If you were to ask the mom of any teenage son what she misses the most from when her “big kid” was younger, she is almost sure to say it is the time spent together. As sons grow older and high school years begin the relentless schedule of academics, sports, friends, and all the other demands of being a teenager start to take over. It feels like sometimes our teenage boys are drifting away and we search for meaningful ways to maintain close relationships. A group of moms in East Cobb has found a way to continue to foster those relationships in an active way through an organization called Young Men’s Service League (YMSL).
The mission of YMSL is to bring mothers and sons together in service of those in need in our communities. In doing so, we allow mothers and sons to build stronger connections with both each other and like minded friends in the community. The YMSL program is built upon three basic tenants serving the community, learning life lessons, and developing leadership skills in our young men.
The foundation of the YMSL program is the community service hours served together by our mothers and sons. Each year our members serve at least 20 hours in support of the philanthropies we partner with in the East Cobb and greater Atlanta areas, with most of our members serving many more than the minimum requirement. Our philanthropy partners include a variety of twenty-six organizations that impact the community in different ways. YMSL moms and sons can choose to help pack food boxes at MUST and the Atlanta Area Food Bank, or buddy with children who have disabilities to play soccer, kickball, tennis, and baseball through our work with Special Olympics, BlazeSports, Horizon League, Special Pops Tennis, TOPSoccer, and other local nonprofits. We also have mother/son teams who volunteer with our environmentally focused philanthropy partners like Cobb County Watershed, Chattahoochee Nature Center, and the Sandy Springs Recycling Center.
We know that the most important lessons in life are often learned outside a classroom. Part of what makes the YMSL experience so unique is that along with the service opportunities, the program has a four-year educational curriculum that combines important life skills lessons with personal development and practical skills. Both moms and sons have separate monthly meetings that explore areas like college planning, job interviewing, public speaking, money management, alcohol/ drug prevention, CPR, care maintenance, and many other topics that are useful no matter what stage of life we are in.
The third pillar of YMSL is the leadership component that runs through the fabric of everything we do. During the monthly meetings, our young men oversee running their own meetings, planning speakers, and taking turns presenting on different topics. Every mom and son is required to serve in a job or leadership position within the chapter. By modeling what it looks like to serve the organization ourselves, our sons learn the valuable lesson that we have a responsibility to each other as well as to our community at large.
YMSL allows moms and sons to develop a legacy of leadership and compassion- traits that our sons will carry with them throughout life as they graduate high school and move on to the next stages of adulthood. While also providing that most important luxury that all moms of teenage boys can never get enough of- time spent together.
For more information about YMSL- East Cobb, please visit our Instagram page @ymsleastcobb or online at chap ters.ymsl.org/chapter/eastcobb. If you’re interested in join ing, please attend one of our Prospective Member Meetings on February 9 or February 13th.
