We are so blessed to have met some of our future leaders.  Believe it or not, some of the young people who are graduating this year, looking for jobs, and getting ready for college, will be our leaders in the future.  YTIA is determined to be instrumental in ensuring the success of our youth.  We gave out "Gifts for Grads" this year but, equally as important, we also gave each young person a "G.A.P. Packet".  The "G.A.P. Packet" contains useful information, among which was a Voter Registration Card.  We hope to encourage our young people to become responsible, involved, and community-aware.  CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2013!

On Saturday, May 4th, I picked up a couple of sleepy kids (who are in foster care) "very, very early" in the morning, or at least so I heard as we drove to our designated site.  They had said that they wanted to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity but they never realized that they would have to get up soooooo early.  There was a little bit of grumbling about not being able to sleep in on Saturday.  By 7:45 a.m., we arrived at our location and things got interesting.  We went to our orientation and after a few minutes all thoughts of how sleepy they were went away.  We got to use tools we'd never used before, and really got our exercise.  By the end of the day, those grumpy kids had decided that they really liked helping out (especially since we met the homeowner) and even asked "when are we coming back?"  Music to my ears!  We are going back, at least once a month, during the summer.  Kids have energy to spare and really do like giving to others.  Good life lesson.