This photo tells the story of our youth!
This shows of the dedication of the staff!
Location: Highlands Ranch Stake Center
9800 Foothills Canyon Blvd
Highlands Ranch, CO
Includes: All the greater Denver area Stakes that were not engaged in another activity
Youth: 411 youth ages 14 to 18 attended
The Denver SAH-EFY project began in late January. The Stake Presidents of the greater Denver Area lead by Elder Hillier and Elder Brimhall determined that the youth of the area needed one of the "Stay at Home" versions of EFY because the greater majority of the inner city youth would never be able to participate in one of the university type EFY'S due to rising costs. The SAH-EFY program at only $170 offered an affordable opportunity. The decision ended up being prophetic since so many registered!
It was determined that a good location to hold the event would be the Highlands Ranch Stake center since there were two chapels on the property and Thunder Ridge High School just 500 yards away. With that in mind President Ralph Walker was put in charge. He made the initial contact with BYU and they agreed to organize the event. I (Tom McVey) was then asked to organize all the details of the event, conduct a Fireside to introduce the event to the Denver area and work to bring the event to fruition.
My wife and I had received a mission call just a few weeks previous so I reminded President Walker that we wouldn't be here for the event since our departure date was July 4th. He replied that I would need to train a 2nd and that things would take care of themselves. About 4 weeks later we got a call from the missionary department in SLC asking if it would be ok to postpone our departure until August 1st. Elder Hillier called it a "Tender Mercy" and he was on the nose.
Anyway, representatives from each of the participating stakes kept their units advised as to the registration numbers and as they grew from a few dozen to over 300 by the end of June, the EFY staff at BYU had to scramble getting enough staff to run the program. They came through in the end with a lot of hard work and provided us with 32 counselors and 9 key staff members. Thanks to the efforts of Sherrie Bangerter and her staff we were ready for the event. Sherrie event came out and was with us from opening through Tuesday evening. We had nearly 40 walk-in registrations that brought our total to just over 400 youth. Their efforts are greatly appreciated and we ended with a ratio of 1 counselor for each 13 youth which was right on.
The event went off with only a few hitches that were really un-noticed by almost everyone! The blessings to the youth will never be quantified but by in large the youth felt that "this was the best week of my life!" That tells it all. Can you imagine the impact this event will have on the youth, their familes, their wards and their stakes. We were blessed with a group of 9 key staff members, 32 counselors, the Barkers as "Session Directors" and Brothers Goss, Anderson and Palmer as instructors and they were all the best!
I hope everyone enjoys the contents of this blog. Please, if you do or don't leave a comment or two so the we can all learn from your input.
It was my blessing to participate,
Thanks,
Tom McVey
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