Young Yorktown Advocates United Reach Financial Milestone
The peer-to-peer group Young Yorktown Advocates United (YYAU) has achieved its first financial milestone by raising the $5,000 needed to bring the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms to Yorktown. YYAU is a group of local youth whose mission is to discover healthy outlets for the youth population so they can express their individuality and their pain. It was birthed out of the tragic deaths of several young people in the Yorktown community, by Jessica D’Amato, whose sister Lauren died in a car accident in November 2010.
“We want to educate our youth that they are not alone, that pain is an issue of humanity and that from pain comes hope,” said D’Amato. “We must come together and not be afraid of who we are. It is about awareness and education.”
The organization To Write Love on Her Arms is dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide and YYAU reached out to the group to have them work with youth in Yorktown. TWLOHA works with people to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.
YYAU has been holding a series of fundraisers over the past two months to raise the seed money. At the fundraiser dinner held on Wed., June 22 at Murphy’s Restaurant in Yorktown Heights, the group raised over $1,100 through the dinner, raffles and selling angel-wing inspired jewelry.
“We made $1,163 between the buffet, the raffles and the jewelry we sold,” D’Amato said. “We are at our $5,000 goal. I would like to thank Murphy’s restaurant and staff and the entire Murphy family for their generosity.”
Having achieved their first goal, YYAU is continuing to fundraise and generate awareness in the community.
They will be holding a fundraiser at South Side Inn on Commerce Street in Yorktown Heights on July 9 from 4 to 8 p.m. There will be food, a silent auction and raffles.
For more information on YYAU visit www.youngyorktownadvocatesunited.com or its Facebook page.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.