With an overwhelmingly successful first fundraiser in October, Young Life is now gearing up for what it hopes to be another winner: its Souper Bowl event on Jan. 31.
The event at the Civic Auditorium in The Dalles runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Attendees can either spend $5 and get soup, bread, a drink and dessert, or spend $15 and get the same meal, but they also get to keep the locally hand-painted bowl the soup comes in.
Young Life, a non-denominational Christian outreach to teenagers, started a chapter in The Dalles last school year, said Naomi Grimsley, chair of the committee overseeing the local chapter.
It is aimed at reaching out to teens who are not necessarily attending church. Its key ingredient is a crew of Young Life leaders who spend time with teens, on their turf, to develop relationships and build trust.
Last year, Young Life had about 20 teens participating.
In preparation for the Souper Bowl — so named because it happens the day before the Super Bowl — a variety of area groups have painted 300 soup bowls, Grimsley said.
The hope is the painters will come to the event and buy back their bowl.
Groups that painted bowls included the Rotary Club, The Dalles High School advanced art class, Sonrise academy, the local homeschool co-op group, the Teen Community Bible Study group, The Dalles Art Center board and friends, Nichols Art Glass, Wonderworks, Columbia Gorge Christian Fellowship, and the Sunshine Mill staff.
“It’s kind of a nice little variety of groups,” Grimsley said. “We have some amazing bowls that have come out.”
“This is an event that really has potential to grow once it catches on because it’s something that is so different from what is done typically around here. We’re hoping this will be our one big fundraiser event each year,” she said.
The role of the Young Life committee is to both fundraise and provide support for the 10 or 11 Young Life leaders who do the direct work of teen outreach.
Those leaders work to “just be a positive influence in kids’ lives,” Grimsley said. They do direct contact work, where they meet with kids to do various activities, but leaders will also, in a month or so, begin having weekly “clubs” where teens get together for an evening.
Dr. Tom Pipkin, senior pastor at Gateway Presbyterian Church, became a Christian through Young Life, once worked for Young Life, and now sits on the Young Life The Dalles committee.
“The idea is that through meaningful relationships between caring adults and high schoolers that, through those relationships, that trust can grow. And over time, those adults can have a good positive influence on kids,” Pipkin said.
The way Young Life does its work is through its leaders, who are usually young adults. They’re “folks who have a heart for Christ and a heart for kids and want to put some of their time and energy into getting to know kids through those relationships,” he said.
The weekly meetings are intentionally not held in a church, but in a teen’s home or another public space or meeting hall. “A lot of what Young Life tries to do is reach out to kids who aren’t connected with church, who are maybe struggling or looking for meaning in life, which all of us were doing when we were teenagers,” Pipkin said.
At the meeting, the leader will share a short message from the Christian perspective, along with activities.
“The clubs are designed to be fun, fast-paced and informative,” said Nate Warren, pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church. Warren organized Young Life’s “premiere” banquet in October at the Discovery Center. It was wildly successful, drawing over 200 people. The fundraising evening produced a variety of donations, from one-time gifts to monthly contributions. “We’re in a good position to think about what’s the next step for Young Life here in The Dalles,” Warren said.
A highlight of the Young Life ministry is attending one of its 30 summer camps.
Last year, eight teens from The Dalles went to the Young Life camp at Washington Family Ranch in south Wasco County. The ranch is the former Rajneesh compound, which was purchased by the Washington Family and donated to Young Life, Grimsley said.
“It’s just an unbelievable place that has been donated to Young Life and kids from The Dalles have not had the opportunity to go there because Young Life was not in The Dalles,” Grimsley said.
She first learned of it several years ago when her husband, Dr. Patrick Grimsley, volunteered to provide medical service there for a weekend and he brought his family along. “So we went to this camp to do this medical coverage and we’re like, ‘What in the world is this? This gorgeous, unbelievable place and we can’t come here?’”
Spots at the ranch are hard to come by, and Young Life from The Dalles was able to go last year because other groups allowed them to use some of their slots, she said.
This year, Young Life The Dalles was able to reserve 16 spots at the ranch in June. “Kids usually come away from there saying that was the best week of their life,” she said.
The sprawling ranch has a junior high camp “with a full-on water park. And the other side is the senior high side where they have ziplines and a natural spring lake and a swimming pool,” she said.
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