What is Youth Sponsorship?

Donating to Abbey’s Purple Winged Angels (APWA) a great way to support at-risk youth living who are living in foster care. When you make your tax deductible donation of any amount to sponsor a foster youth, your donation is earmarked to provide them tools/programs they need to thrive in relationships and live a life of purpose and be the highest contribution to society they can be! Your sponsorship donations go toward delivering one or more, of our proprietary programs to empower a young person living in the child welfare system and/or a foster child.

The Best Thing – Multi-Format Access

What’s best about our programs is that they are available in different formats which include,

• an on-line version for immediate use,
• hard copy with DVD, or
• participants can attend Abbey’s XtraOrdinary Youth Camp.

All of our proprietary programs are designed around consistent grounded scientific research. Our methods have been tested and verified as valid and reliable. When youth finish any of our programs, they have learned, and practiced critical pivotal skills which include self-regulation, self-control, and self-assertion. But we do not stop there. Youth have access to additional practices, learning modules, games, and opportunities to get their questions answered after completing any of our life changing programs.

We Offer Youth A Community Where They Know They Belong

What sets our programs apart from others is that we created a permanent place of belonging for every foster youth we serve. We embrace the overwhelming research that reveals that every human being needs to feel that they belong. This is likely one of the most challenging hurdles foster youth face.

Many of these young people are forced to change homes, neighborhoods, schools, friends, and communities without warning, and without having any control over their circumstances. We are proud that all youth we serve become a permanent life-long member of Abbey’s XtraOrdinary Youth Community. In fact, we encourage our youth to engage in training to become ambassadors and interns for Abbey’s XtraOrdinary Youth. As ambassadors or interns they experience the importance of giving back, leading, feeling a strong sense of belonging, gaining mastery of pivotal life skills, and realize their own self-worth.

Why is Sponsorship Important?

According to the United States Administration for Children and Families (2013), approximately 400,000 children and adolescents are in the foster care system. More than 20,000 youth age out of foster care each year. This means that they have to learn to meet their own needs, as they no longer will have their needs met by the state. Many foster youth become homeless. Many suffer from depression, and engage in self-medicating behaviors. Simply put, these young people become adults who are unable to make positive contributions to their communities. And many of them become parents without the skills or abilities to raise emotionally healthy children.

Did You Know… 50% of Children Are “At Risk Youth”

Did you know that almost half of the children living in the U.S are considered to have been “at-risk youth” during their critical years for developing positive self-images, and the pivotal skills they need to identify their goals, take the steps to reach their goals, and live their dreams? Many of these youth come from the foster care system and many more DO NOT!

An at-risk youth is a child, or adolescent who is less likely to transition successfully into adulthood. Success can include academic success and job readiness, as well as the ability to be financially independent. It can refer to the ability to become a positive member of society by avoiding a life of crime. At-risk youth are children and teens whose life circumstances do not provide the opportunities they need to develop the intellectual, creative, social, emotional, and physical skills needed to move them into productive, meaningful, joyful lives.

When young people do not reach their full potential it is harmful to them and the societies they live in, as well as the world. Our programs provide youth the guidance they need to reach their full potential and contribute the BEST of themselves to society. Your donation makes it possible for us to reach at-risk youth.

The Michael Faraday Story

Have you heard of Michael Faraday? You may not know who he is but every day of your life, you benefit from his work. The refrigerator that safely stores your food was possible because of Michael Faraday’s discovery of gas liquefaction and refrigeration. Michael Faraday invented the electric motor too, which allows the refrigerator to work. Every time you use an electric fan, an electric toothbrush, a washer machine, a dryer—for clothes or hair, a vacuum, or any other motorized device that makes everyday life easier, you can thank Michael Faraday.

Michael was Born September 22, 1791, in Newington, Surrey, England and even by today’s standards Michael would have been considered an ‘at-risk youth’. He grew up in extreme poverty. His father was a sickly man unable to work and earn money to feed and care for his family. Michael was educated until he was 13-years-old and then he went to work to provide for his family. Despite the hardships in his early life Michael become one of the most respected, and brilliant scientists of the world.

His work as a physicist and chemist whose many experiments led him to discover electromagnetic induction and he invented the electric motor. Michael’s journey from lower class to higher class society was not without challenges. He was not readily accepted by those in the higher class who were typically the one’s with the money, privilege, respect, and support to carry out expensive and dangerous experiments. These types of experiments were needed to make many of the discoveries that greatly improve the condition of life. If it were not for the kindness and acceptance of those who had privilege and supported Michael, we cannot know how long society would be waiting for another scientist to make his discoveries and deliver his inventions.

Your Sponsorship Changes the World

Who is the next Michael Faraday? Where will he or she come from? Who will support him or her on their journey? Perhaps your sponsorship will not support a future scientist, but instead move a young person into becoming a caregiver in their community—someone who nurtures your children or your children’s children. Someone who becomes a great teacher of love, kindness, respect, and care. Perhaps your sponsorship will produce the next Mother Theresa or Martin Luther King Jr. A person who nurtures the less fortunate, a person who stands for equality. A person who changes the world for the better. Really, Your Sponsorship Changes the World.

Thank you for your time, consideration and donation,

Dr. Kim