On Thursday, November 7th, almost 300 guests 'interwove' with Youth Unlimited (YFC Toronto) for our 2024 Directors Dinner.
Our theme INTERWOVEN highlighted the life-changing connections we all have in participating in the "Big God Story" of seeing young people flourishing through Jesus's love and life-changing power.
Our Story-Weavers for the evening were Andrew Williams, former Board member, and Sarah Maat, one of our current YU interns. It was truly a joy and honour to celebrate 80 years of life-changing connections through the work of Youth Unlimited in the Greater Toronto Area.
But loneliness is not the end of the story, as our theme 'interwoven' invited us to consider how all of our stories are interconnected.
We shared the story of YU’s Lakeshore Soccer League which has been running for 11 years and serves 250 children and youth every summer. This league is a beautiful interweaving of church partnerships, volunteers, coaches, players, refs, and families all coming together to support young people in this affordable and accessible league.
Tim Huff, a 35-year YU veteran, shared about the launch of our Grand Central initiative, which will resource, inspire, and honour grandparents (and grand friends) to dynamically impact young people today. (Learn more at grand-central.ca)
Youth Unlimited’s Executive Director, Scott Moore, closed our time together by pointing us to YU's commitment to 'show up' among today's youth experiencing vulnerability to support them and care for them.
"...As we interweave our lives with those of our young people through long-term relationships and impactful programming, we see transformation. We see young people discover this Jesus who came into their mess – our mess – to be with them forever."
"Our invitation is for you to take another step in interweaving our stories for the sake of the youth of our city. Let’s partner together so we can reach more young people in more places with more impact each and every day."
This year, our General Fund, which sustains and drives forward the work of YU, has a budget of $811,500 and the Directors Dinner is YU's most significant fundraiser towards this fund.
Every dollar invested multiplies and reverberates into the lives of the over 3,000 young people Youth Unlimited serves each year.
"I can tell you that we believe deeply in the joy of generosity and it is our hope that partnering with Youth Unlimited financially is a gift to you as well."