Love, Spaghetti, Health, & Shelter--Too Often Taken For Granted. . .

First off, I would like to share the very good news that one of our favorite volunteers is home from the hospital and enjoying his mom's home cookin'--and, especially, her spaghetti!  Because of this modest, young man's request for privacy at this time, I'll just leave it at that.

Actually, I can't just leave it at that, because there's a very eye-opening story here meant to be shared, so I'm going to sum it up without giving away many details:

I'm talking about somebody who is just out of his teens--and started doing what he's doing now while still in his teens.

He lives about an hour away from a big city and has been spending a lot of his time caring for his sick and elderly dad.  He is the primary caretaker.  However, he does take out a little down time when he can and will go to this big city for the purpose of finding fun things to do (e.g. concerts, movies, sporting events, etc.)--that is, this was his original purpose for visiting the city.

However, he has found a greater purpose that is more meaningful to him than all of those youthful pursuits put together, having discovered that there were several homeless youth in the city trying to survive on their own.

He has since spent most of his big city time doing what he can to provide for them--and even empower them to help themselves.

He now runs races through the streets of the city in order to raise funds.  It has been his habit to keep half the funds to be used locally and send the other half to Invisible Youth Network's headquarters.

Russell has tried to encourage him to keep 100% of the funds for the young people whom he has set out to help.  He will sometimes, but he just can't seem to put it out of his mind that the problem of homeless youth isn't just happening in that big city to where he goes.

You will find, when it comes to the homeless population, many will hide away in the shadows and trust few, if any, members of mainstream society due to being persecuted by them in the past.

There are others who have mustered up enough courage to go out to get what supplies they can--enough for both themselves and those hiding in the shadows.

How do they come by these supplies?

Sometimes, they find them in trash cans (food) and (other supplies) out on the curb to be picked up by the trash collectors.  At other times, they will shoplift.  Still other times, they will pay for the food and other survival supplies with money they've earned themselves through a combination of hustling (prostitution) and panhandling (until they get chased away or arrested).

Occasionally, they will actually find somebody with no hidden agenda who will donate food and survival supplies to them--just sees a need and wants to help.

Such a person is the young man of whom I'm now writing.

I mentioned that he has even gotten them participating in a positive activity to earn some money--and that is getting them to join him in running races.

They have gotten to be a regular sight as they run through the city.  Not only do they collect pledges in advance, but people also line the streets and toss coins to them.

Some even come up to them and hand them gift cards to stores and fast-food restaurants.

The only thing that this special young man hasn't been able to supply is shelter.  He can afford to listen to them, as listening is free, and he can afford to buy them food and supplies as he gets the money to do so.

However, most of these street kids sleep in parks and on rooftops when the weather is warm and dry.  At other times, many manage to find at least temporary shelter from the elements by staying for awhile in somebody's house or apartment.

Unfortunately, the majority of these people want something unsavory in return for the deed.

The weather gets very cold where this young man lives, and, this year, the cold has been more bitter and prolonged.

Just recently, he went to check on his street kids even though his chronic health problems were kicking in.  Perhaps, by buying them some coffee and other food in a 24 hour restaurant, he could give several of them an alternative warm spot to spend a few hours.

He never made it there.  Unable to drive a car, he gets to and from there by a combination of walking and riding his thumb.  He was found unconscious--passed out on the sidewalk--and taken to the hospital.  It was touch-and-go for quite awhile, but many prayers and loving thoughts were going out for him.

At this time, we who know and love him are celebrating his being home and eating spaghetti--but not forgetting those who have no home to go to. . .

I have so much more to share, but I'm going to limit it some, or I will never get this blog-entry done.

Things are "chuggin' right along" (as Uncle Kermit likes to say about his 83-years-young self and asking others if they are, too) at IYN, and I believe that 2010 is going to be a very positive year for us in a whole lot of ways!


