Thank you Women’s History Month readers for making big smiles and big impacts on our kids!

We would like to give a special thanks to all of our Women’s History Month readers throughout March!  We know that you touched the lives of our at-risk students by helping them learn from role models who have gone before them and challenged the norm.  Students learned about anything from the suffrage movement and famous, historical female figures to modern-day equality.  Many readers talked with the students during and after the story about what it meant to them individually.

YLLC board member, Rachel Baily, stops by YLLC-West to read "Elizabeth Leads the Way," a story about Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who helped get women the right to vote and fought for many other women's rights. "I'd be happy to come out again anytime," Baily says.

"It was fun and magical, because she was so pretty. The book was so funny, and it talked about what you're gonna be when you grow up," said Abrea King, YLLC-Riverchase second-grade student (pictured left of volunteer reader, Nisha Garner.)

At YLLC-Hillside, Lori Cain reads a story about Mary McLeod Bethune, a renowned educator, who was best known for starting a school for African-American students and being an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

YLLC-Hillside's second Women's History Month reader, Valerie Lancaster, read a poem on fearlessness by Maya Angelou. After listening to the poem, the students wrote their own poems about being fearless and presented them to Valerie and their YLLC peers.

Kim Church read the story of Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the first black female astronaut to go into space from the book, "5 Brave Explorers" at YLLC-Easley. "I had the opportunity to not only read to the kids but spend time with them and learn about their lives and dreams. We talked about their goals and what they wanted to do with their lives. The experience once again reminded me of the importance of YLLC and how we are changing lives everyday," says Church.

Visit our Facebook page to see more pictures from our reading celebrations in honor of Women’s History Month.

YLLC partners with “Unconditional,” film to hit theaters fall 2012, for call to “ACT.”

Youth Life partners with “Unconditional,” a film to hit theaters this coming fall, to express the urgent need to serve at-risk children and youth in inner-city communities all across the country in a movement called, “ACT.”  After “Unconditional” producers came to know our ministry through their relationship with the Boselli Foundation in Jacksonville, Florida, the partnership seemed inevitable.  In fact, producers shot their “ACT” video at Youth Life Learning Centers in Jacksonville.

“They really want it to be more than just a movie but a movement to action,” says Yolanda Shields, CEO of Youth Life Learning Centers.  “I didn’t realize until halfway into the movie that it was about my friend, Joe Bradford, whom I have known for over 20 years!  He is definitely an example of how one person can make a difference to impact children living in the inner-city.  Our partnership with “Unconditional” and “ACT” will allow observers to see what faith based organizations throughout the country are already doing to impact children and families and how they can help the cause.”

“What Youth Life Foundation of Tennessee (YLFT) has been doing since 2001 is a perfect model of doing urban ministry in a way that brings sustainable changes to the lives of at-risk children and youth,” says Benjamin Thigpen, Director of Community Relations and ACT for Harbinger Media Partners, LLC, Producers of “Unconditional.” “By focusing on a balanced program of education, character and life skills, Youth Life has deeply impacted kids living in Tennessee communities.  YLLC is an urban ministry that we are proud to highlight and encourage our viewers to support via donations, volunteering, partnering, etc.“

Make sure to check out “Unconditional” at a theater near you this September!  Read more about “Unconditional” and the ACT movement.

Wesley Legg, Co-Producer of “Unconditional” and Chief Operating Officer of Harbinger Media Partners, added, “We are blown away by how many people are responding to the movie and we can’t wait to see how God moves on the hearts of audiences across the country this fall.”