The Burden to Care

Gladys, Detailing Pros AZ and Victor sharing smiles at Help Me Help You Thanksgiving Dinner Party

"Did they like us? Are we going to do more stuff with them?"

The question from a student who attended our Thanksgiving dinner party for young adults. These questions filled my heart with an indescribable burden... Let me explain.

The burden is recurring, and this time it lasted for 3 days. It served as a constant reminder that the kids/young adults we serve yearn for a deeper connection, want to belong and feel accepted.

On Tuesday, November 14th, we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner party at Hope Academy for young adults but had children as young as thirteen years old there to enjoy the night's festivities.

With a strong urge to host an event for young adults before the year was out, I reached out to our partner Kalisa Moore, founder and CEO at AltruCare to help us plan and prepare for the event while our Hope Academy partner Adrian De Alba, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Student Services, provided the location. Together, along with other partners like business owners James and Gladys Estrada, at Detailing Pros AZ and Help Me Help You volunteers we had the help and support to be ready for the event in less than a month. Surprisingly, we had more in attendance than expected and immediately following the event, we had multiple inquiries for when the next event would be held. What a blessing and confirmation that what we are doing, is good.

The night was 3 hours full of music by Phoenix local DJ, Marc Sanders aka "DJ Sands" on the turntables and fun games like "Find Someone with, Bingo" by Phoenix party host, Andrea Torres, founder and owner of Happy2Host with Drea, LLC.

I cannot tell you how many times I've questioned whether this is what God purposed for me to do. After multiple attempts trying to quit, because of my fear of failure, I was quickly given another assignment reminding me that He does not call the qualified but qualifies the called. This event reminded me of that.

I am fully assured that God has called me for such a time as this and is in the midst of the Help Me Help You organization and mission. There is such a huge need and gap to fill for young adults who are looking for someone to provide them with support, encouragement, empowerment and help them see hope in their future.

We are here to do that and are committed to making a difference in lives who want our help, one young adult at a time.

I want to thank all who played a role in the success of the Thanksgiving Dinner Party and am looking forward to the next one!