Gary Benz

Gary Benz has been elected to serve on the Board of Directors for Youth Life Foundation of Tennessee.

Gary is the President and CEO of USImprints.com, one of Nashville Chamber of Commerce’s Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies for the last two years. He previously served on the board at the Maryland Farms YMCA . Gary is an active member of Bethel World Outreach Center where he serves as head usher and one of the leaders in their Men’s Ministries. Gary, a Nashville native, is married to Diane Benz and together they have 3 children and one grandchild.

Gary and Diane has been a long-time supporter of Youth Life Learning Center and a sponsor of the annual Youth Life Golf Classic.

Raymond Monroe

Raymond Monroe will be joining the Board of Directors for Youth Life Foundation of Tennessee. Ray is a highly accomplished IT management executive with over 30 years experience leading complex IT project initiatives in the healthcare vertical. He currently serves as an Assistant Vice President at HCA Information Technology and Services, responsible for the delivery of hospital-based technology solutions across the HCA enterprise.

He graduated with honors from the University of Missouri in St. Louis (UMSL) with a BS/BA degree in Information Systems Management. At UMSL he was the recipient of the prestigious Emery C. Turner Award for Outstanding Minority Student. Prior to joining HCA in 1986, Ray worked over 12 years as a Medical Technologist, specializing in pediatric procedures.

Ray’s commitment to the Nashville community is evident through his involvement in organizations and board service, including EEOG, Bethlehem Centers, The Museum of African American Music Art and Culture, The 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee, Metro Human Relations Commissioner, and The HCA Foundation. Ray is also a recipient of HCA’s highest award for community service, the Phil Patton Caring for the Community Award.

He is married to the former Darla Annette McLemore. He also has two sons, Damon LaRay and Andre Dion.

Ray Monroe is a wonderful addition to the Youth Life Foundation of Tennessee Board of Directors. He is a strong advocate for our mission, well influential in the Nashville community, and brings a wealth of experience in the area of youth development.

Chelsea Esquibel and YLLC Kids

Chelsea Esquibel, a Brentwood Academy senior, was interviewed on WTN about her activities as the 2010 Miss National Teenager for Tennessee and particularly about her involvement with Youth Life Learning Centers. Listen to the 10 minute interview.

More about Chelsea as a volunteer at YLLC and the non-profit organization she started.

Kristina Greco & Francis Mazer with Eric O.

It takes commitment, dedication, and self-sacrifice to be a teacher. And when summer comes, it’s time for teachers to take a well-deserved break. Then there some teachers who just take it to another level. Kristina Greco and Frances Mazer are two Metro Nashville Public School Teachers who spent the month of June volunteering at the 2010 Youth Life Summer Camp.

Frances Mazer is a first grade teacher at the Julia Green Elementary School in the South Nashville. Eric O. began at Julia Green and in the YLLC after-school program as a Kindergartner in 2008. He was way behind the other students, just beginning to learn his ABCs. He started behind and was playing catch up all the way. Throughout year two, Frances, his first grade teacher, and YLLC staff persistently worked with Eric. He made consistent progress and by the end on first grade was ready to move on — well, nearly ready. Francis volunteered at the 2010 YLLC Summer Camp two times a week to help Eric get ready to enter the second grade and wound up tutoring a reading group with Eric and three other children.

Kristina Greco teaches fifth grade I.T. Creswell Arts Magnet Middle School. She found YLLC on the internet and volunteered to help in the Summer Camp. Even after the month of camp, Kristina wasn’t done. She came over to the West YLLC several times to work with YLLC teacher, Lindsay Daly, conducting YLLC pre-school assessment testing.

These to MNPS teacher are truly Champions of Compassion.

Chelsea Esquibel and YLLC kids

Chelsea Esquibel is a junior attending Brentwood Academy, a cross-country track athlete, a junior varsity swimmer, a Sunday School teacher at Bethel World Outreach Center, and a weekly volunteer at the Hillside Youth Life Learning Center. In March 2010 she was also crowned Miss Tennessee National Teenager. She will represent Tennessee at the America’s National Teenager Scholarship Pageant in Philadelphia this summer. Her goal is to become an elementary school teacher in a third world country.

Imagine how excited the kids at the Hillside Youth Life Learning Center were when they found out that “their own” Miss Chelsea had become Miss Tennessee Teenager 2010!

Chelsea is the founder of Chelsea’s World: Changing Generations Through Christ. In June Chelsea’s World will be publishing it’s first Coloring Activity Book for elementary students entitled Believing in Yourself.  Chelsea will be promoting the  book at her public appearances as Miss Tennessee National Teenager. A portion of the proceeds from the book go to support Youth Life Learning Centers.

