YSF - Youth Service Fund

To view the slideshow
The United Methodist Youth Service Fund (YSF) is more than just a drive for funds. It is a call for United Methodist Youth to become active lay members. It is one way in which youth can respond to the mission of our church and more importantly to the call of our Lord to care for His sheep. Why do we give? We give because Jesus Christ gave Himself fully, for all.

Holston has been among the top giving Annual Conferences for years. Year after year the youth of Holston have been successful in meeting their goal and awarding thousands of grant dollars to agencies that benefit youth. CONGRATS Holston youth -- you exceeded your $38,000 goal for 2007 by collecting $45,076.23 and are #1 in YSF giving in the denomination!!!! 

The goal for 2008 is $47,000, click here to see the most recent report of giving.

Where do your dollars go?

• 46-2/3 % goes to ministries which serve youth inside (1/2) and outside (1/2) the geographic bounds of the Holston Conference. These grants are awarded by the Conference Council on Youth Ministries.
• 30 % goes directly to The United Methodist Church's Division on Ministries with Young People to support ministries around the world which serve the needs of youth and children.
• 23-1/3 % stays with the Conference Council on Youth Ministries to aid in funding the administration of YSF and other youth ministries of the Holston Conference. Events like Senior and Junior High Assemblies, Youth in Mission, Worship Arts Ministry, and others are supported by your contributions.
  

You can contribute individually or through your church. 

Your youth group could do a fundraiser between now and the end of the year.  Some youth groups tithe (10%) to YSF when they are fundraising for other causes, e.g., for a mission trip or Resurrection.  Check-out these Fun-draising ideas:

You can contribute in honor or memory of someone, and we will provide notification to a person you indicate at the address you indicate.  Click here to download the Donor Form.

Checks should be payable to Youth Service Fund and mailed to:
Holston Conference Youth Ministries
Attn: Youth Service Fund
P.O. Box 2506
Johnson City, TN 37605

Thank you for your assistance with YSF and for your church's participation in this important mission opportunity.

---

Grant Awards

If your ministry benefits youth in the name of Jesus Christ and you would like to be considered for a YSF grant, applications are available through the Youth Ministries office.  The application deadline is usually around the end of October, and grants are determined by the Conference Council on Youth Ministries (CCYM) at its November meeting.  Grant awardees are notified in December.  The grant awards are paid out the following September.

Completed grant applications for 2009 grants must be received in the Youth Ministries office in Johnson City, TN, by October 21, 2008.



2007 In-Conference Grants

Appalachia Service Project, Johnson City, TN.  Utilizing youth volunteers and their accompanying adults, free home repairs are made to low- and very-low income families in Central Appalachia - Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.  Funds requested help purchase building materials needed to provide these families with home repair assistance.  $1,000

Bethlehem Center (United Methodist Neighborhood Centers, Inc.), Chattanooga, TN.  Offers a 7-week program in the summer with curriculum designed to help urban teens (ages 12-18) break or avoid patterns of this world and guide them into a lifestyle that is Christ-centered and develops the leader within.  $1,500

Camp Lookout, Rising Fawn, GA.  Offers Junior High Service Week to experience mission work, worship, fellowship, and recreation in a Christian community.  $1,500

Camp Wesley Woods, Townsend, TN.  Developing a cooler/safer, shaded riding arena for horseback campers.  An area used to keep horses will be converted to a shaded riding trail that campers can use.  The cooler area will greatly enhance the quality of life and work for the horses involved and offers safer footing.  Funds requested would be used to purchase material that youth groups will use to create this riding area.  $1,000

Jubilee Project, Sneedville, TN.  An inclusive, community based organization, initiated and guided by Christian values and relationships, that strives to improve, enrich, and encourage Hancock County youth, especially youth at-risk for poverty and destructive behavior.  Participants are offered a safe place for peer interaction and spiritual development, activities that build self-esteem, and career and college planning, helping youth in this area build productive lives.  $1,500

St. Elmo UMC, Chattanooga, TN.  Offers a program where middle and high school youth, ages 12-18 from African American, Euro-American, and Hispanic households are encouraged and empowered to grow in Christian community through participation in programming at the local, district, and conference levels.  $2,325

 

2007 Out-of-Conference Grants

Community Enabler Developer, Anniston, AL.  Serves approximately 100 at-risk African American and Hispanic students, ages 4-19, male and female, by assisting them in learning to work together and trust, help and share with each other, providing positive emotional expressions where students learn to express feelings in ways other than by using aggression or destructive behaviors, and provide a class for learning chess and other educational games.  $1,000

Grass-Roots Level Development Agency (GLEDA), Accra, Ghana.  Developing an innovative educational program that will prevent child abuse, violence and neglect, and to promote positive parenting, healthy families and homes where children and youth will be valued and loved in a sound Biblical foundation.  General Ghana Advance Country Code #001179A.  $1,000

Harvest of Hope, a Program of the Society of St. Andrew, Big Island, VA.  Involves youth in mission work through offering a camp experience of gleaning food from the field to feed hungry, educating youth about hunger in the U.S. and world, involving youth in Christian worship, engaging them in topics such as lifestyle issues, advocacy, Bible, and hunger, and challenging them to continued mission work in their home communities.  Advance Special #801600.  $1,000

Katrina Hurricane Relief through UMCOR, Gulf Coast, US.  Continued long-term effort to respond needs of people that remain affected by Hurricane Katrina.  UMCOR Advance #98253.  $1,825

McDowell Mission, Inc. Welch, WV.  In an area where decline in coal mining jobs has caused major poverty, volunteer labor through mission groups is used to help provide home repairs, operate a thrift store, and lead small groups, summer discipleship programs and worship services.  Also, "The Learning Center" is operated where the Word and Love of God is shared with children and youth through tutoring programs and books and school supplies are distributed.  $1,000

Youth Desk and Ministries, Arua, Uganda, .  Serve the material needs of Sudanese young people, food, water, and housing.  Many are orphans and street children and have taken refuge in Uganda as they're displaced by their country's civil war.  Advance Special #14123A.  $2,042

ZOE Ministry (Zimbabwe Orphans Endeavor) c/o North Carolina Conference UMC, Charlotte, NC.  In an area where AIDS has reached "pandemic" proportions, ZOE meets basic needs of orphans and other vulnerable children in Zimbabwe.  The agency provides food, clothing, medicine, school fees and supplies, as well as spiritual nurture to these youth and children.  A 2007 YSF grant will fund a youth camp for orphaned youth, grades 7 through high school.  80-90 orphans will enjoy several days of camp which bears similarity to conference youth events in the US.  $1,000

top