LaunchPAD in full force...

Don and I were at a meeting for Breakthrough's Dream Big project this past week (you'll hear more about that later, I promise) when we heard Bill Curry explaining the LaunchPAD program.

Basically:
After a grueling interview process, 5 young men from the Garfield Park community were selected to stay in the 5 rooms that Willow Chicago furnished through our Living Spaces project.  While staying in those rooms, these 5 guys are going to participate in leadership training programs and continued education.  They will also have access to healthcare and food via the Breakthrough Ministry Center.

A lot of the guys in this program have been through some pretty rough lives already - losing family members and relationships and basically just living in a constant war zone.  Bill mentioned that the panel of interviewers had to take some time to debrief and decompress after the interviews because there was so much that was too hard to take in emotionally.  These guys have already been through much ugliness in their short lives and seem to have all the odds stacked against them - and that's where this program helps out.  Ideally, the LaunchPAD program will help give these guys a jumpstart - a clean, safe place to call home for 18 months while they work on their future goals (education, internships) and develop their leadership skills.

These guys moved into their new home this past Friday, 10/9 with the official launch of the program.  We heard that they went out to a show and a nice dinner to kick everything off.  Isn't that fabulous?!  Here's to new beginnings!  WooT!