Please click on the link below to see the invite:

2nd Annual Fundraising Dinner Invitation

It was a great summer in the studio. The Upper Room served 20 White Center and Seattle teens from Southwest Youth and Family Services and Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission in addition to the teenagers from the neighborhood who participate in our Saturday program. The recording studio has provided quite a learning experience for us and we look forward to being able to leverage this incredible resource in ways that will bless the youth in our community. More on that later….

**check our photo gallery for Upper Room pictures from the summer!

AAA Sewing and Vacuum on 1st Ave South in Seattle is a family owned business that has been serving our community for just about as long as I can remember. Last year, the owner of the store, Jeff Belvill, asked me if I thought any of our teens would be interested in a sewing class/camp and if so, AAA wanted to be creative in making such a thing happen. Wow. I knew that there were some middle school girls who expressed a huge interest in fashion design so Jeff and the folks at AAA pulled together the teachers and the resources needed to offer a once a week, 3 hour-long course for middle schoolers and did their own version of Project Runway! It ran for 6 weeks during the summer and it was incredible. The kids loved it! Every week they would come back and show us what they created!

AAA did it again this summer! Katie Russell and her middle schoolers from Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission summer camp were there every week learning and creating together, sharing in this experience afforded to us because people like Jeff and the teachers and the rest of the AAA staff knew that they have something special, important and downright cool to offer to the community and found a way to do so. I’m in awe of this example of adding assets to a community simply by teaching what you know and sharing what you have with others. Amazing, isn’t it?
Pat Thompson

**Pictures posted on the photos page.

This year’s block party was a huge success.  Hotdogs on the grill. Incredible entertainment from local artists.  Big bouncer toys including a humungous 75 ft. obstacle course.  Social service agencies including the White Center CDA, SWYFS, Child Care Resources, The Way Out, Mount View Elementary PTA, Open Arms all present to connect with people in the neighborhood and lend volunteer support making sure that this event was useful, relevant, fun and efficient.  Churches like The Cross Church and Mount View Presbyterian bringing resources and volunteers to set up and take down and do EVERYTHING in between.   Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission there, as always, to help us be Christ’s hands, feet and heart because they share in our desire to serve White Center children, youth and families with excellence.  People and youth from the neighborhood willing to loan their equipment and talent and muscle and heart to the Party.  And finally, World Vision; supplying 1350 backpacks filled with school supplies and 500 bags filled with personal care items, bags valued at no less than $50 each, for our families, loving kids with us in this very significant and meaningful way.  Thank you seems inadequate but all of us at the YES Foundation feel a profound sense of gratitude as we consider the privilege it is to work hand in hand with our partners to pull off a celebration like the one we had on 12th Ave on Friday!

Pat Thompson

**Pictures from the Block Party are on the photos page. Pictures by Keilah Fanene, Pat Thompson and Tom Slattery

Do you ever purchase books or download music from Amazon.com? If from time to time you do, please consider coming here first and clicking through to Amazon through our donate page. When you place an order with Amazon, after clicking through the YES Foundation website Amazon link, YES receives a small percentage of your purchase.

So if you are looking to buy new electronics, get back to school supplies, want to prepare for upcoming birthdays or are even planning in advance for Christmas gifts, consider checking out the latest YES news here and then click through to Amazon through our site.

Over the summer, the kids who are part of the Major Taylor Project were given an opportunity to earn a bike. They participated in a class taught by our friends at Cascade Bicycle Club where they learned about the mechanics of a bike and what all of the parts of a bicycle are; they also learned the ins and outs of bike maintenance and the tools that you need, how to build a bike and how to refurbish an older bike. There was also more to learn about bike safety and being “bike smart”. Used bikes that have been donated to the program were used for the students on which to learn and practice their additional bike skills. At the end of the course, after faithful attendance and participation, our students were able to take the bike that they had worked on home with them.

Yesterday, Joe (one of the kids), rode by the church on his new-earned bike! He stopped and I asked, “Where are you going?” He said he was going to work! I thought of how many rides to work I have given to kids who missed a bus, who’s car broke down,again, or who’s ride fell through and here is Joe…using an opportunity like Earn a Bike to get to his job. I wonder if he felt accomplished or a little more independent. I’ll ask him next time he rides by! Pat Thompson

**click on the Photos page to find pictures from the Earn A Bike Program.

Back to School Block Party is coming. Food. Music. Games. Bouncers. Backpacks. Fun.
2009 Block Party Flyer

This year’s Jack Thompson Sports Camps marked our 5th year of partnership with Run to WIn and Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission in offering these sports camps to our neighborhood children. The kids love those 3 days of learning and running and laughing and running and scoring and running! I talked to a group of children today who were still excited because at the Jack Thompson camps they could learn soccer from Mr. Koa in the mornings and in the afternoons, they could learn how to run patterns from a few of the Evergreen High School football players! Meanwhile, the girls from the Evergreen High School Volleyball team headed up the volleyball camp and a few of the athletes from Evergreen’s tennis team taught tennis! For kids like Andrew and Isaiah and Delaney, it was all Hoop Time!

Pat Thompson

***Check out the pictures on the photos page. Pictures by Alex Collier and Mindy Lynn Litton

They did it.  And they were impressive. 207 miles.  The smiles were ear to ear, the feeling of accomplishment was palpable.  Watching the group ride in together took my breath away, I truly felt God’s favor just being able to witness that kind of joy!  Definitely a summer highlight!  Thank you Ed, Danielle, Dan and all of the rest of the folks at Cascade Bicycle Club!  Also, thanks to Bethany Tate.  Teacher, coach, mentor, trusted adult in the lives of hundreds of White Center teens…she’s the best.

Pat Thompson

Check out the photos from the finish.  You’ll see.

This weekend is the Cascade Bicycle Club’s Seattle to Portland Ride and four of our teenagers will be making the trip with a larger group from the Cascade bike club! I asked one of my young friends how he was feeling about the ride and he said that he was excited but also a bit nervous. I think it’s amazing that Fabian and his friends have decided to push the limits a little and do something out of their comfort zone. What a great way to spend the weekend! Doing something you never dreamed you’d ever do! What I can’t wait for is the fall when he returns to school and the satisfaction he will feel when people ask, “What did you do this summer?”…

The YES Foundation and Cascade have a common vision about all kids having access and opportunity to ride bikes. Seems simple doesn’t it? However, we have been asking the question, “How do we create a bicycle riding culture in White Center?” for years. It seems serendipitous that Cascade Bicycle Club would launch the Major Taylor Project in White Center. The stated mission for this project is: Creating a multicultural bicycling community where teenagers have equal opportunity to spend time outdoors and on a bicycle. The YES Foundation is thrilled to be its host here in the neighborhood! About 12 - 13 kids participated in the weekly rides in late spring. The club continues to meet during the summer. You can’t imagine how exciting it is for us to watch the kids ride out of the church parking lot every Monday afternoon. Excited for the new ways that they are encountering their own neighborhood. Excited for the sense of independence they seem to be gaining every week. Excited for the ways they are paying attention to their own health issues. Excited for the feeling they have about becoming a different kind of steward of their environment. Really excited about the relationships they are forming with Dan, Danielle and Ed, the people who are leading their weekly rides. Pretty much just flat excited.

Pat Thompson