Transportation for Ryan
Donation protected
Hello Friends and family,
Jamie and I would appreciate your help - and thought you might appreciate the opportunity to participate in this with us!
We have been mentoring a young man, Ryan (last name removed for privacy), off and on for the last 7 years. We first met him through our church, when we lived in Ada, OK and now we both live in the OKC area. Ryan has had a difficult childhood, often with little support at home. He’s never really known his father and has lived most of his life in the care of his now disabled grandmother in a trailer park in Ada. For the last two years, he has lived with between 8-13 other relatives in an assortment of rental homes in South OKC. None of these homes had more than 3 bedrooms or more than one bathroom.
Needless to say, Ryan has not had a normal childhood. While frequently exposed to a very rough world, Ryan has remained a wonderful young man with a kind heart and a bright smile - much thanks to the many good people that poured into him for school and church in Ada. Susan and I have tried over the last couple of years to find a way to significantly intervene in Ryan’s life to present him with opportunities he never even knew he had, but not being his guardians we were limited in our ability to do so.
Ryan’s grades and school attendance have suffered over the years. Other kids his age graduated high school last year and though he turned 18 in May, he’d never attempted to get his driver’s license. COVID and online schooling with no support at home have only made Ryan’s prospects more grim.
In the last month, we have taken advantage of Ryan’s turning 18 to help him take steps that his Mom and family couldn’t or wouldn’t do for him. After 3 long days at the DMV we helped Ryan get his Driver’s Permit. We met with the principal at the Oklahoma City Public Schools Alternative School and were able to enroll Ryan as “homeless” with a ‘zero tolerance’ accelerated path to make up his school work. If Ryan is willing to put in the work he will graduate in March. If he can graduate, he will have the opportunity to take advantage of programs offering free or reduced tuition at Vo-Tech or Community College.
To support him in this effort, last week we invited Ryan to come and live with our family in Katy’s old room. We have set him up with a computer and a workstation and reliable internet access to do his assignments. We make sure that he is out of bed and at class, and offer him encouragement and assistance as needed to complete his work. While we offer him the opportunity to stay with us over the weekends, we encourage him to continue his relationships with his Mom and family and offer to take him back and forth as needed. He is currently living with us during the week as part of our family, joining us for meals, attending church with us when he is with us. We are also taking him driving daily and enrolling him in driving lessons to practice for his driver’s test in 30 days. Our plan is to get him his license and get him a modest, reliable vehicle that will allow him to drive to school, work, or family as needed without being dependent on his over-burdened family.
We hope to continue to support him in our home as long as he is willing to put up with us - and as long as he continues to put in the necessary work towards becoming independent.
This is where you come in and why we are contacting you. We know that you have a heart for people, and for those that don’t have the opportunities that many of us have enjoyed. The problem of cyclical poverty is pervasive and not limited to undeveloped nations. At times it can feel insurmountable. We believe we can all start with one person. We can’t change the lives of millions, but we can change the life of one and then perhaps another and another.
We are asking if you would consider partnering (even in the SMALLEST OF WAYS!) with us in this effort making a tangible difference in this young man's life with a small donation to help us purchase Ryan a car and insurance. We would like to spend around $5,000 to get something reliable and with good gas mileage. His insurance will be very expensive because he’s an 18-year-old boy and he won’t likely be on his mother's policy - which may or may not actually exist. Our first quote for the vehicle we are looking for him was $2,700 for the first year. We have set up a gofundme account for this effort and a link is attached below. We greatly appreciate anything you are able to do in this effort as we try to help this young man. We will be doing this regardless of funds raised, but we wanted to share this opportunity to make a big difference in one young man's life with many of you who would like to help if given the opportunity.
If we were blessed enough to receive excess funds we will hold them in trust to be used for Ryan’s insurance or excess secondary educational expenses. Whatever we are short, we of course will be covering, we just thought you might enjoy participating in this effort. Regardless we look forward to sharing updates or Ryan’s successes over this next year.
