Tell me the prevailing
sentiments that occupy the minds of your young… and I will tell you what is to
be the character of the next generation.
– Edmund Burke
The cruelties and
obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and
outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is
already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement of danger.
It demands the qualities of youth.
– Robert F. Kennedy
I walked into the reception area at Springs Rescue Mission and saw a friend standing
there. Two overloaded boxes of canned food filled his arms. I relieved him of
one box and we began our walk across the parking lot to the warehouse. He
beamed when he said, “This is from my daughter’s birthday party over the
weekend. Sweet sixteen and she asked for her guests to bring canned food for
the people the Mission serves instead of gifts for her. Pretty awesome, isn’t
it?”
Yes, it is. We’ve benefited from dozens of such parties in
the last year. Reports of those donations never fail to make us smile – maybe not
as broadly as do the parents involved, but pretty close.
It is humbling to consider the contributions younger people
in our community have made to the Mission in recent months. It is even more
humbling to realize that those we serve, and the Mission, occupy such
significant space in the minds of so many youth in the Pikes Peak Region.
There are scores of youth-driven fundraisers to benefit the
neighbors we serve. There’s no way I can give credit to all of them. Not so
long ago two area high school wrestling teams from Pine Creek and Discovery
Canyon high schools made us the beneficiary of gate receipts from
a dual meet. Although the young men on the teams are fierce competitors on the
mat (a good number had qualified for the state meet), they came together to help
ensure that the Mission could care for families in need. A few months before ,
Rotary Medallion Champion Allie Morgan directed a gift in honor of her
achievement from area Rotary Clubs to the Mission. 
Youth and youth groups volunteer to serve the Mission in a
variety of ways, some so frequently that they know Mission staff by name. Sometimes
they plant, paint, rake, sort clothes in the warehouse, help set up and clean
up events, and so much more. They come from small churches and mega churches
and high schools and families. Sometimes they take on tasks that help us raise
funds, as Mackenzie did in learning and testing a new way to help us raise
money to purchase turkeys last holiday season. Again, naming each of them is
beyond the capacity of this blog. But in every case, when our younger friends
show up, special things happen. 
Spring always brings proms and graduations and weddings, and
thoughts of where all the time went in the lives of the kids we love. The Pikes
Peak Region and friends of the Mission can celebrate the fact that hundreds of
our youth show their character in being neighbors helping neighbors – a task which
often demands the qualities of youth, no matter what our age might be.
.
