GRIP's History
In April of 1999, phones rang all across the city of Chicago in response to Larry Butterfield’s desperate call to action. He had just sat through a “where are they now,” presentation cataloguing the lives of hundreds of grammar school kids he had been ministering to over the past decade in the infamous Cabrini Green public housing projects. To his dismay, many of them had tragically lost their way as teenagers. Once full of promise, dreams, and hope for the future, most of the young men and women he ministered to were now on the path to destruction. Face after face, story after story, the vast majority of the Cabrini Youth were unaccounted for. The streets seemed to be winning. Nearly all of them were fatherless, dozens had dropped out of school, many others were swallowed up by local street gangs, using or selling drugs, in prison, pregnant, or even dead. Enough was enough, Larry decided something had to be done. Someone needed to fill the gap and care for to these at-risk teens.
Over the next five years all the pieces for a teen outreach ministry fell into place. Phone calls were answered with compassion, people gave generously to the cause, and some even left their jobs to serve. In September of 2004, GRIP Outreach For Youth, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, was created to address the needs of fatherless teenagers in Chicago. Since then, GRIP has introduced a father-figure and the hope of Jesus Christ into the lives of hundreds of at-risk teens who desperately needed someone to love them and walk life alongside them.
For a more in depth look at the how GRIP Outreach For Youth is changing the lives of fatherless teenagers, check out the video below.