As for myself, I've recently turned the ownership of our Care2 group over to Tj and have also (for now, anyway) stepped down from hosting there.  He's already doing an A+ job of making much-needed improvements re: this group, and this gives me more time to focus on other aspects of IYN, such as keeping this blog current (and, in other ways, getting the written word out about IYN); continuing to serve to the best of my abilities as IYN's Deputy Chairman of Public Relations (which involves the aforementioned plus more) along with finding ways to carry out my duties as such more efficiently; serving on our management team; and my latest endeavor:  starting a local chapter of IYN


At this time, the chapter website is a work-in-progress.  In some ways, it will always be such, as there will be some static parts to it, but there will also be changes to keep up with everything from the seasons to the latest news.  There is still a lot of construction work going on now, but I think it would be well worth your time to take a look--but don't make it your last look, as I'm, currently finishing unfinished articles, adding information,  and creating new pages (for starters).


I also have plans on taking a mentoring course from Michele.  In fact, I'm already enrolled but am waiting to get some other ducks in a line before I become an active student.  I hope to start doing my studies by sometime in February at the latest.

If you want to check out this free-of-charge course, you can find it listed on down the page, as I'm going to be posting the latest version of IYN's online directory at the end of this entry so that you can easily check out several of the many places where you can find vestiges of our mission in Cyberspace, and this directory includes a link to the course.

One more thing about Michele.  She has not only started a very active chapter in Puerto Rico, but she has also been the first person to create an IYN website (the one going with her chapter) in a foreign language (Spanish).  Click here to check it out!

As many of you know, we at IYN are trying to get Youth Outreach Day eventually recognized as a global event that takes place on the second Saturday of every October, so we are inviting people from all parts of the world to sign at least some--if not all--of the petitions we have circulating here in Cyberspace (which will be added to in time, no doubt).  

There are even some hard-copy petitions being circulated in "real life."  If anyone approaches you with one, please don't hesitate to sign.

Some petitions have an option of also leaving a comment as to why this is important to you.

Just your signature is sufficient, but a comment about why such a day of recognition and celebration of our youth would be a true blessing would give the petition you're signing a little more "OOMPH!"

One thing I'm doing involves my SuperPoke! Pet, Throw Rug (an adorable, little bunny rabbit).

At this time, I have her and her friends in a habitat that has two indoor scenes and two outdoor scenes, and they're still putting up Christmas decorations.  Among those Christmas decorations are the following:

brown gingerbread cookies, buttery gingerbread cookies, white snowflakes, pinkish-red snowflakes, mint-green snowflakes, and candy canes.  

For every ten signatures going on an online petition (starting with 150 at the original one through Care2 and with 10 at the other ones), another one of those special decorations will go up (sometimes, one-by-one and, at other times, several at once).

This habitat will be in place until President Obama has been in office for a year--after which a special celebration one will be put in place.  We hope by then to have collected at least 1000 signatures on at least one of the petitions--and all would be nice--so that we can send it/them on to the President.

Even when a petition has reached 1000 signatures, there's nothing wrong with collecting even MORE signatures on it.  That's one advantage of a Cyberspace petition:  It can keep on collecting signatures, even after it's reached its destination!

If you would like to check out Throw Rug's habitat from time to time, you can click on this link:

http://ainsleyjo.spp.com

The story behind this habitat is that Throw Rug participated in Youth Outreach Day last October at Peaceful Park.

While she was there, she got to make friends with some homeless youth and decided that she was going to stay in the park with them until 140 signatures were collected on the initial petition.  That took longer than anticipated, so she ended up just barely making it home in time for Christmas.

When she got home, she invited her friends (both old friends and her newfound homeless friends) to come to a Christmas party at her place.

From there, they went on a vacation together--but what the homeless kids didn't know was that the place where they were going was actually a new residence.  They would be staying on there for as long as they needed a roof over their heads!

Now, they are drawing out Christmas and still decorating their place.

However, they will be leaving there for a trip to see President Obama when he has been in office for a year and will be having a party in a very patriotic-looking habitat.

