4 Ways to Help Me Help Lee High Kids This Week

I love Lee High kids, and I need your help! 

For the past 13 years, I've gotten to walk side-by-side with many Lee High kids through life. This happens through an organization called Young Life. It's been one of the best experiences of my life. 

On Oct. 24-26, I have the great privilege of taking the current group of Lee High kids to Young Life camp at Rockbridge Alum Springs in Goshen. The camp does cost money, and that's where I need your help! 

Here are the four ways you can help me help kids this week. 

1. Give. Lee High is diverse, both ethnically and socio-economically. In order to take a group as diverse as the school itself, we fundraise and provide partial scholarships. When you give, we can have students do sweat equity projects for free (call me if you have such a project you need done) and then scholarship kids to camp. I hope to get $600 in donations and $400 through the fundraiser listed below for a total of $1,000.00. 

You can make checks payable to Young Life and give at the address below:  

Chris Lassiter

Valley Young Life

142 Richardson Street

Staunton, VA 24401 

2. Buy. I have a book called You're Grounded. For the time being,  100% of the proceeds of this book go to camp scholarship. Books are $10. Buy one from me, or buy one down in D. Moats Barber Shop on the corner of Central and Frederick.  If I can sell all 40 books I have left, I can take four more kids to camp. 

3.  Share. Re-post this blog on your social media sites. E-mail this blog to friends, church leaders, businesses and individuals who you think may be supportive of Young Life at the school. I'll be glad to sit down and explain what we do and how we do it with potential donors. Every re-post and e-mail helps. 

4. Pray for us. Pray that we meet our financial goal and that we don't have to tell any kid no because of financial reasons. Thanks for helping me as I try to help kids. 

Chris Lassiter is a Christ-follower, a husband to Emily (read her blog here), a father to five kids and a freelance writer for Young Life Relationships, HipHopDX.com, JamTheHype.com and other publications. His first book, You're Grounded, was published by Moody Publications last year. You can order the book here. 

Bigger Than Football: P.K.'s Story

Life is bigger than sports. Thank you P.K. Kier for reminding us. 

Before I tell you what P.K. - a sophomore at Winchester's Millbrook High School - did for a 7-year-old cancer survivor, let me explain our connection.  

I went to Shenandoah University in Winchester mostly because P.K.'s dad, Pede, was already there playing baseball. (I didn't know that  going to college together meant Pede would steal all the food in my refrigerator every night, but that's a different story.) 

Growing up, I thought the world of Pede, who live three blocks from me in Staunton. That admiration has only grown as we've gotten older. Most importantly, Pede shared the gospel with me. It has completely changed the trajectory of my whole life. 

At the beginning of the season, Pede e-mailed me an article about P.K.'s four-touchdown performance. I was impressed. Last week, Pede sent me Val Van Meter's Winchester Star article about PK and his teammates. 

I was even more impressed. And the article had little to do with football. 

P.K., his coaches and his Millbrook teammates arranged for 7-year-old Isaiah Truman to be the team's special guest on the sideline. Truman's guest appearance highlighted a week where doctors said that his brain cancer was in remission after a year of treatments. 

P.K. and Isaiah are neighbors.  According to the story, P.K. went to his coach Josh Haymore and told them about Isaiah. The 7-year-old's story includes being airlifted to U.Va Medical Center, a rare diagnosis of brain cancer in a child, and routine trips to the Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. 

The team, who wore bracelets with Isaiah's name on it, then came up with a way to support Isaiah at the football game. 

I work with a lot of kids. We often talk about servant leadership. We define it as "taking initiative for the benefit of others." Thank you P.K., coach Haymore and the Millbrook football program for being one such example on this occasion. 

When sports is done correctly, it's supposed to teach you about life: how to put "we" before "I," how to battle adversity, how to accomplish goals, how to be part of something bigger than yourself. It sounds like the Millbrook team is learning this lesson. 

If you are thankful kids are still learning lessons through athletics, take the time to encourage the 2014 Millbrook Football team. You can write them at: 

Millbrook Football

c/o coach Josh Haymore 

251 First Woods Drive

Winchester, VA 22603 

At the least, take the time to encourage the team through email in care of coach Haymore. 

His e-mail address is haymorej@frederick.k12.va.us. 

When things make us angry, it motivates us to action. We'll write a letter or send an e-mail immediately. I hope the thought of this next generation taking initiative for the benefit of others will motivate you to take a moment to publicly applaud them. 

Chris Lassiter is a Christ-follower, a husband to Emily (read her blog here), a father to five kids and a freelance writer for Young Life Relationships, HipHopDX.com, JamTheHype.com and other publications. His first book, You're Grounded, was published by Moody Publications last year. You can order the book here.