Youth For Christ is a charitable organization with a far-reaching impact on the kids of Manatee County. Executive Director Mike Chaplinski and his staff take their non-denominational message into runaway shelters, detention centers and area schools daily. The organization operates a teen center, a skateboard ministry and assists kids in getting to summer camps around Florida and Tennessee.
Youth for Christ was founded in Bradenton in the early 1950's and it wasn't too long after that that Mike's mom, Florence, began working for the organization. She has seen the lives of thousands of children and teenagers impacted through the ministry throughout those years. "We provide kids with an alternative," she says. "We have more than 100 volunteers, and we all take a real interest in these kids." Chaplinski said that there are more than 1000 kids involved in Youth for Christ during any given month.