After this story plays out, Throw Rug will be put into another habitat--which might or might not have an IYN storyline behind it.

However, Throw Rug and I both endorse IYN and hope that, someday, this wonderful organization can bring in enough donations so that safe, happy, and healthy places to stay will become a reality for our kids.

In SuperPoke! Land we can create Happily Ever After endings to our stories--but that doesn't always reflect what's going on out in the real world. . .

Thanks for reading this far.  Just two more subjects to discuss until my next blog-entry.

The first one is including an invitation to sign our petitions, and the next one is posting our most current online directory. . .

These petitions give voice, visibility, and vision to homeless and/or otherwise at-risk youth.

Please sign any or all of them!!!

http://petitions.tigweb.org/enactyouthoutreachday

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/enact-youth-outreach-day

http://www.change.org/actions/view/enact_youth_outreach_day

Thanks, in advance, for making a positive difference!

______________________________________________

IYN Online Directory

Contact Information:

 
Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
invisibleyouth@gmail.com


Wayneho Kam
Deputy Chairman - Operations
wk13@duke.edu 

Where We Can Be Found:
 
Angels for Street Kids Chapter - 1,059
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43196194633&ref=mf
Change Org. - New
http://www.change.org/
Friends of Invisible Youth - 3,164
http://www.facebook.com/rhartsaw?ref=profile
Friends of Invisible Youth - 178
http://invisibleyouth.gaia.com
Helping Hands for IYN @ Care2 - 2,391
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/IYN
Invisible Youth Cause @ Facebook - 194
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/?m=7b39c83d
Invisible Youth @ Facebook - 1,121
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51667072778
Invisible Youth @ GAIA - 89
http://groups.gaia.com/homelessness
Invisible Youth @ Twitter - 65
http://twitter.com/invisibleyouth
Invisible Youth Member's Club - 299
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/iynmembersclub
Taking IT Global - 687
http://profiles.tigweb.org/TheChairman

 
Invisible Youth Network Online Campus:

Online Mentor Training - 27
http://invisibleyouthonlinetrai.groups.live.com/

Positive Youth Development - 11
http://positiveyouthdevelopment.groups.live.com/

Starting Your  Own Chapter - 15
http://startingyourownchapter.groups.live.com/
Youth Internship Program - 7
http://youthinternshipprogram.groups.live.com/

Resources / Online programs:

 
Online Management Team - 8 http://managementteam.groups.live.com/

Online Partnership Community - 35
http://invisibleyouthonlinecomm.groups.live.com/

 
Special Projects:
 
Senior Advocates of San Diego, California
http://www.orgsites.com/ca/senioradvocates

Website Information:

 
Child Abuse Services
http://childabuse.services.officelive.com/default.htm 

IYN Parent Resources 
http://iynparentresources.webs.com/
Invisible Youth Mentoring
http://www.iynmentoring.webs.com/
Invisible Youth Resource Center
ttp://www.orgsites.com/ca/invisibleyouth/index.html

Invisible Youth Website
http://www.InvisibleYouthNetwork.net  

 
Total Member's Count: 9,350
 
Updated: January 6, 2010
 

Lamps, Lamps, and MORE Lamps!!!

Operation Lamp Post is doing very well!  I've just added a third way to get another lamp post in the park--which I'm hoping to have filled with 25 lamp posts before long.

After 25 lamp posts have been added, I'm going to switch habitats to a holiday-themed one.   Optimistically, I've already gone shopping for some really cool Halloween decorations and hope to have a Halloween-themed habitat up for Throw Rug and friends really soon!  

I will include the 25 lamp posts in that habitat as a celebration!


Although no more lamp posts will be added to the habitat after that, I hope that the kinds of outreach actions earning these lamp posts will continue!

