58 Maple Avenue v Post Office Box 270 v Red Bank, New Jersey 07701-0270

Telephone: 732-741-7824 v Facsimile: 732-741-3284 v E-Mail: aslanyouth@aol.com

Founded by Craig and Lynn Ann Bogard in January of 1975, the mission of Aslan is to provide emotional, physical and spiritual support for disadvantaged, urban youth (and their families) through the following programs:

• Mentor/Tutorial Services - providing academic and emotional support for 70 at-risk young people with one-on-one mentoring and tutoring.
• Youth Leadership Development Classes - providing emotional and spiritual support to over 125 youth during the school year on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and evenings and Wednesday afternoons. This includes religious education, arts and crafts, recreational activities, field trips, back-to-school clothing, holiday programs, and other cultural enrichment programs.
• Sports Programs - participating in basketball leagues with 30 junior high aged youth; sponsoring a coed summer softball team for 20 youth. Operating the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Men’s Basketball league for 100 Monmouth County residents.
• Summer Camps and Cycling Programs - providing scholarships for 50 youth to various summer camps; operating summer day camps in the Long Branch & Asbury Park Public Housing Projects for 100 youth; providing Spring and Fall bicycle trips for 30 youth.
• Job, College and Career Counseling and Scholarship Assistance - providing over $40,000 in college scholarships for Aslan graduating seniors during the past 4 years (including a $1,500 scholarship for an Aslan alumni to study in England).
• Intervention Services - providing back-to-school clothing, Christmas gifts, counseling services, legal assistance and other specialized services for several hundred Monmouth County children.

The target population of Aslan Youth Ministries is Red Bank’s West Side and the connecting northern end of Tinton Falls, as well as the public housing projects in Long Branch and Asbury Park.

During its 26 years of existence, Aslan Youth Ministries has been a beacon of hope in the lives of countless young people. Aslan graduates include Chris (a US Naval Commander stationed at Allied Command in London, UK); John (a top systems analyst at AT&T); Melanie (an LPN); Felicia (a mathematician working toward her doctoral degree); Richard (a medical technician and world-class martial arts expert); Terry (a graduate in engineering from the University of Tennessee); Jason (a graduate of Fairleigh Dickenson); John (a graduate of Princeton); Ebony (a graduate of Clark Atlanta); and, Earnest (a senior engineering student at Georgia State University). Aslan is currently providing college scholarship assistance for students at Baltimore International College, Bethune-Cookman College, Westminster Choir College, Georgia State University and Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.

Aslan presently reaches 300 youth on a consistent and systematic basis, as well as hundreds of adults. Aslan supports a paid staff of 7 full-time and 4 part-time individuals, as well as a non-salaried staff of over 300 highly dedicated volunteers.

From the White House to the State House, Aslan has been nationally recognized for its many contributions in bettering the lives of disadvantaged children and families.

On September 19, 1991, President George Bush named the volunteers and staff of Aslan Youth Ministries a Presidential Point of Light".

In February of 1992, the New Jersey State honored Aslan with a General Assembly Resolution commending Aslan and its volunteers for their "generosity and dedicated efforts to improve the lives and potential of the youth of their community."

On February 5, 1992, a flag was flow over the United States Capitol building to honor Aslan for its contribution to the betterment of mankind.

In 1993, World Vision (a leader in relief efforts around the world) awarded Aslan Youth Ministries its prestigious Mustardseed Award along with an accompanying $5,000.00 grant.

In 1999, Aslan was chosen as a grant recipient of Governor Christine Todd Whitman’s New Jersey Faith-Based Initiative.

Now in our 26^th year of service, Aslan Youth Ministries continues to lead the field in providing real and lasting solutions to the problems facing disadvantaged children and families. A major strength of Aslan lies in its dedication to the self-worth and dignity of the individual. Aslan provides a safe-haven for troubled youth - a place they can receive positive nurturing and care and overcome their negative surroundings and difficult circumstances. In a world torn and divided along racial and economic lines Aslan is an organization fully dedicated to racial reconciliation and harmony. It is an organization empowering the whole person - body, mind and spirit. Aslan Youth Ministries is not a hand out, but, is instead, a hand up. It is one-on-one, hands on, love in action. Aslan is changing the world . . . one child at a time!