Local Mentoring Group Achieving Lofty Goals, $5 at a Time

Updated 3:45 PM PST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009

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South Central is just one Los Angeles neighborhood, but South Central's Youth Mentoring Connection (YMC) has discovered, in its recent efforts to raise money, how Facebook can help them build a whole new community.

YMC -- a leading LA mentoring group that matches at-risk teens with real-life role models who help them achieve productive goals -- set a very big goal for itself: Raise $120,000 this fall.

$5 at a time.

The early results of AMC's "$5 Saves Lives" campaign, which involves outreach on social networks, is promising. During the first week they raised $5000.

And a few days after that AMC's own Facebook wall boasted that they've hit the $6500 mark.

But the campaign is not over. The goal, according to YMC founder Tony LoRe, is to bring as many people as possible to YMC's featured page on CAUSECAST.com and contribute a minimum of $5 each.

"Imagine, for the cost of your morning latte you could literally save a young person's life. And we mean literally," said LoRe, who left a successful business 8 years ago to found YMC. "I simply could not stand by and watch youth in my city get marginalized, gunned down or recruited into gangs. They deserve a real chance to realize their gifts, just like all of us."

Mayor Villaraigosa and former LAPD Police Chief, William J. Bratton, cite the organization as one of the most important and innovative programs for youth in the nation.

Visit YMC's page on Facebook to learn more.