Here are the three ways that lamp posts can be earned:

1. For every $100 total of donations sent to our headquarters.  This would be a total of donations, so it wouldn't all have to come from one person.
2. For every ten TLC packages sent to us.  It doesn't matter what size.  It can be a small package (like a large envelope filled with gift cards to national fast-food and/or store chains), or it could be anywhere from a small box to a huge crate of items listed on our wish list.  When a total of ten arrive at our headquarters, another one of the 25 lamp posts I have waiting in the wings will be placed in the park.
3. Finally, the newest way for another one of the lamp posts to make its appearance:  for every ten signatures to the petition that will be going to President Obama asking him to declare the second Saturday of every October to be Youth Outreach Day.  You can read more about this--as well as finding a link leading to the petition by going here. 

 There are times when Russell does extra-special things for the street kids in his area (San Diego, CA) such as organizing a cook-out in Balboa Park or taking them to a restaurant (generally, about ten kids at a time, give or take, re: going to a restaurant).

Passers-by will see this going on, stop by to ask questions, and will also get into the spirit of things.  They will offer to give Russell money to help with the mission, and Russell will ask them to give it directly to the kids, as they will know what they need the most.  

There are more kids who stay in seclusion than come out in the open at this time, and those kids who are more out in public view will buy food, personal care items, etc. to take to the ones in hiding.

These kinds of donations don't even arrive at our headquarters, and their amount can only be estimated, and I'll place one or more lamp posts to recognize those gifts using the estimates given to me by Russell.

As of this writing (a little after noon, Anderson, Indiana time, on October 22, 2009), 14 of the 25 lamp posts have already been placed in the park, and they're just beautiful!

I can hardly wait to collect all 25 and place them in a more cheerful scene!!!

To take a look at pictures of how the park looked with no lamp posts and how the park looks at the time of this writing, please click on these two links...

No Lamp Posts

Lamp Posts In Park At A Little After Noon On 10/22/09.

Fall Festival Stuff!

Below, find something I wrote over at Facebook (copied and pasted here) along with a funny childhood memory I wrote about when I was discussing fall festivals.

I think I'll start with the funny story first--and, after reading it, you will be so pulled in that getting you to go on reading the rest of what I've written will be...........pun definitely intended...............a cake walk!

P.S. Speaking of fall festivals and games, let me tell you about something funny that happened when I was in first grade and at a fall festival at my school (Fall Creek Heights Elementary--Go Yellow Jackets!!!)...

We had a fall festival each year in October, and all of the classrooms were turned into places to play carnival games.

The gym became the place to gather to eat, attend a raffle later, and--at least, that particular year--to have a cake walk.

We had a young custodian and bus driver (not my bus--I just knew him from his custodian activities) named John Ent, and I had the biggest crush on him. I mean, it must have been the mother of ALL crushes!

Of course, he was married with a new baby, but--at six years old--that didn't matter to me.

He was around 21 and looked like a cross between Johnny Cash and Elvis--to me, anyway.

Whenever he appeared on the scene, I could hardly focus on what I was doing.

Seeing him even distracted me from eating lunch--which is a miracle! LOL

His wife and baby usually joined him in the lunchroom, but I wasn't jealous or anything like that. I wasn't planning on stealing him away from her. It was just the same kind of crush that I had on Pat Boone, Dick Clark, Robert Stack, etc. Like the person takes my breath away!

Anyway, it was fall festival night, and we were having this cake walk.

For anybody not knowing what a cake walk is, this is when there are squares with numbers on them placed on the floor in a circle, and everybody walks around in a circle while music plays.

When the music stops, the announcer calls out a number, and, if you're standing on it, you get to go pick out a cake.

So, I was in the cake walk circle with my folks (and, if I remember right, my aunt and cousin), and we were walking around to the music.

That is, we were until I noticed John Ent in the circle with his wife, folks, sister, and other family members, and I stopped dead in my tracks and just stood there staring at him with a goofy look on my face.

People were urging me to keep the circle moving, but I was oblivious to them.

My folks finally had to take me out of the circle and put me on the bleachers so that the game could go on!

