This past February, I applied for a grant for my program "Discovering You!"© through an organization called Youth In Philanthropy Encouraging Excellence or YIPEE! As stated on their website -YIPEE is a program for high school juniors and seniors, who are graduates of Youth Leadership Toledo, where among other things, they learn about community needs and the elements of thoughtful giving. The goal is to build a foundation for a lifelong commitment to leadership, volunteerism and philanthropy. Students meet twice a month from August to May to identify problems facing youth in the community, raise money to award in grants through donations and fundraisers, review grants designed to solve the issues, and allocate money to not-for-profit organizations offering solutions" - http://www.leadershiptoledo.org/yipee.shtml So the young adults involved in YIPEE had a vested interest in each of the recipients of the grants, because of their involvement in both raising and allocating the funds.
On May 7th, Jill Nehrig of the University YMCA and I accepted a YIPEE grant to support my program "Discovering YOU!"©. I was honored and thrilled to receive the recognition and support from this group of young people, knowing the funds will go towards continuing my program through the YMCA after school programs.
A very special thank you to all those who helped me develop and implement "Discovering YOU!© and to the YIPEE students who raised and awarded our grant. I'm grateful that my program will continue forward and touch the lives of more youth in Northwest Ohio.
