Youth and Young Adult Resources

Kenilworth Union Church supports youth and young adult development through the following award programs. For more information on donating to the these funds, please contact info@kuc.org.

KUC Cares is a group of teens and adults who reach out with extra support to the youth of the church and community. If a young person you know is facing difficulties like illness or hospitalization, family crisis, mental distress, relationship problems or any other kind of situation that could use some extra support, please fill out this form.

Click here for a print friendly pdf of our tested and approved crisis numbers.

The Wilson D. King IMPACT fund was established upon the death of Wilson Duval King on April 12, 2013. The fund is to serve the needs of the IMPACT program, including related youth and family programming at Kenilworth Union Church that encourages and emphasis on leadership through service, character development, and an awareness of the importance of compassion for others in our own community, in surrounding communities and across the globe.

Wilson’s passion for life and compassion for others as well as his resourcefulness and energy made him a natural leader.  The characteristics Wilson exhibited while in the program and among his peers in everyday life should be the basis for the leadership award. Other characteristics may be cited as well: compassion for all people, generous and grateful heart, strong work ethic with an ability to make the toughest job fun, positive attitude even in uncomfortable situations, enthusiasm for all of life’s experiences, ingenuity in facing challenges and solving problems, and team work.

The leaders will be selected by the IMPACT Program staff and Mission Trip Leaders and the IMPACT Program advisory and planning board. Award recipients will be recognized at the conclusion of each mission trip on the final night, as well as on the following Youth Sunday as part of the youth leadership and service awards.  Their names will be inscribed on a plaque in the church.

The Alison Tobey Smart Memorial Fund (ATS) was established in February, 1986, by Jackson and Sue Smart to make a difference after their daughter took her own life at age 17. The mission of the Alison Tobey Smart Memorial Fund is to support the healthy emotional, educational, social and spiritual development of youth in the Kenilworth Union Church and its surrounding area through education, therapy support, and ministerial efforts.

The fund provides opportunities for ministerial acts like care packages and valentines for college freshmen, confirmation and choir scholarships, Senior Celebration, young adult service recognition awards/scholarships, and emergency financial support for families struggling with mental health. Over the last 30 years, the fund’s focus has expanded from depression and self-destructive behavior to incorporate issues such as self-worth, decision making, problem solving, service, and counseling. The fund now also brings and supports original programming focused on those issues.

While these topics have remained central to efforts of the ATS board over the years, the application of them has evolved with the needs of the community. Most significantly over the last two decades the age focus has expanded from high school-centric to also support middle schoolers who have come to experience similar challenges, and college-aged young adults who struggle with the same issues without the support network of home, church, and community.

More recently with the growth of fully-staffed organizations addressing similar missions, the ATS board has had the opportunity to fund programming through these outside agencies, offering broad-reaching educational initiatives leveraging superior subject matter expertise as well as therapy and counseling programs for youth who would not otherwise be supported.

As the range of impact of the ATS fund has grown across age targets, geographic areas, and programming options, the board instituted a set of guardrails for optimal spending of the ATS budget. All board members were surveyed to inform how the board prioritizes supporting different age ranges, geographies, and types of support. These guardrails are intended to be updated every two to four years to ensure that they reflect the current thinking of the board and the evolving needs of the community.

*For more information on the Alison Tobey Smart Memorial Fund and our mission, please email a member of the committee.

The Lisa Louise Mowry Fund is used to promote a better understanding of mental illness, especially bipolar/manic depressive illness through Erika’s Lighthouse, “A Beacon Of Hope For Adolescent Depression.”

Please consider praying with us on Sunday and at our Tuesday Mid-Day Prayer worship.