Fall festivals bring smiles to the faces of children--and Youth Outreach Day
is about bringing smiles to the faces of children, teens, and young
adults who could really use something to smile about!

We don't need another paid holiday--even if there might be some people
who want another one--so getting another paid holiday isn't what this
is all about.

I'm pretty certain that employers think that there are enough paid
holidays hanging around, even if one more (minimum) might thrill
employees to no end.



Therefore, any business owner who might be hesitant to put another
holiday on the calendar due to fearing one more day of paying employees
to stay home and relax can rest assured that this isn't what we're
after.

Invisible Youth Network has created a petition that will be sent to
President Obama after we get at least 1000 signatures on it--and the
more the merrier, so please share what I've written here with your own
network of friends.

Although I'm going to share two direct links to our website with
you--the home page and the page about the proposal for a holiday called
Youth Outreach Day--I want to tell you something about our vision for
YO-Day (That's, of course, a more casual way of saying Youth Outreach
Day that I came up with, as it might look cool on certain things such
as t-shirts--and it just sounds cool and fits into small spaces well).

First off the time:

We want the second Saturday of every October to be officially recognized as Youth Outreach Day.

Now for the definition:

Although we want our young people remembered and cared for 24/7 and
365, this is a special day set aside for a special recognition and
celebration of our young people--and, especially, those who are having
a rough way to go (everything from being taunted/bullied in school,
abused at home, not fitting in due to disabilities and/or poverty,
fill-in-the-blank-here-wit

h-more-options to those who actually have ended up trying to survive out on the streets).

Youth Outreach Day will be a great time to hold yard sales, do thons,
have bake sales/bazaars, wash cars, etc. to raise funds to help out
needy kids in your own communities and/or donate to places such as
Invisible Youth Network.

It's also a time of hands-on celebrating, if you live in an area such
as San Diego, Chicago, Toronto, etc. where there are homeless youth
hanging out. Get with friends to do a cook-out, games, etc. that will
be street-kid-friendly so that they can make some happy childhood/youth
memories and--when these get-togethers get noticed--even end up with
places to live!

It might be a good time to send out e-mails and/or snail-mails to
people in high places informing them of the need--as well as a time for
planning what to do the rest of the year to make certain that our young
people won't be forgotten and left to fall through the cracks of
society.

Without any further ado, here's the link to the homepage of our
website. Please go there at least--and, hopefully, end up exploring the
entire website to try to find a place where you might fit into this
special mission...

http://invisibleyouthnetwork.net

The following is the link to the page where it talks about getting
Youth Outreach Day recognized as a regular holiday--as in even finding
it on calendars from such places as Hallmark and American
Greetings!--and, at the bottom of that page, there's a link that will
take you to the petition...

http://invisibleyouthnetwork.net/EnactYouthOutreachDay.aspx

In the short time we've had our petition up, we have collected (as of
this writing) 29 signatures from not only citizens of the USA but,
also, various other parts of the world!

Remember that number (29) when you go to sign it, because that will
show you where we were on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at almost ten in
the morning Anderson, Indiana time (which is almost seven in the
morning San Diego, California time). If you go there and see a higher
number (even if it's only a number or so higher), you can celebrate
with us!

And, by signing it, you can make the number get higher as we press on
towards our goal of 1000 signatures minimum to present to President
Obama!!!

Now onto other IYN business when I share a letter written by our
Founder & Chairman, Russell T. Hartsaw. If you're currently a
student, teacher, staff member, etc. at a high school or college,
please noise what he's written around...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello!

Are you familiar with our organization (Invisible Youth Network), which
was officially launched on March 26, 2007 for the purpose of reaching
out to homeless youth. If not, you might want to become familiar with
us by visiting our main website:

http://invisibleyouthnetwork.net

At this time, we are encourage teens and young adults to work together
with faculty/staff at their high school and college campuses in the
establishment of chapters of the Invisible Youth Network, which will
get your students involved in worthwhile civic activities.

