The Frances Lynn Young Guild

invites you to

a Mad Hatter Tea Party

benefitting

Lowcountry Orphan Relief, Inc.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

  2-5 PM

Omar Shrine Temple in Mt. Pleasant

Ages 3 – 11 (must be accompanied by adult)

Admission: Adults & age 12 and up – $10   Children age 3 to 11 – $5

plus one new book per family*   (or $5 in lieu of a new book donation)

*new books will be used to build libraries for Lowcountry Orphan Relief, Inc.

Come to the

Lowcountry Orphan Relief
Night

at

The Charleston Battery

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

7:30PM

Sponsored by Blackbaud

Frances Lynn Young

LOR Founder

Lynn was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, where she attended Columbia Schools and later attended Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC. Her religious background came from being raised in the Methodist church where she was a leader in several areas of the church, and President of the Methodist Youth Conference of South Carolina. She taught in the SC public school system, married Preston G. Young, Jr. and raised five children. She then moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia where her husband ran his own company as a computer consultant to law firms all over the Northeast. She returned home to South Carolina in 2000 to live in Charleston, and upon retiring from real estate marketing, she became a Guardian Ad Litem, a person who speaks for children in the court system. In July 2003 she formed the non-profit Lowcountry Orphan Relief, Inc. (LOR) after becoming aware of the great needs of abused and abandoned children in the city of Charleston. LOR served 1,037 children in 2007, supplying them with clothing, shoes, coats, toiletries and school supplies. LOR now has 3,600 square feet of storage for the children’s supplies and a volunteer base of over 60 dedicated people.

First Baptist “Teaching Friends” Sunday School class has undertaken the project of refurbishing and providing books for a library at Rural Missions on Johns Island. A collection of Spanish and English books will be taken from Lowcountry Orphan Relief and donated to Rural Missions on Saturday, February 20, 2010. This is the fifth library set up by Lowcountry Orphan Relief in a group home or shelter. If you would like to donate books for this project, please contact Cathy at 747-4099.

Catherine Kingsbury Keagy

LOR Administrator

As the only paid staff at LOR, Cathy was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, raised in Greensboro, NC, and got her BA in psychology from Hollins University in Roanoke, VA. She lived most of her adult life in Charleston, WV, and moved to South Carolina in 1999. She was a buyer in WV for fourteen years at a privately-owned department store chain with stores throughout the Midwest. When those stores were sold, she became Administrator of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Charleston, WV. After moving to South Carolina, she was hired as Administrator by Water Missions International, a non-profit that provides clean drinking water solutions to developing countries and disaster sites. In January, 2008 she started work as Administrator for Lowcountry Orphan Relief Inc., founded by F. Lynn Young. She is married to Barry J. Keagy and they have 5 children and 8 grandchildren.

Many phone calls have been received and questions asked about the future of Lowcountry Orphan Relief.  Here is an update on this situation as it is at present:

Lowcountry Orphan Relief has been asked to put in an offer to purchase our building at Noisette at the Navy Yard and a portion of the adjoining land.  Lynn Young is working with Noisette, our Board of Directors, several banks, and many others to see what those possibilities might be and how we can go about purchasing our building which we love.  Our location is superb, our building has had a lot of money put into it already and the extra land would be wonderful so that we can add on to the existing building.  We ask for your suggestions and your prayers in hopes that we make the correct decision and that we can afford to make this move.  Noisette has been wonderful to us over the years we have been here! If you have any further question or would like to make suggestions please call Lynn Young directly at 843-412-2728, or email Lynn at fly@clf1630.org.

By Ken Burger (Contact) The Post and Courier Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Entering the courtroom is a family whose tree is so complicated it must be diagrammed on a white board so the judge can determine whose child belongs to what mother by which father.

Everyone is represented in this soap opera except, of course, the infant child whose future is ultimately on trial.

In Charleston County alone, the Department of Social Services orders about 35 children a month into protective care, often juggling several hundred young lives at a time.

On a typical Monday afternoon, the human carnage of drug abuse, alcoholism, incest, abandonment and sexual assault comes marching through Family Court with lawyers representing everyone except the kids, who are not present.

That job falls to a group of volunteers, Guardian ad Litem they’re called, whose job it is to decide what’s in the best interest of the children.

And sometimes the choices are not easy.

Common sense

On this day, six new guardians graduate from a 30-hour course on how to sort through the available options. Their induction is a reality check.

The day’s docket is a dysfunctional parade of pitiful parents whose children have been removed from their home for a variety of offenses.

In 15-minute clips, they face the judge and hear the charges. Negligence. Drug use. Abhorrent conditions. Domestic violence. Physical cruelty. The ugly side of our society we wish didn’t exist.

When it comes time to decide the fate of the innocent children, much weight is given to the opinion of civilians. Not lawyers or judges. Just people like you and me.

A Guardian ad Litem – fancy Latin words for people who care about kids – gives their time and energy and intellect to see that children have a voice in places that deal with adult issues.

Sometimes, between all the mumbo jumbo, you just need a little common sense, which, as we all know, is not that common.

Singular and independent

Who are these people?

Dave is a retired business executive who heard about the program through a friend and thought he could make a difference.

Jill has a 9-year-old son she adopted from Russia and knows the value of having someone who cares just for you.

Alexis, a young sociology major, said her mother told her it would be a good thing to do with her spare time.

Kathaleen, a retired health care executive, wanted to give something back to the community.

Jane, a former school administrator, answered an ad in the newspaper.

Kasondra, said she heard about the program from a man who was working on her house.

Each soon will join a league of 100 volunteers who become advocates for children caught in the spin cycle of the legal system. And unlike the social workers or the lawyers or the judges who toil in these trenches, their job is singular and independent: Do what is best for the children.

Lois Richter runs the Guardian ad Litem program and wishes more people would consider this important responsibility (577-6978). Even with the addition of 60 local law students in the mix, more than 60 percent of kids still go unrepresented.

“If you take the guardians out of the picture, there is nobody to look out for the children,” Richter said. “Our guardians are the most wonderful people in the world.”

Reach Ken Burger at kburger@postandcourier.com or 937-5598. To read previous columns, go to postandcourier.com/burger/.

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Seacoast Church- Mt. Pleasant campus on Longpoint Road-hosted a FUN evening of dance on Friday, November 13, 2009.  All  fees went to benefit Lowcountry Orphan Relief, Inc. Many people attended and over $200 was raised to benefit LOR.