in and how I gotta do everything I can to lift up people like that. I also have been fortunate enough to hear stories of amazing resilience, college graduations, new jobs, and even one of our youth that started a small business this year, who at one point were in the shelter with no where else to go. That's why we are here. To amplify the work of the staff. The people who make these things possible.

With the increase in gun violence in our city we've seen more youth turning to our shelter as a safe place.

Over the 13 years I've been doing this (rained 2x, snowed 2x) I'm hoping for mild :) - I've always been safe, we are in an enclosed courtyard at a church in the city, with police outside...I hope you join me, someone has to help me repaint these walls :)