St. John's-Grace and the Invisible Youth Network
Many members and friends of St. John's-Grace participated in providing supplies and /or funds for Kim Smith's Invisible Youth campaign. He received a message from Sampath Udasri who is in Sri Lanka distributing everything. He explains that most of what he knew about Americans was what he saw of tourists who came and stayed at the big hotels and resorts and seemed not to notice the struggling parts of his country. He is amazed at the generosity of "his new friends from the United States."
Figures just released in November by the Runaway Switch Board say that as many as 1200 kids run away every day of the week. A large majority of them are running away due to a variety of abuses at home. It is estimated that 1.5 million of these kids are walking the streets of our cities. The number of agencies that protect animal rights in the U.S. outnumber the number of agencies that protect children by 4 to 1.
This is the story of one street kid.
"When I was just a little boy my mother broke up with my father. While living with my mother, she always beat me for no reason whatsoever. Sometimes she would strip me down to bare skin and beat me with an electric cord. After she would beat me, she goes and gets some lemons to pass all over my bruised body to ease the swelling. The stripes on me would appear like burn marks. She didn't want the neighbors to know what she was doing to me in the house. She told me the best thing I could do is leave her house. I couldn't take it any more, so I ran away. I've been on the street for a few years now."
Shown below are some pictures of Sri Lankan kids who received gifts.
If you would like more information you can contact Kim Smith at church, home (716-569-4195), or online at kimarr_51@yahoo.com, or view the Invisible Youth Network website at http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com .
