It all began with this article, while doing time for crimes against society, and praying for a renewing of my mind. Never had I seen something so horrible in my short life on earth, and somehow I felt partially responsible. Where had our nation taken this bad turn, and how were we going to get back to where we once were? While starring into the eyes of this 11 year old murderer turned victim, and wondering how on earth could someone so young have gotten himself mixed up with a gang at such an early stage in life. The question that kept ringing in my mind was “How can you help ?” , but here I was doing time. Upon being released in 1996 I was invited to attend a youth lock-in by my best friend William Alfred Graves JR, may he rest in peace. It wasn’t long after that I found myself joining The First Baptist Church of West Indianapolis, and at the suggesting of Pastor Stephen L. Wilson SR I began to work with their youth. While working with the churches youth I began to feel a calling to work with at-risk youth in the community, and Alpha Foundation for The Youth Inc. was born on July 07, 1997.
We got our start with a little mentoring program that we called “Penn Pals”, and that was because we were working with IPS William Penn School # 49. Our church was right next door to the school, and to this day we still work with that school, and Indy Parks Rhodius Family Center. We have provide an estimated 500,000 meals in this community since 2000, and we have expanded our services to include the youth and families at IPS George Washington Community School.
We got our start with a little mentoring program that we called “Penn Pals”, and that was because we were working with IPS William Penn School # 49. Our church was right next door to the school, and to this day we still work with that school, and Indy Parks Rhodius Family Center. We have provide an estimated 500,000 meals in this community since 2000, and we have expanded our services to include the youth and families at IPS George Washington Community School.
