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2010 Soup Sunday Recap

Youth Villages Soup Sunday 2010 was a big success. Thanks to all of you who came out in support of our mentoring program!

Soup Sunday Winners

Congratulations to the winners in the following categories and thanks to all the wonderful restaurants who helped make Soup Sunday a great event today!

- Spirit Award: B.B. King’s & Itta Bena
- Best Specialty Item: Central BBQ (BBQ Nachos)
- Best Bread: Dixie Café (Homemade Rolls)
- Best Dessert: Draper’s Catering (Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce)
- Best Seafood Gumbo: Tug’s (with Shrimp, Crawfish and Andouille Sausage)
- Best Soup: Rafferty’s (Cream of Potato Soup with Bacon)

We so appreciate your support and hope you had a great time if you joined us today at FedExForum. If you didn't make it, be sure to mark it on your calendar next year. We'd love to see you at Soup Sunday 2011!

Soup Sunday Preview - Food with Class Vocational Program

Learn about Food with Class, a Youth Villages vocational program that teaches kids valuable skills for working in the food industry and the responsibilities that come with having a job and doing it well.

The program is profiled in today's edition of The Commercial Appeal - "Youth Villages cooking class is teaching life skills as well."

Come and try their potato soup and all the other wonderful treats available at Soup Sunday, Feb. 28 at FedExForum. Learn more at youthvillages.org. We hope to see you there.

Soup Sunday Preview - Artisan Bread from L'École Culinaire

Ryan Luttrell of L'École Culinaire gives you a preview of some of the artisan bread that will be available at Youth Villages Soup Sunday, Feb. 28 at FedExForum. To see the full list of participating restaurants, purchase tickets or just learn more about Soup Sunday, visit youthvillages.org.

Soup Sunday Preview - Chocolate Fondue from The Melting Pot

Youth Villages Soup Sunday is just a few weeks away. Some of the best restaurants in Memphis and the Mid-South will serve up their favorite soup, bread, desserts and other delicacies to benefit our mentoring program Feb. 28 at FedExForum in Memphis.

Steve Evers of The Melting Pot, who also serves as a Youth Villages mentor, previews what his restaurant is offering at Soup Sunday – chocolate fondue. Tickets and more information available at youthvillages.org.

Mary: A Former Foster Kid Gives Back in Adulthood

Mary Lee, a business development specialist at Youth Villages, was recently profiled on ABC 24 Eyewitness News in Memphis.

Mary grew up in foster care and now works to help kids in the system find forever families so they’ll always have a home, even in adulthood.

Read Mary's story at this link.

Be a hero for kids this holiday season

Holiday Heroes program provides gifts;
holiday cards support mentoring

The holiday season is a particularly difficult time for our children. Many can't go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas because of family problems or because they have no family at all.

"We want the children to experience joy every day," said Peter Abell, assistant director of development. "But holidays are especially emotional times for children in residential or foster care. Our Holiday Heroes let them know that someone is thinking about them."

Youth Villages ensures every child in our care receives holiday gifts, largely through the support of generous companies, organizations and individuals in our communities who donate money to help. You can help by signing up to be a Holiday Hero.

You can also help children at Youth Villages by purchasing holiday cards. Money raised through the sale of these cards supports Youth Villages' mentoring program. Your contributions enable Youth Villages to reach out and help thousands of children. In fact, your support enables Youth Villages to help more than 15,000 kids this year alone.

Learn about Youth Villages' impact in the 2009 Program Report, "Success in Black and White," being distributed this month.

The Winning Attitude

Like so many children taken into state custody because of neglect, Fred developed behavioral problems, coming to Youth Villages for foster care and residential services.

Youth Villages believes children are raised best by families. Our Intensive In-home counselors reunited Fred with his Aunt Shirley and assisted as they became a family through adoption.

This spring, Fred’s Youth Villages counselor was there with the family when Fred addressed his senior class as valedictorian. At Mississippi State University on an academic scholarship this fall, he’s also on the football team.

“He’s been an inspiration to me,” his aunt says.

He’s an inspiration to all of us.

Read more success stories in the Youth Villages 2009 Program Report: Success in Black and White.

Youth Villages loses great friend

The children, young people and staff of Youth Villages are mourning the death of philanthropist Clarence Day, a supporter of the organization since it began in 1986. Day died at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis. Day, who was 82, was fatally injured in an automobile accident.

"Mr. Day was a member of the Youth Villages family," CEO Patrick W. Lawler said. "He constantly challenged us to look ahead, to do more to help more children and young people. He proved that one person with an unwavering commitment can make a really big difference for children. He will be greatly missed."

Day's grants to Youth Villages touched many different projects and programs at Youth Villages; his challenge grants spurred construction of the Youth Villages Girls Center for Intensive Residential Treatment and the Operations Center. He was a co-investor for Youth Villages in the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Growth Capital Aggregation Pilot. The initiative helped Youth Villages secure $40 million to allow the organization to help 50 percent more young people over the next five years.

But Day's greatest legacy may be the Youth Villages Transitional Living program, which helps former foster children as they move into adulthood. The program, which has become a national model for providing home and community-based support for young people who age out of state custody, began in 1999 through a grant from The Day Foundation. Day continued to support the program in Tennessee and assist its expansion to other states. A $1 million donation in 2009 allowed Youth Villages to offer Transitional Living help to young people in North Carolina for the first time.

Since it began, the Youth Villages Transitional Living program has helped more than 3,000 young people transition to adulthood in Tennessee, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Georgia and Texas. Counselors in the program help young people find housing, continue their education, seek and keep employment and learn independent life skills.

"Current and former foster children in the United States have lost a unique and powerful advocate for their well-being and success in life," Lawler said. "Youth Villages has lost a dear friend, tenacious counsel and generous supporter.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to Mr. Day's family, his amazing granddaughter, Natasha Davis, who worked as a counselor and later as a business development specialist at Youth Villages, and the many others whose lives were touched by this great, generous man."