There is no fee to pay for starting a chapter, and we will give you
whatever support you will need to both get started and maintain a
chapter, along with being available to answer any questions you might
have, now and later.

It's been our experience in the past that we can count on our youth to
bring a lot of insight and enthusiasm into our organization, so we're
anxious to hear back from you so that we can get started.

The Invisible Youth Network supports the leaders of tomorrow by partnering with them today!

Teens can bring refreshing insights into our organization. What we
forget is that some of the greatest minds in the world were teens when
they came up with their great ideas.

So, shouldn't youth as young people have a voice in issues that
directly concern them? They will not mysteriously learn how to fulfill
their civic duties the day they turn 18. They are a large presence in
our community and accordingly, they should have a voice in its
decision-making. And, shouldn't adults recognize that the tradition of
making decisions for youth without youth has failed and that their
ideas and solutions need to be taken seriously?

In addition Youth are 28% of the United States population, are active
participants in community activities, spend more than $150 billion a
year and are 100% of the future.

Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
Invisible Youth Network

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Invisible Youth Network is a grass roots project. It began with Russell
and me talking together about starting something like this.

Russell has actually experienced firsthand what it's like to be an
invisible youth after his parents mysteriously disappeared when he was
nine years old and he ended up a ward of the state of Florida.

He has had a long and, too often, painful journey to get to where he is
today and has an unquenchable passion for helping today's invisible
youth to avoid some of the mistakes he has made/things that he has gone
through along the way.

I grew up just the opposite--one of the privileged ones blessed with a
loving, stable family, several good friends, and the feeling of having
a place that I could truly call home. Even if what we do at IYN can't
completely bring about this kind of experience for our young people, we
want them to come as close as possible to being so blessed.

Since those early days back when 2007 was new (Russell and I met online
on January 15, 2007 when we were both writing for a discussion site
called Duno), and he and I talked into the wee hours of the morning
about our dreams, this organization of our dreams was officially named
and launched on March 26, 2007, and, even before then, we had joined up
with so many great people who shared our dream.

Several of you are right here on Facebook with us, and it would be hard
to tag all of you--but feel free to leave your comments here with this
note so that others can get to know you.

We also hope that, if you're reading about IYN for the first time, that you'll end up making it a household word of your own!

Perhaps, there will come a time when IYN is no longer needed, and that
will be a glorious day! Until then--when even one child is at-risk of
fading into invisibility--we would really like to be out there reaching
out to him/her.

Russell and I won't be around forever--and neither will you--so the
torch needs to keep on being passed from one generation to another
until no young person ever again gets left behind for any reason!!!

Blessings!
Ainsley Jo Phillips
Co-Founder
Invisible Youth Network

A few more matters before closing...

The picture used to illustrate this note isn't an original from me but,
instead, one I found on The Internet that I thought would fit the bill
quite well. I would like to share the link to the blog-entry where it
was posted. I don't know if the blogger is the original owner of the
picture, either. It's probably just a stock photo. However, that person
deserves to be credited for having used it before I have...

Home Decor Village News--Family Fall Fun

http://decorvillage.wordpress.com/2007/11/05/family-fall-fun/

Along those same lines, I've been promising a friend (whom I met at
another site, but she's here, too) to let others know about the various
things that she does, so I'm going to close this by introducing you to
Kimberly Lovell...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739715785

These are some fan clubs here at Facebook for some of her enterprises...

Whimsy Originals

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739715785#/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/Whimsy-Originals-Online/91994818588?ref=sgm

Patches' Pet Pals

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739715785#/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/Patches-Pet-Pals/91529371044

Crash Maps Accident Consulting

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739715785#/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/Crash-Maps-Consulting/91192027686?ref=sgm

And I couldn't sign off after all of that fanfare without giving two
thumbs-up (because I was only born with two thumbs) to Bickel's Uptown
Cafe, which also has a fan club here. Do drop over there to drool--and,
if you're in the area--drop into the real McCoy to eat!!!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739715785#/pages/Anderson-IN/Bickels-Uptown-Cafe/97786413973?ref=ts

I think I've bent your Cyber-ears enough for now! Thanks for hanging with me!

