The Jay Holcomb Urban Center Of Hope
Located at 1177 Poplar in the heart of our inner city, the center serves the Memphis Urban Staff. MAP
Young Life had been looking for an Urban Center for a couple of years. When Jay died at age 13, some dear friends made an anonymous gift of $150,000 in Jay's memory to begin a fund which would eventually lead to a $1,000,000 investment in the lives of Memphis urban kids. The center now provides a quality facility for Club, Campaigners, tutoring, life skills lessons, a recording studio, computer training, a mentoring moms ministry called YoungLives and much, much more.
Jay is a great example of a kid that had a lot to overcome and overcame it boldly. Like Jay, every kid deserves a right to hear about Jesus Christ and to be loved and to experience life to its fullest.
Jay told his mom one day that he wanted to adopt 100 inner city kids and raise them. Today hundreds of inner city kids are being "raised" by Young Life and are being given an opportunity to have a better chance. They deserve a chance to be better equipped for this world and a chance to know the Savior, Jesus Christ, in a personal way. They deserve a chance to wake up each morning knowing, "the God of the universe is living in me, in my heart, Christ's home."
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A little family history. Jay's parents are Hamp and Nancy Holcomb. Hamp and Nancy were in Brad Baker's Central High Young Life Club. Nancy Holcomb is Chubby and Marge Andrews' daughter. Chubby and Marge were instrumental in the beginnings of Young Life Memphis in 1941 and have been a significant part of our history ever since. Dr. and Mrs. William F. Andrews gave a lot of credibility to this mission in its early years and still do today! Chubby and Marge gave money to send kids to camp. One of the kids they helped send was Brad Baker, a sophmore at White Station High School. Brad gave his life to Jesus Christ there at Silver Cliff Ranch in Colorado that summer. Forty years later, the Urban Center was a lot of Brad's vision. It's sure fun to watch God work over time. By the way, Eli Morris, Jr., lived on the property where the center is today when he was a child. The first Young Life Club in Memphis was around the corner at Central High and the second was across the street at Tech High School. |