Youth Mentoring Connections Initiation Weekend
What happens when 45 young men and 16 mentors spend 4 days in the mountains of California together?
The simplest way to say it is: the work of Peace.
On this mountain above Los Angeles we will talk about the life that we live “down the mountain”. Most of the young men are from the toughest neighborhoods of LA. They are trying to survive not doing well in school, being gay (in a massively intolerant environment), painful loss, feeling alone, not knowing who they really are, and not knowing where to go.
The work on this mountain is to save the lives of our young people.
A) That I am not the only person who is hurting and struggling
B) I don’t have it so bad (actually, I’ve got it pretty good)
C) There are people who understand me, see me, and want to help!
We shine light into the dark corners of our lives and work to figure out what to do with what we see.
The young men who come up the mountain with YMC are there to do serious and hard work. Before they come, they give their word and commit to doing the work.
Then we hold them to it. Even as they squirm, fight, and hide, we know that they want to do the work – or they wouldn’t have come.
We honor that integrity. We push them, invite them, and celebrate them when they step into it.
On the mountain these young people do the work that I call “Peace”. If everyone in the world displayed the courage, the heart, and the passion that these men bring to the world, the problems we are facing in the world would be much easier to solve.
This is an opportunity to connect to the humanity that lives inside you.
The YMC Initiation Weekend promises to be a transformative experience for those who attend. If you are a young person who wants a taste of real life and are ready to be alive in a way you will always remember and aspire to, please join us on the mountain.
I encourage you to join us in October of 2012. Yes, you will need to miss several days of school, but what you learn here will be more valuable than a whole year of school.
My intention is to bring 4-6 young men to this event. They will be supported and mentored by me while they are there.
The event is open to young men ages 14-21. We will meet in Los Angeles and drive to the program together. Afterwards, I will pick up and deliver all participants to the airport or to their California residences.
The program is run by Tony LoRe and the Youth Mentoring Foundation – some of the tuition may be tax-deductable. The cost of the program is $695. This includes transportation to and from the program location, the cost of the program, and mentoring from me during the event.