LIFT Youth Center gets $50,000 grant

The LIFT Youth Center Inc. of Ringgold announced that it is one of 21 nonprofit organizations “selected from around the world to receive grant funding from the Hollister Confidence Project.”

LIFT received a $50,000 grant to help with its work in building better mental health and greater confidence in the youth of the Ringgold area through its free after-school programs for sixth through 12th graders, focusing on art, music, outdoor and community activities, support groups and more.

“Suicide, depression, anxiety, isolation, and self-destructive behavior are all on the rise,” say LIFT leaders. “Without support, students can move down a negative spiral as biological changes, negative social interactions, erratic sleep and technology overloads lead to problematic behavior and emotional patterns.

“LIFT Youth Center is a positive anchor in a sea of negatives, an option where (students) can learn, grow, and explore — even fail — all while being supported and encouraged.”

“Helping our students fight the negative tides they experience at school and sometimes with their families,” says LIFT executive director

Tina Pinkston, “is one of the most important things we do at the Center. Sure, we have fun, learn things, eat snacks, have a physical place to be afterschool, but the way we are challenging (the students’) norms and asking them to become more kind and responsive humans is a big deal. We hope we are planting seeds of positivity which will grow in their classrooms, school hallways, at the game and in their living rooms. We hope they embrace a positive way of being that makes their world better, that helps them become their best selves and that builds them up in ways which will affect their future.”

“LIFT Youth Center Inc. is thrilled,” says Pinkston, “that they get to partner with Hollister to further their work in providing an afterschool solution to student isolation, insecurity, and unhealthy choices. LIFT is honored to be among the 21 organizations chosen by the Hollister Confidence Project, working hard to (as Hollister says) ‘smash every obstacle keeping teens from feeling their most confident, comfortable and capable.’”

Hollister is a clothing company that has a fund that works toward “diversity, equity and inclusion” and “teen mental health” by contributing money to organizations that align with its goals.