This past March I was crowned Miss Tennessee National Teenager! It has been a wonderful experience and God has truly blessed me with an amazing opportunity to serve him and change lives! My primary goal is to show people God’s love for them. This year I will be promoting Youth Life Learning Center. YLLC is a foundation in Nashville working with inter city children! I volunteer there every Friday. I have been doing this for almost a year, and truly love it!

Learn more about Chelsea and her work with Youth Life Learning Centers at have Chelsea’s website.

]]> http://yllc.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/champions-of-compassion-joshua-jamison/ Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:01:51 +0000 YLLC http://yllc.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/champions-of-compassion-joshua-jamison/ We frequently say that volunteering can make a real difference in the life of a child. Here’s one example:

Fernando M., a fourth grader at Cockrill Elementary, has been a part of the West Youth Life Learning Center after-school program since he was a kindergartner.

Joshua Jamison is a graphic artist at Salem Communications working on Christ Community  Music (CCM) and Townhall magazines. Joshua was moving and decided to donate a very nice set of art pencils to the Life Centers.

Joshua Jamison & Fernando

Fernando had had a great week with regard to his academic and character goals, and being the aspiring artist, Lindsay Daly (YLLC teacher at West) made sure the drawing set found its way to Fernando.

As a way of saying, “Thank you,” Fernando created a drawing for his benefactor and (at Lindsay’s insistence) wrote a letter to go with his artwork. The fourth grader began putting the pencil set to use, cranking out one sketch after another, sending them to Joshua along with the written note mandated by his teacher. Soon Joshua began reciprocating with his own sketches and notes. Before long Fernando’s little wire-ringed notebook was filling up with pictures but was also falling apart. Then one day Joshua showed up with a professional art sketch book for Fernando. The two have begun meeting periodically to compare their recent works. Fernando also gets some instruction and encouragement from his mentor.

Joshua sketch of Fernando M. with note (see quote below

The YLLC teachers at West, always looking for ways to motivate kids, have collaborated with Fernando’s public school teacher to design a prize for their young artist. If Fernando maintains high marks on attention and turns in all his school work on time, he wins a trip to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts with Joshua Jamison.

There is an amazing part to this story, though not so amazing for YLLC teachers because they see it all the time. It is that Fernando’s interaction with a graphic-artist mentor has had a positive affect on his school work, attention, and behavior. Showing kids that you care and inspiring in them with hope that they can fulfill their dreams — it is truly life-changing investment.

(note under the sketch of Fernando) The important thing to remember is that even when we have little or are little, Jesus can use us to do great and might things… I know God has awesome plans for your life. Let him use you…

– Joshua Jamison

Dr. Sweeney first heard about Youth Life Learning Centers at a YLLC sponsored breakfast. Tony Boselli, All-American at USC and 9-time NFL All-Pro with the Jacksonville Jaguars, passionately described how his foundation had started a Youth Life Learning Center in Jacksonville, FL.

“I was looking for the right cause to sponsor,” say Dr. Sweeney. “The motto at our office  (180 Chiropractic in Cool Springs) is ‘Treat the Cause, not Just the Symptom.’ That is why I like Youth Life Learning Centers and why supporting their efforts is such a natural fit for us. We are both trying to do the same thing – treat the cause, not just the symptom.”

Dr. Ben Sweeney

This year Dr. Sweeney got involved with the annual Life Tree, a program that connects community donors with kids at the Life Centers. First, Dr. Sweeny decorated the office Christmas tree with the names of Life Center kids. Then he trained his staff to answer questions from patients coming into the office. He sent out an e-mail blast and a print mailer to all his patients, friends, and associates about the Life Tree program.

“We got started a little late with the idea last year, but we were able to sponsor a dozen kids. Next year we are going to do it a lot bigger. We plan to offer a package of a free x-rays, exam, and report of finding to everyone who sponsors a child. It’s about a $240 value.”

In January Dr. Sweeney came to a Youth Life Learning Center with a model of the human spine in hand to talk to the kids about biology, carrying heavy book bags, and pursuing their dreams.

Dr. Ben Sweeney’s has been serving Middle Tennessee patients for five years. His office, 180 Chiropractic Wellness Center, is located in the Cool Springs area at 4091 Mallory Lane Ste. 114.

