Menu Close

Community

We have added this community page because our goal is to make a positive and lasting impact on our clients and the community. It is to acknowledge that when we say we have a goal to make a positive impact, we back it up with service. We are proud to highlight each one of these non-profits: Positive Tomorrows, City Rescue Mission, Young Life - Vida Joven, and Water4, and the efforts they are making in our community.

  • Positive Tomorrows
  • City Rescue Mission
  • Young Life - Vida Joven
  • Water4

Positive Tomorrows

Positive Tomorrows is the only school in Oklahoma for homeless children. The organization helps children with transportation to school, meals, and basic needs, as well as their families with shelter, life skills, and clothing.

Positive Tomorrows hopes to break the cycle of poverty by reducing the barriers to education to more than 43,000 homeless children in the state.

Opportunities for volunteering are plentiful at Positive Tomorrows. Volunteers can be mentors, lunch room help, after-school volunteers, readers, or event helpers. Positive Tomorrows vets volunteer candidates to ensure safety and positivity, but encourages “there is a volunteer job for everyone.”

Volunteering at Positive Tomorrows can be a meaningful commitment. Mentors commit to an hour per week for a whole school year to help with academic and social development. This not only helps the child in school, but also provides some much-needed consistency in that child’s life.

Todd has read to the class after lunch every Tuesday since 2008.

Whether it’s time spent volunteering, organizing fund raisers, spreading the word, or giving a donation, Positive Tomorrows relies heavily on community involvement to make a difference in the lives of Oklahoma’s homeless elementary students.

 

Oklahoma City Rescue Mission

The Oklahoma City Rescue Mission is a faith-based, private, nonprofit organization providing solution-based ministry to homeless men, women and children in the Oklahoma City metro. City Rescue Mission offers homeless individuals shelter, food and clothing along with the opportunity to end their homelessness. This is accomplished through the Bridge to Life program, a sort of entry point into homeless services. This is a needs-assessment which designates an Individual Service Plan, tailored to meet basic needs and lead to safe, affordable housing.

City Rescue Mission offers services for all sorts of betterment programs: school and work programs, addiction recovery initiatives, specialized services for seniors with mental and physical needs, as well as short-term emergency housing. Medical, dental, and vision care services are also available. Even debt recovery programs are available for certain cases.

“It is the goal of the Mission to reach out to the homeless with love, compassion and the resources needed to make a positive change in their lives and ultimately become productive members of society.”

City Rescue Mission thrives on volunteering, financial gifts, and food and clothing donations.

Todd’s conviction to the City Rescue Mission stems from his involvement with Postive Tomorrows. Many of the children who attend Positive Tomorrows live or receive services at the City Rescue Mission.

Young Life

Young Life is a non-profit organization for spiritual support aimed at children adolescents. Volunteers (“leaders”) involved with Young Life are committed to making a difference in the lives of kids and teens in their communities.

Young Life’s Mission: “Every kid will have the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ & follow Him”

Young Life’s Purpose: “Introducing kids to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith.”

Young Life is active in Central Oklahoma City (NW Classen, McGuinness, Casady, and Westminster), Edmond (North, Memorial, Santa Fe, Sequoyah, and Cheyenne), and Putnam City (North, Original, and West) and starting at UCO. Leaders aim to reach students in a variety of ways like spending time with them in the lunch room, attending sporting events, and hanging out at local restaurants and coffee shops. Young Life also hosts a weekly Club in a student’s home. During Club, participants play games, sing songs, and get a chance to dive deeper into their faith by walking alongside their peers.

Staff and Leaders believe that adolescents are making important and valuable decisions that will influence the rest of their lives. Leaders are involved with children, middle schoolers, and high schoolers, and approach each unique to their developmental stage so everyone’s needs are met. Young Life aims to establish a presence at all high schools and middle schools in each local area. “We believe that in order to reach kids we must go where they go and enter their world.”

Todd is on the OKC board of Young Life. He and Candyce have sent their kids to several Young Life camps (family camp, middle school and high school) during the summers. It has been the best week of their lives!

Vida Joven (“Young Life” in Spanish) focuses on the developing regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. Vida Joven has been helping the poorest areas of the Western Hemisphere for the last 16 years.

Young Life has been in the Latin America/Caribbean area since 1966 when work began in Brazil. Over the years, Young Life in Latin America and the Caribbean has expanded to 22 countries and 7 regions. Vida Joven first came to Nicaragua in 1988 and has since grown to 35 ministries in communities across the country. Their mission is “to serve as a lifeline for kids, one kid at a time.”

“Young Life doesn’t start with a program. It starts with adults concerned enough about kids to go to them, on their turf and in their culture, building bridges of authentic friendship. These relationships don’t happen overnight — they take time, patience, trust and consistency.” More info.

Todd is on the Latin American board for Vida Joven. He and Candyce have taken their family to Latin America during most summers for an “international family camp”. As a family, the experience of spending a week with other Latin American families has been the best and most impactful week of the summer.

The Owens Family at family camp in Nicaragua.

Water4

Water4 is a public charity headquartered in Oklahoma City. Founded in 2008 by Richard and Terri Greenly, the charity’s mission is to provide access to clean water to at-risk, indigenous people in the developing world. Water4’s implementation approach creates well-water jobs, giving these communities the tools and skills they need to maintain their fresh water source for the future. Water4 relies on community involvement from individuals, companies, and churches looking to make a difference. The economic impact of $1 invested in African water projects sees an $8 dollar return in their local economy.

“Water4 exists to empower local communities to transform themselves and solve their own crisis. We do this by training and supporting local entrepreneurs to start their own businesses, drill their own water wells, and become local engines of sustainable change. We also train local residents in sanitation and hygiene practices so they can prevent the spread of disease and sustain the benefits of clean water forever.”

Todd and Dillon at Water4.

The problem these areas face isn’t due to a physical lack of water, rather that the people there do not have the means to access underground water. This water crisis claims 3.4 million lives per year. The impact of access to clean water spreads much further than reducing the risk of disease and dehydration. Water4 cites “443 million school days are lost to water-related illness.” With access to clean water, health will improve as will school attendance. This will lead to higher levels of education and eventually economic growth. Water4 is active in more than fifteen western African and sub-Sahara African countries and has helped over a quarter million people gain access to clean water.