Community Youth Center Fund Raising Campaign

The Hood Church Inc. is in the process of building a Youth Center in the City of Lynchburg, VA. Our purpose is to provide recreational, educational, spiritual, entrepreneurial, career & life skill services to disadvantaged youth and young adults. We are launching this fundraising campaign to construct and equip our new multipurpose center.

There is a dire need for a center of this type. Based on local statistics, the poverty level in the city is currently at 23% and has been consistently averaging this number over the last several years. Of the population cited, 30% are youth and young adults. Finally, 60% of the city’s students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.*

There are also issues of increased crimes and violence that the Police Chief attributes to mental health, poverty and the lack of activities for youth.** It is our hope that our programs empower the communities that are affected by the immense poverty that our city, and the surrounding areas, face.

How can you help? We're glad you asked! Please help us by donating a memorial brick or tile for our new center. Your donation will be used to memorialize, commemorate, or leave a legacy for yourself, family members, friends, or mentors. You can do this by donating an engraved brick or multiple bricks for our external walkway or engraved tiles for our internal Memorial Donor wall.

Your donation will forever be on display, demonstrating the care and concern you have for the next generation of leaders and decision makers in this city. You can begin the change you want to see in our youth! Thank you!

Rev. Dr. Lisa Chilton

* "Interfaith Outreach" https://www.interfaithoutreach.org/mission-impact/

** "Lynchburg community leaders hash out a plan to save troubled youth and prevent violence"

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsls.com/news/local/2022/03/27/lynchburg-community-leaders-hash-out-a-plan-to-save-troubled-youth-and-prevent-violence/%3foutputType=amp

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Not able to donate a brick, but still want to contribute? To make a cash donation of any amount use the button to the right or scan the QR Codes or payment methods above. Thank you so much!

The Hood Church Inc. Community Youth Center Honors

"I met Bernard at the YMCA when I was young. My uncle, Stewart R. Jones, used to take me during lunch to play. Some of the older men didn't want me to play, however, Bernard always spoke up and said, "Let that young man play." Bernard would say, "This is how this young man can get better." If you knew Bernard, he loved the game of BASKETBALL. He was a man that pushed me to be a better player, not only on the court, but off the court as well, in any basketball tournament or league he was coaching/playing in...lol. So it was no surprise that on his last day on earth, he had just left the YMCA playing basketball. Bernard, my OG, will always be remembered and loved."