Champions of Compassion @ YOUTH LIFE LEARNING CENTERS

Besides being long-time regular contributors to Youth Life Learning Centers (YLLC), David and Sandy Houston have over the years turned personal giving into a fine art. Their process is both passionate and deliberate, evidenced by detail giving records that span their 33 years of marriage. Recently, Walt Walker sat down with David to talk about their perspective on giving in general and giving to YLLC in particular.

WW: You and Sandy have been consistent givers to Youth Life Learning Centers. How and why did you start giving to YLLC?

David Houston

David: We began supporting the Life Centers around 2003, not long after we moved to the Nashville area. We first heard about YLLC through our church, Bethel World Outreach Center in Brentwood. I think there was only one Life Center in Nashville then, and it had been in operation for a year or two. As soon as we heard about the Life Centers, we knew that it would be included in our giving. They were impacting underprivileged and under-resourced children in way that equipped them with life-long skills and values. The parable about teaching the art of fishing rather that merely handing out fish certainly applied. All those aspects made Youth Life Learning Center fit the profile of the kind of thing we like to support.

WW: You and Sandy seem to be very deliberate and methodical about your giving. I’m sure you get a lot of funding appeals.

David: Yes, we try to be more proactive than reactive in our giving. I don’t respond to pressure or to pleading. Things like that do not move me. It’s not that we never give to appeals or to needs as they arise, but generally we make long-term giving decision about the kinds of things we want to accomplish and look for organizations that fit into those categories.

WW: There a so many good causes, and all of them have financial needs. Don’t you have a hard time saying no to requests?

David: Sandy and I give to a lot of things. At the same time, we have a pretty tight filter when it comes to giving decisions. We have on occasion quit giving to organizations that we didn’t feel were doing the best job with the money. And then there are the organizations that call me several times a year. Though I have never given to them, they’ll probably call me again this year, and I will again politely decline.

We try to be very strategic about where we give our money. At the beginning of each year, we set our goals — the percentage to church, to missions and missionaries, to compassion ministries, etc. There are a lot of great organizations that we do not support primarily because they just don’t fit our giving priorities. If we were giving reactively or simply responding to the latest or the most passionate appeal, I think saying no would be a lot more difficult.

WW: When you get requests or see needs that fit your giving priorities, how do you and Sandy decide which to support? Is it relationships, a process, or simply feeling led by God to give?

David: I am pretty deliberate. I have my percentages, my categories, and my little system for tracking gifts. Sandy is a lot more spontaneous and extremely generous. She got that from her parents and grandparents. Actually, those two approaches work well together.

Let me give you a recent example of the spontaneous and intuitive side of our process. We had been considering giving to help a young couple attempting to adopt a child. Sandy woke up one morning with a specific amount to give, an amount larger than either of us had been considering. When I called the husband to talk about the gift, he too thought it was more than they needed. Rather that debating categories and percentages with Sandy, I just went with her intuition. We just gave the larger amount. Two days later I got a call back from the husband. When he told his wife about the gift, she broke down and cried. Adoptions can be more expensive than expected. The intuition-driven (or Spirit-led) gift turned out the exact amount – to the dollar.

WW: You have been giving this way for a long time. It would seem that the impact of your giving could be measured not only by your generosity but also by your consistency.

David: Absolutely. Even if you can’t give large amounts, giving in a consistent and focused way enables you to feel like you are at least making a dent in the causes you are supporting. Sometimes that means making long-term commitments to an organization or an individual missionary. We’ve kept records of our giving over the 33 years we have been married, even through the years when we couldn’t give that much. It is encouraging to us to feel we have made some impact in the few causes we have supported.

WW: So, your giving priorities have remained consistent through all those years?

David: Yes, for the most part, but they are beginning to change. In the past a primary emphasis of our giving was to youth through the financial support of campus ministers. We still do that, but over the last few years we have begun to focus our missions giving more towards unreached people-groups. We also have become more sensitive to balancing missions with charity. In the past our giving was mostly to missions. However, the older I get, the more I am moved to support compassion ministries.

WW: That would explain your commitment of the ongoing support of Youth Life Learning Centers.

David: Exactly.

• David Houston has served as a minister for over three decades. He and his wife, Sandy, planted and pastored churches in Florida and California from 1978 to 2002. In 2002 they moved to Nashville to directed a church planting and pastoral training school for the Every Nation family of churches. Today David is certified in Coaching & Church Consulting, and travels worldwide training church leadership teams in strategic planning. David and Sandy are the parents of four children, Elizabeth, Jonathan, Rachel, and Gabriel. Together they periodically conduct seminars on marriage, parenting, and pastoral ministry.