And Now For Operation Lamp Post!!!

 Note:  If complete photographs don't show up in this blog entry, you can use the links I've provided at the bottom of the page to go to the album where they were originally placed...


Old--But Good--Business...

The photo I'm showing here was how Throw Rug's habitat looked on Saturday, October 10, 2009 in celebration of a very new and special holiday called Youth Outreach Day.

I shared it in the Super Poke! Pets forum along with the following message...





The photo I'm showing here was how Throw Rug's habitat looked on Saturday, October 10, 2009 in celebration of a very new and special holiday called Youth Outreach Day.

Invisible Youth Network (http://invisibleyouthnetwork.net) came up with the idea of Youth Outreach Day for the purpose of getting more people to think about the needs of homeless and/or otherwise at-risk youth.

Of course, this is something we need to be doing everyday and not just for one day per year. But there still isn't anything wrong with having a day set aside where more people are thinking about the issues related to invisible youth and how to give them visibility so that they don't fall through the cracks of society.

Our goal is to have this as a widely-recognized official holiday by or before the second Saturday in October of 2010. We're not talking about a paid holiday off from the workplace, but just something right up there with St. Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day, etc.

YO-Day is still at a grass roots level, but a lot has taken place on this day even though it isn't official yet.

Some examples of events have been: the placement of collection boxes in stores for the purpose of collecting donations; a run-a-thon to raise money; delicious sack lunches being passed out to homeless kids; crafts being made and sold to raise funds; people writing to elected officials to draw their attention to this situation; and games and a cook-out being held in a park where several street kids camp out--which resulted in not only food and fun for them but, also, drew positive responses from onlookers who ended up taking several of them shopping, giving them their own spending cash, and even taking some of them into their homes!

Please join me in writing to President Obama and other more locally-elected officials (e.g. mayor, town council, governor) to request that the second Saturday of each October be officially proclaimed as Youth Outreach Day!

I hope that you'll also join me in writing to places such as Hallmark and American Greetings to get them to put out cards and other products with a Youth Outreach Day theme. Be sure to give them information about this holiday and that it falls on the second Saturday in October.

Finally, I hope that next October will find Youth-Outreach-Day-related items in the SPP store!

To get more of a feel for what kinds of things people can do to celebrate, go to a blog-entry I wrote in anticipation of our first one...

http://mhhj.blogspot.com/2009/09/youth-outreach-day-will-be-saturday.html

Thanks for reading this and, hopefully, responding!

Blessings!
Ainsley Jo Phillips :)
Throw Rug's Human
and
Co-Founder of Invisible Youth Network

And Now For The New Business--To Be More Specific:  Operation Lamp Post!!!

Throw Rug and I are going to use this latest habitat to kick off Operation Lamp Post.


Homeless Kids 10/11/09

Whenever cash donations total up to another $100, a lamp post will be added to this habitat.

Whenever IYN Headquarters five more packages of wish list items (whether they're small packages like large envelopes full of gift cards or huges packages filled with all kinds of food, clothing, etc., they will count as one package apiece), a lamp post will also be added.

After 25 lamp posts have been added, Throw Rug and her friends will be placed in a much more cheery habitat for a holiday celebration!!!  Will it be Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas?

Hopefully, it will be by or before one of these three holidays when we reach this goal...

Youth Outreach Day Habitat

Homeless Kids/Operation Lamp Post Habitat 

Youth Outreach Day Will Be Saturday, October 10, 2009 All Day!!!

Attention Please!!!

