PictureBrianna (right) with her kids at camp.

Last year our dedicated team of YOKE Folk invested more than 85,300 volunteer hours in middle school students. While we can measure time, we can’t always measure impact. As kids grow up, we often lose touch, so it is always special to see those that come back to serve others. Often the kids whose lives were transformed through YOKE make the best YOKE Folk. That is certainly the case with Brianna McTeer.

When Brianna started 6th grade at Whittle Springs, YOKE was simply an escape – an opportunity for her to get out of the house. Through YOKE she began to make friends and forged a special relationship with her YOKE Folk, Brittney Ogle.

“Brianna was shy and quiet as a kid, recalls Brittney, now a school teacher in Knoxville, “but she was always there and she always got involved.”

As the only believer in her family, Brianna says that her walk with Christ was never easy. Her father was Wiccan and Brianna would argue with him for hours simply to get permission to attend church with her friends. It was her YOKE family that helped her cope with his death during her senior year of high school.  

“That was the most trying time of my relationship with Christ,” says Brianna. “My dad’s death really made me want to walk away from everything, but the relationships I had built through YOKE sustained me.”

Brianna now serves as the team leader at her old school, Whittle Springs, where her tough years helped prepare her for this ministry.

“I’m passionate about helping kids going through the same stuff that I did,” says Brianna. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity YOKE provides me to do that.”

“The commitment Brianna demonstrated in middle school has benefited her as a YOKE Folk and now a team leader,” says Brittney. “She loves and leads well, and I’m so thankful that she is still in my life.”
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This type of transformation is what YOKE is all about. When you give to YOKE, you’re investing in transformation. Would you consider making your year-end gift to YOKE to help us continue reaching young people just like Brittney and Brianna?

All gifts to YOKE are tax deductible. Send your check to YOKE at P.O. Box 3492, Knoxville, TN, 37927. To make a secure gift online anytime, visit our GIVE page.