S.A.Y. Yes!

Meet Buzz, Caroline, Matty, Sally and Ken

I recently participated in a three day training for our S.A.Y. Yes! program. Our first activity was to blow up five balloons, draw faces on them and give them names. We had to care for our balloons (children) for the next 48 hours. We couldn’t lose them, pop them, tie them together or put them in a bag. Our job was to keep them alive. Hmm, I knew immediately things would get interesting because I had to take the subway home! Let’s just say 24 hours in, I was trying to find ways to accidentally lose my children! It was so hard to navigate crowded train stations with five balloons in tow. I couldn’t see where I was going half the time because holding them in front of me was the only way to keep my children from hitting strangers.

Each day was informative and packed with fun. There is so much involved with starting a program. Here’s Life does a great job equipping inner-city churches with everything they could possibly need to effectively minister to youth . I loved getting to know each person at the training. I gained a better understanding of what SAY Yes! is all about. I’ll have the opportunity to volunteer at a after school program in Harlem this Wednesday.

S.A.Y. Yes! is a Biblically-based program that takes place in an after-school setting. There are 26 S.A.Y. Yes! Centers in New York City. The goal is to give at-risk children a solid foundation from which they can build a successful future. Through the local church, each child is ministered to spiritually, emotionally, physically, intellectually, and socially.