Invisible Youth Network has declared Saturday, October 10, 2009 as Youth Outreach Day--and hopes to make this a regular event scheduled for the second Saturday in October in the years ahead. So, what does this mean to you, the reader? In short... How might you participate in this event that is designed to reach out to homeless and/or otherwise at-risk youth? There are many things one could do when it comes to participating in something like this, and you can do one of more of what I'm about to suggest--and/or even think of some of your own. A few suggestions to get you started (some of which can be started right on October 10, and others that will need some pre-October 10 preparation):

• Prayer and/or positive thoughts is always a great starting point--but it's just a starting point, as we're expected to put wings on our prayers and to convert our positive thoughts into positive actions.
• Once you have studied this information in order to know more about what this event is all about and its possibilities, write to your elected officials (everybody from the Mayor/Town Council right up to The President of The United States--or, if you're from another country, whomever the powers-that-be are there) asking that they might declare the second Saturday in October as Youth Outreach Day--not as a holiday where people get paid leave from work but just as one of those holidays that appear on calendars such as Groundhog Day, Sweetest Day, etc.
• While you're contacting people, you might also include your local media and some of your favorite celebrities asking them if they would get involved in some way when it comes to celebrating this special day.
• Become familiar with our mission by visiting our website and checking out our online directory in order to learn about at least some of the places online where IYN is represented. Perhaps, you might find some groups and/or activities of which you might want to be a part. You might also like to check out our volunteer page and see what is needed there that might be a match for you and/or somebody you know.
  
• October 10 would be a great day for businesses to give a percentage of what they take in that day to Invisible Youth Network and/or any local agencies/churches/etc. who are doing something positive for homeless and/or otherwise at-risk babies, children, teens, and young adults. If you are a business owner, you might consider doing this. If you don't own a business, you can still discuss this with those who own/manage the restaurants, stores, and other establishments in order to encourage them to do this.
• At the time of this writing (September 19), we have a growing number of chapters/affiliates of IYN, one of which is out of a high school. You can find some of them here and here. We would like to encourage more high schools to start chapters by contacting us to find out the requirements (which are, actually, quite simple). What would be wonderful would be for several high schools to start chapters and, then, have their first order of business (fundraising) to occur on Youth Outreach Day with some suggestions being (but not limited to): bake sale, car wash, walk-a-thon, talent show, showing classic movies (complete with popcorn) in the school auditorium for a small admission fee, having a carnival.
• Get with your neighbors and have a yard sale with all money taken in going to IYN.
• If you're a popular musician, have a concert where at least part of your profits will go to IYN.
• Churches and other organizations could host a very meaningful dining experience in their fellowship halls. For a donation of five dollars, each diner gets a place at a table where each spot includes an envelope, which is to remain unopened until the servers come around to take orders. At this time, each envelope is opened, and a card with a number on it is taken out and placed into some kind of device to hold it up. Only the servers know what the numbers stand for (a number of numbers stand for the same thing) and will start serving the diners accordingly. Some people will get a single item such as a piece of fruit, box of raisins, or small package of oyster crackers along with an empty styrofoam cup for getting served water. Other people will get sandwich bags containing seven potato chips and their styrofoam cups. A handful of people will get lucky and be served a steak dinner with all of the trimmings along with a bottomless cup of their chosen soft beverage. The majority of people will get a styrofoam cup of water--and a cardboard with the same picture on both sides to be placed in what held their numbers: a nasty-looking dumpster with the words "Now serving dinner!" written above it. The five dollar donations would, of course, go to IYN. Each dinner guest would be given at least one of our pamphlets to take home.
• You could get with some friends or go alone to shop for items listed on our wish list. You could either do this on October 10 and, then, mail what you've bought to IYN headquarters the following Monday or else you could be doing your shopping in the days leading up to October 10 on which you go to the post office early to mail off the TLC packages.
• If you know where homeless youth spend time (if you live in, or near, a community that has them), get with a group of people and have a cookout with them as the guests of honor.

I hope that these suggestions will get you started on your celebration of Youth Outreach Day. Feel free to drop us an e-mail to share how you ended up spending Saturday, October 10, 2009!