YELLS staff and youth rung in 2020 with New Year’s Eve-themed activities that challenged us to think about how we can grow our skills and spread our impact in 2020. While our students were still enjoying their holiday break, our staff met to get a head start in putting the…
In case you missed it, our teens hosted a tremendously successful Community Dinner to help us close out the year. This was a huge service learning opportunity for our Community Action Cafe Scholars and Mentoring Bigs, as they learned first hand what it takes to hold a successful event of…
This past holiday season was filled with many generous donations and gifts. We want to give special recognition to our neighboring businesses at Parkway One and Two for the huge outpouring of love they decided to give our students this year. Parkway One and Two reached out to us to…
Our daily volunteers are a very important part of the YELLS team. Volunteers are needed to help make sure that everything runs smoothly and our kiddos receive the individual guidance to help them learn and grow. Dan Moore, affectionately referred to as Mr. Dan, came to YELLS last year as…
We want to give a big shout out to three of our partners, Advanced MD, Assurant Solutions, and United Way! Each of them played a role in making a very special afternoon for our students! Advanced MD, a Global Payments company, first came to YELLS in 2017, and we are…
“This will not be my last one,” YELLS Achievement Club member and Franklin Gateway resident excitedly shared as she closed out her first community mixer. Brenda Gregory, a grandmother of one of our YELLS youth, hosted her first community mixer as a part of her chosen Achievement Club goals, and…
YELLS is so fortunate to have such amazing volunteers. This month, we want to thank the volunteer team that gave up their entire weekend to join us at Camp Blue Ridge for our Servant Leadership Retreat. DJ, Cameron, and Jenny all started in different places at YELLS, but joined forces…
Servant-leadership is at the core of YELLS’s ideology, and our scholars learn to embody this principle through various fun activities and academic lessons. One of our 1st grade students, Syriah Fields, has gone “above & beyond” (another one of our core values!) from the start of the school year. Each…
Our community took a multi-generational approach to reading this summer with our “Books and Breakfast” Family Literacy initiative. Each day, as parents brought their kids to summer camp, we offered a special opportunity to enjoy breakfast and a book together with their children. Over breakfast, families would learn a new…
Mr. Tim is the embodiment of the YELLS Family and a true servant-leader. He joined our YELLS team as one of the first two official staff members when we started our daily YELLS Afterschool program in 2011. He’s grown in his leadership as he’s shaped each one of our programs…