Jamie and I would appreciate your help - and thought you might appreciate the opportunity to participate in this with us!
We have been mentoring a young man, Ryan (last name removed for privacy), off and on for the last 7 years. We first met him through our church, when we lived in Ada, OK and now we both live in the OKC area. Ryan has had a difficult childhood, often with little support at home. He’s never really known his father and has lived most of his life in the care of his now disabled grandmother in a trailer park in Ada. For the last two years, he has lived with between 8-13 other relatives in an assortment of rental homes in South OKC. None of these homes had more than 3 bedrooms or more than one bathroom.
Needless to say, Ryan has not had a normal childhood. While frequently exposed to a very rough world, Ryan has remained a wonderful young man with a kind heart and a bright smile - much thanks to the many good people that poured into him for school and church in Ada. Susan and I have tried over the last couple of years to find a way to significantly intervene in Ryan’s life to present him with opportunities he never even knew he had, but not being his guardians we were limited in our ability to do so.
Ryan’s grades and school attendance have suffered over the years. Other kids his age graduated high school last year and though he turned 18 in May, he’d never attempted to get his driver’s license. COVID and online schooling with no support at home have only made Ryan’s prospects more grim.
In the last month, we have taken advantage of Ryan’s turning 18 to help him take steps that his Mom and family couldn’t or wouldn’t do for him. After 3 long days at the DMV we helped Ryan get his Driver’s Permit. We met with the principal at the Oklahoma City Public Schools Alternative School and were able to enroll Ryan as “homeless” with a ‘zero tolerance’ accelerated path to make up his school work. If Ryan is willing to put in the work he will graduate in March. If he can graduate, he will have the opportunity to take advantage of programs offering free or reduced tuition at Vo-Tech or Community College.
To support him in this effort, last week we invited Ryan to come and live with our family in Katy’s old room. We have set him up with a computer and a workstation and reliable internet access to do his assignments. We make sure that he is out of bed and at class, and offer him encouragement and assistance as needed to complete his work. While we offer him the opportunity to stay with us over the weekends, we encourage him to continue his relationships with his Mom and family and offer to take him back and forth as needed. He is currently living with us during the week as part of our family, joining us for meals, attending church with us when he is with us. We are also taking him driving daily and enrolling him in driving lessons to practice for his driver’s test in 30 days. Our plan is to get him his license and get him a modest, reliable vehicle that will allow him to drive to school, work, or family as needed without being dependent on his over-burdened family.
We hope to continue to support him in our home as long as he is willing to put up with us - and as long as he continues to put in the necessary work towards becoming independent.
This is where you come in and why we are contacting you. We know that you have a heart for people, and for those that don’t have the opportunities that many of us have enjoyed. The problem of cyclical poverty is pervasive and not limited to undeveloped nations. At times it can feel insurmountable. We believe we can all start with one person. We can’t change the lives of millions, but we can change the life of one and then perhaps another and another.
We are asking if you would consider partnering (even in the SMALLEST OF WAYS!) with us in this effort making a tangible difference in this young man's life with a small donation to help us purchase Ryan a car and insurance. We would like to spend around $5,000 to get something reliable and with good gas mileage. His insurance will be very expensive because he’s an 18-year-old boy and he won’t likely be on his mother's policy - which may or may not actually exist. Our first quote for the vehicle we are looking for him was $2,700 for the first year. We have set up a gofundme account for this effort and a link is attached below. We greatly appreciate anything you are able to do in this effort as we try to help this young man. We will be doing this regardless of funds raised, but we wanted to share this opportunity to make a big difference in one young man's life with many of you who would like to help if given the opportunity.
If we were blessed enough to receive excess funds we will hold them in trust to be used for Ryan’s insurance or excess secondary educational expenses. Whatever we are short, we of course will be covering, we just thought you might enjoy participating in this effort. Regardless we look forward to sharing updates or Ryan’s successes over this next year.
Organizer
Jamie Koch
Organizer
Oklahoma City, OK