In a state of emergency...
In April of 1999, Larry Butterfield picked up the phone and began calling friends and youth ministry veterans from around the city. Larry had just sat through a presentation consisting of pictures of hundreds of grammar school kids that he had been ministering to over the past decade in the infamous housing projects of Cabrini Green in Chicago. To his dismay, many of these kids were lost as they reached their teens. The streets seemed to be winning. Face after face and story after story, the vast majority of these kids were unaccounted for… many had dropped out of school, others were swallowed up by the local street gangs, some using or selling drugs, incarcerated, pregnant, and several were even dead. Something had to be done...
As a result, GRIP Outreach For Youth, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, was created in September of 2004. Check out our “GRIP – The Story” video to meet our volunteers, staff, and most importantly, our kids.