Youth for Christ of Polk County

05/24/2026

Can you help YFC clear our Amazon needs list? Camps start ONE WEEK FROM TODAY? Link in comments.

05/21/2026

Would you help us with our Amazon Camp Needs list? Link in comments. Thank you!

Some items are wilderness camp ad some are high school discipleship camp.

05/19/2026

This week we told you the story of the McLaughlin Class of 2026.

Kids who walked in carrying "directionless" and walked out carrying a diploma.

Kids who couldn't speak English and graduated 5th in their class.

Kids like Mario, who now want to give back what they were given.

Every one of those stories started the same way: a week at summer wilderness camp in middle school.

That's why we're asking you to send the next kid.

This summer, another sixth-grader is going to walk through the doors at a Polk County middle school carrying weight no kid should have to carry. We want to put a camp scholarship in their hands. We want to be there for the next seven years.

Whatever you can give, please give. Every dollar puts a kid in the woods, around a fire, in front of the gospel, and connected to a mentor who will not stop showing up.

You are the reason this story keeps being written.

#2026

05/18/2026

At baccalaureate, the graduates flipped their cardboard signs over.

"Joined Youth for Christ and found my purpose."

"Gained support. Returned to school. GRADUATING."

"Fluent English speaker. Found brotherhood."

One of those graduates — Mario — stood up at the ceremony and read scripture to his entire class. Afterward, he handed us a note. In his own words, written to YFC:

"Thanks for shaping me into the young man I am today, keeping me on the right path and following Christ. Always providing food boxes and just checking up on me and our friends, keeping our circle close. Also the great high school camps just making life more enjoyable. Allowing me to assist in camps and help kids the way y'all helped me."

Read that last line again.

Mario doesn't just want what he got. He wants to give it back.

This is what the kingdom of God looks like at street level. A kid who was met, who was loved, who found Christ — and now he wants to be the one meeting the next kid.

Tomorrow, we're asking you to be part of that.

05/16/2026

So how does a kid go from "directionless" to walking across a graduation stage?

For most of the students we've walked with at McLaughlin, the door cracked open at summer wilderness camp.

A week away. Away from screens, away from the noise, away from whatever was happening at home. Conversations around a campfire. A counselor who actually listened. A version of themselves they didn't know was possible.

Camp is where the relationship starts. But it doesn't stop there.

What follows is years of weekly City Life groups. Food boxes when the cupboards are empty. A text on a bad day. A ride when no one else can give one. Mentors who keep showing up — through middle school, through high school, through every reason a kid might give up on themselves.

That's the model. Camp opens the door. Relationship walks them home.

05/15/2026

At their baccalaureate ceremony, the graduates of McLaughlin Academy of Excellence did something brave.

They stood up in front of family, friends, teachers, and pastors — and they told the truth about where they started.

They called it "Cardboard Triumphs." And the first cards they held up were not easy to look at:

"Lost motivation and desired to quit school."

"Language barrier and isolated."

"Direction-less and mentally adrift."

This is who walks into our City Life groups. Real kids carrying real weight. Some have lost a parent. Some are figuring out a new country and a new language. Some are quietly drowning while everyone around them assumes they're fine.

This is where YFC starts. Not with kids who already have it together. With kids who are honest enough to admit they don't.

Tomorrow, we'll show you what happens next.

05/14/2026

Seven years ago, YFC walked into McLaughlin Middle School and started a brand-new City Life group.

We didn't know any of the seventh-graders sitting in that room. We just showed up. Week after week. Year after year.

This past week, McLaughlin Academy of Excellence celebrated its very first graduating class — and they invited Youth for Christ of Polk County to be part of the ceremony.

Several of those graduates are kids we've walked with since seventh grade.

This week, we want to tell you their story. Because it's not just their story. It's the story of what happens when a community decides to keep showing up for kids who need someone in their corner.

Stay with us this week. We think you're going to be moved by what God has done.

04/30/2026

🚨 CHALLENGE ALERT 🚨

A generous $20,000 challenge gift from the Bell-Barnett Fund at GiveWell Community Foundation has been given for YFC Summer Camps. That gets us almost halfway to our camp needs for this summer!

Now it’s our turn to meet the challenge.
Help send more kids to camp. Help change more lives.

04/06/2026

04/02/2026

One morning, their mom woke them up early, told them to get in the YFC van—and they’ve been faithfully coming ever since. When asked what they love most about group, they both say, “Learning more about God… and the food. The food is really good.”

02/06/2026

Join us! Visit aneveningwithyfc.org for all the information or to RSVP.