I first met Greg Larsen over two years ago when he joined us for a Live Your Passion Rally in Birmingham, Alabama. He was new to the Executive Director position at the Young Living Foundation…
Under his leadership the foundation has grown exponentially, the number of projects has increased, and member involvement has skyrocketed.
At the time of this recording, Greg had just returned from Ecuador, so I asked him to talk about everything happening with Young Living Academy (YLA). Turns out, the YLA just graduated their fourth class- with a 100% graduation rate. Compared to the national average of 20%, this is massive.
Furthermore, the vision of the students has increased.
Many of them want to be doctors and lawyers, business leaders and decision makers. In other words, a lot of their next steps includes the need for college.
Ecuador has a free public university system, but it’s extremely difficult to gain admission- space is radically limited. Private schools are financially out of reach- particularly for kids who needed sponsorship to make it through elementary and high school.
Last year, the board approved $250,000 from Gary’s birthday (Essential Oil day) to go to a scholarship fund to empower this first group to attend university. It’s not “automatic”- they still have to qualify and apply. But, now it’s a possibility.
As well, the foundation is creating an endowment (initial goal: $2.5 million) to perpetually fund future scholarships, guaranteeing that the future leaders of Ecuador coming from YLA can take the next best steps for them.
What can you do to help?
A few things…
First, you can sponsor a child in the Academy. A gift beginning at $75/month helps- and, of course, you can give more.
Second, you can give to the endowment fund. When you give there, its STAYS there and the interest continues funding future scholarships. In other words, it has a ripple effect that continues giving.
Third, you can go. There are service trips planned regularly.
For more info on the foundation circle back to episode #57- Https://www.OilyApp.com/blog/57 – in which we interviewed Ryan McManus, a foundation ambassador. He spoke about direct giving, rounding-up, and Amazon Smile- other incredible ways to support the movement.
In the end, it’s about seeing the kids and their POTENTIAL, not about gazing at the problems. The foundation removes barriers to success- in Ecuador and in the other strategic projects in which the foundation is involved.
Links for this talk-
Listening options for the show can be found at https://oilyapp.com/blog
Follow the foundation:
- https://www.instagram.com/younglivingfoundation
- https://www.facebook.com/YoungLivingFoundation
- www.younglivingfoundation.org/blog
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