Only 9 days until YSPers arrive, some for their first year, some returning, and ONE for her FOURTH and FINAL year! (FOOOOURRR YEEEEAAARRRS!??) Our staff are so excited and we know the participants are, too. We were blessed by a generous donation to provide scholarships to students in need, and are happy to say we’ve used it all in service to several grateful YSPers! Thanks so much to the parishioners at St. Nicholas Church in O’Fallon, IL for making that possible.

Of course, we have additional needs, like all the details that make YSP happen year to year. The students’ tuition covers a little more than half of the expenses of the program, and their contributions cover lodging and meals for the 9 days of YSP. We have a great costume inventory that has been built over the years, students bring many items from home for costume (jeans are sort of a ubiquitous costume piece in nearly every show!), and the former opera theatre department at Washington University in St. Louis donated several pieces to our set shop. There are, however, new needs each year such as commemorative t-shirts, the cost of librettos/music scores, water bottles and buttons; and services such as bus transportation, videographer, pit orchestra, sound production, etc. Our staff and the show’s writer and composer are once again generously giving their time and talent for nothing or next to nothing (and those who receive stipends are often generous in donating it back, or supporting YSP through in-kind contributions, or paying for their own travel to YSP). Overall, we know we are richly blessed by a devoted and kind YSP family. We’ve taken to addressing God as “Providence,” which may be a less popular title, but perhaps the most fitting for our experience of the abundance God confers to us.

Our current fundraising goal for the YSP 2015 program is $20,000.

We’ve regularly raised $15,000 or more each year. Thanks to careful budgeting and a very kind arrangement from McKendree University for use of its space, we can pay for the entire program by raising just $10,000. BUT out of a sense of justice (see Catholic social teaching on paying workers), we would like to raise an additional $10,000 to offer a small stipend to all of our hard-working and passionate staff persons who each give anywhere from 150 to 600 uncompensated hours each year.

We need your help to make this happen, to afford another wonderful year of ministering with teens who are otherwise unserved or unmet with respect to their passions, talents and life experiences.  And we need your help to more adequately show our appreciation for the staff who sacrifice a lot to put on this crazy, Spirit-fueled show that is YSP. Thank you for your friendship and generosity. May Providence richly bless you! (And we’ll see you at the show!)

Make a donation via PayPal here, or click the Donate button on the right.