Up2Us Sports VISTA Tyrell Lucas, serving at Midian Leadership Project in West Virginia as a Facility Development VISTA, was able to raise $300,000 for the organization during his year of service. These funds enabled the organization to secure a space in the heart of their target community to host safe programming for both youth and adults.

His supervisor, Jeff Biddle, shared the below with us about the incredible work Tyrell has put into Midian Leadership Project through his service terms with Up2Us Sports.

Tyrell was actually the guy who sat me down a few years ago and let me know he felt we needed to prioritize getting a facility of our own. He described the need he saw for a safe place for the young people who were then in high school, and how important places like that had been to him and his friends--some of these places were no longer open or accessible. He was the boost we needed to get moving on a building. So, when we decided to devote a VISTA position to bringing the new facility about, Tyrell was the obvious choice.

Tyrell already had experience as a handyman for a set of properties when he was in high school, and had quite a bit of business experience. Fundraising was newer for him, but he took to it right away, representing our organization to big political audiences and in small meetings, and visiting potential sites before we settled on the one we are in. With Tyrell's help we raised the first $200,000 in forty-five days, enough to secure the property, which at that time, was just an empty warehouse. At that point, Tyrell continued to fundraise and also became the guy meeting contractors and making trips to pick up furniture and equipment as we readied the facility for use. He has always been very proactive about looking for chances to make the place better and deals on things we need. Finally, in January, we laid the gym floor and opened the new center. One of Tyrell’s friends graduated from college and took on a programming director role as Tyrell continued work on the facility and fundraising.

Opening the new facility has made an enormous difference. It sits right across from the middle school, and students can and do walk down the hill every day. The Middle School football team has started using the facility for weight training and tutoring, and we hosted our first basketball tournament in March. This Safe Haven in the heart of our neighborhood has changed the dynamic for youth in our neighborhood overnight, and Tyrell has taken on a large role in the ongoing strategy of our work as well as a mentoring role with the young people who come through, alongside the ongoing work of fundraising and continuing to renovate the new facility. The sense of community ownership that comes from the fact that young adults like Tyrell from our own community have made this facility possible and are the core people shaping its destiny is essential.

See images below of the progress. Tyrell in the “before” and “after” phases of the gym, Tyrell & volunteers laying the floor, and Tyrell working in the new center.