From getting to (thanks)getting

Poverty | Award-winning charities turn aid recipients into grateful benefactors | Amy L. Sherman

Like most kids, Shawn Yinger, 22, grew up watching television. Unlike them, he had a crack-addicted mom who'd pawn the family's set around the middle of every month for food and rent money. "It made me feel lesser to everybody else, because a lot of other people in 'hood, you know, go through struggles. But they had their TV all month," Shawn remembers with a shrug.

Shawn is one of many teens in the tough Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, whose life prospects have brightened through Central Ohio Youth for Christ's City Life program. The initiative pairs poor kids with mentors and engages them in a variety of discipleship and vocational programs. Recently, City Life won first prize in the 10-state "Partners in Transformation" awards program sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, besting 101 other Ohio applicants.