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Our Purpose Young Life believes that every kid has a right to know about Jesus Christ and to make a personal choice about a relationship with Him. We desire to build our Young Life ministry with prayer and relationships which would in turn impact kids, their families, and all those they come in contact with for Jesus. Our goal is to be an example of God’s love by reaching out to teens wherever they are with a message of acceptance, friendship and adventure.
Some facts about our Culture and Disabilities* There are 610 million people in the world with disabilities. If they represented a nation, it would be the world's third largest and would lead the world in homelessness and poverty. There are 54 million people in the U.S. with disabilities. Fifteen percent of the U.S. teen population has some form of disability. *Sources: World Health Report, U.S. Census Bureau
A Typical High School Student This student’s life is represented within these circles. As you can see it is filled with his family in the first circle, the second is filled by his friends, the third by activities that he participates in and lastly, by people he comes in contact with due to services that they provide. His circle looks much like yours and mine, full.
A High School Student With a Disability This student’s life is represented within these circles. As you can see, it is pretty empty. The student has his family, maybe one or two friends, no one in his circle of activities, and the only people that he comes into contact with are those he pays for services. His biggest circle of influence is filled with doctors, therapists and school aids. Young Life’s desire is to become an activity for this student which will in turn fill his friendship circle.
Our Approach Contact Work: Go Where Kids Are Get to know kids and parents 1. Special Olympics 2. Sports Programs 3. Tutoring in Classrooms 4. Helping in Lunch or Physical Education 5. Call on Phone 6. Go out for Ice Cream 7. Watch a Movie 8. Go to the Mall 9. Go out to Eat 10. Go Bowling The SIMPLEST things mean the world to our friends because of their intense isolation. Whatever you do with them will be the highlight of their week.
CLUB Club: Two Approaches 1.Inclusion Clubs- there are kids with disabilities in almost every high school, they just may not be easy to find! To include these new friends in your typical high school YL Club may mean adapting your skit and mixer a little, but apart from that it’s no different than having a few more kids at club. You can give a handful of typical high school students the opportunity to be unselfish and serve these new friends. 2.Capernaum Clubs- Many areas have schools that solely serve kids with disabilities, and some schools have students for whom a traditional YL Club may not be a good fit. Club for these students may look a little different. The pace may be a little slower. More leaders and helping hands are needed. These “buddies” can be high school friends, committee members or other members of the community. The outline of club is the same as any other YL club.
CAMP Camp: Three Approaches 1.Young Life Camp Inclusion Style- We bring many of our friends to Young Life camps each summer. We recommend a one to one ratio of buddies and campers. It takes some extra work, but we do everything that camp has to offer. We are blessed and the entire camp is touched. 2. Young Life Capernaum Camp- We offer several weeks across the country each summer that are geared toward our friends with disabilities and give “typical” high school youth the opportunity to serve. You may sign up for this week as you do for any other camp week and specify if you will be bringing Capernaum campers and leaders or campaigner campers and leaders. 2.Day Camp- We also offer a daytime only week of Camp for our friends who have already been to YL Camp several times, or may be older than high school age, and for our friends whose disabilities are too challenging for a week away at camp.
