The Whitworthian

Issue date: 10/9/07 Last Updated: 10/16/07

In West Central Spokane, one of the most poverty-stricken neighborhoods in Washington according to the Youth for Christ (YFC) Web site, the YFC youth center is making a world of difference for children and teenagers.

The youth center minsters to children and youths between the ages of 11 and 19. The center especially focuses its ministry between the hours of 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., which is the time during which most juvenile crimes are committed, according to the youth center's Web site.

"It's changed my life forever," youth center director Colleen Smith said.

She said she has learned a lot about family and community from the youths she has encountered.

Youth for Christ opened four years ago, and has been connected with Whitworth for about as long. Smith is a Whitworth alumna, and many of the volunteers working at YFC are Whitworth students.

Smith talked a lot about the poverty that is affecting the youths' lives in West Central Spokane.

She said every year YFC throws a Christmas party and hands out $35 gift cards to Wal-Mart. Many of the youths use the money to buy gifts for their families, because their parents can't afford to buy presents themselves, she said.

"You can drive right by not knowing it's here, but the reality is there are pockets of poverty all over Spokane," Smith said. "People are living in the most appalling living conditions."

Smith said students get comfortable too easily on the Whitworth campus, and they don't realize the poverty that is so near.

She said when she started volunteering, it completely changed what she thought about poverty.

"You cannot be a Christian and walk through this neighborhood unchanged," Smith said. "I don't mean you're not a Christian if you don't volunteer, but you have to at least be affected by it. Become interested."

Junior Melissa Stratton has volunteered at YFC for the past three years and said she encourages other students to do the same.

She said YFC always needs volunteers and is a good place to build relationships with people; not to just evangelize to them but to minister to them.

As part of their ministry, some YFC volunteers live in the YFC Ministry House in West Central Spokane, so they can minister to youth right in the neighborhood.

"My heart is in West Central," Stratton said. "I love that the YFC House is open for people in the neighborhood."

Stratton spoke about some of the lives she saw transformed, about youth overcoming shyness and anger issues and growing in maturity. She said some youth come to have real relationships with Jesus and have a real understanding of grace.

The YFC youth center's humble beginnings consisted of four kids meeting in a living room.

Now the youth center has grown so large that hundreds of youths come.

The center has video games, pool tables and computers for the youths' enjoyment. YFC also weekly hosts a program called City Life Club. During each meeting, the volunteers serve the youth homemade dinners and give a message to feed both stomachs and hearts.

Contact Sam Gregory at sam.gregory@whitworthian.com.

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