An Important Ministry Update from Andrew and Deanna Cauthen
Dear Friends,
Many of you know about the ongoing work that Deanna and I are doing with the youth in our community for the past two years. Some have been praying with us as we contemplated formalizing this work into a nonprofit and providing organized services to the youth in this community.
After much thought and prayer, Deanna and I are pleased to announced that we have formed the Great Young Minds (GYM) Foundation, a nonprofit organization that ministers to young people by providing spiritual enrichment, supplemental meals and educational resources, career and livelihood skills, and leadership development.
Over the past 28 months, we have been ministering to about 23 kids and their families. It started and continues very organically; these kids, ages 6-19, just show up at our front door. And as we’ve gotten to know them, we’ve discovered that many have very complicated and critical needs.
If you would like to partner with us to help with some of these needs , here are some suggestions.
First, Deanna and I are desperately in need of your prayers. This work is very time-consuming and sometimes draining, so pray that we have the bandwidth and resources to “to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). Also, pray that generational curses in the lives of these children and their families will be broken.
You also can partner with us by donating money for food and recreational materials.
With school out for the summer, we now find ourselves faced with providing food for several of these children on a daily basis. Many of these children depend on the meals from school, and the summer break means that they don’t have access to those meals.
We started an Amazon wish list that includes foods, as well as board games, arts and crafts supplies, sports equipment, and educational items that the neighborhood kids need. The list can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/PWCPR26K6IVH?ref_=wl_share. .
We also provide activities during the summer break including our recent neighborhood summer kick-off party that took place on Sunday, June 7.
Andrew and I are also planning to take a group of the youths on a trip to Florida the first weekend in August. For most of these kids, this will be the first time that they have left the state of Georgia. The trip will require renting a 12-passenger van, securing an Airbnb, providing meals, and other incidentals.
In addition to providing snacks, meals, and activities, Deanna and I regularly assist with all kinds of requests and needs: driving kids to doctor appointments; helping kids get driver’s permits and birth certificates; registering kids for job training workshops, tech bootcamps, and GED classes; purchasing school clothes and supplies; doing bike repairs and purchasing replacement parts.
Any monetary donations would be much appreciated, and can be made by writing a check to the Great Young Minds Foundation Inc., or through your bank using Zelle. Our Zelle tag name is thegymfoundation. You may also send money via CashApp. Our CashApp tag is $thegymfoundation.
If you would like to partner with us in some other way, please feel free to reach out to us via email or by phone.
Thank you, in advance, for helping us show Jesus to these kids and their families in practical and meaningful ways.
In Christ,
Andrew and Deanna
404-510-4634
The Great Young Minds Foundation (GYM) 