Celebrating individuals who have made Youthlinc possible

There have been thousands of people who have made Youthlinc what it is today:

• Utah’s local service leader with 20,000 hours of statewide service contributed annually by our Service Year participants
• A service leadership school, teaching project management and collaborative skills to 250+ Utah youth each year
• A quality afterschool peer-to-peer mentorship program for refugee and at-risk youth.

Youthlinc is all that and more: We organize the state’s largest service scholarship award, the state’s only online Directory to student friendly service agencies, and an international service organization where impactful quality-of-life improvements are accomplished in small villages in developing nations through genuine partnership between our participants and local people.

As part of our 2016 Annual Benefit, Youthlinc founder Judy Zone celebrated the contributions of a select few individuals whose involvement has been truly critical with our first ever Founders Awards:

• Sara Conger – Judy’s daughter who was the inspiration for Youthlinc, and who has served as our CPA since the organization’s inception.
• Rich Jackson & Bonnie Peatross – Youthlinc’s first medical mentors who have continued to travel with Service Year teams, inspiring countless youth to medical and service professions.
• Britnie Powell – A participant in our first Service Year, Britnie has never stopped volunteering for Youthlinc. She is a nine time Team Leader, instrumental in Service Year curricula.
• Danny Brock – A past Utah Rotary District Governor, Danny is the reason Utah Rotary Clubs support Youthlinc service.
• Chris McCandless – A Sandy City Councilman, and genuine community do-gooder, Chris’s support of our first Mexico site allowed Youthlinc to expand.
• Nicole Warburton Ekberg – As a second Service Year student, Nicole became Youthlinc’s official photographer, setting the standard for the powerful photographs we still use to tell our service story.
• DeeAnna Peshell Phelps – A participant in our first Peru team, DeeAnna eventually became our graphic designer. Her creativity captures in print and digital form the human connections and the call to action that drives our organization.
• Bruce Powell – Bruce’s expertise in international service development and Rotary Foundation grants – and his collaboration with founder Judy Zone and others in our organization – has brought tens of thousands of dollars of quality of life improvements to tens of thousands of people living in small villages in underdeveloped nations that we serve.
• Gene Banks – Past Utah Rotary District Governor and Managing Director for Merrill Lynch, Gene has been an organizational management mentor to founder Judy Zone. His wisdom and advice have been indispensable in the growth of the organization.
• The Michel Family – Shaun, Ollie, Jeremy, Jerika, Haleigh – the Trustees of the Michel Family Foundation – have been multiple time Service Year participants and stalwart donors to our international construction projects. Without the anchor funding of the Michel Family Foundation, much of the good work of Youthlinc internationally would not be possible.
• David Baugh – Dave has been the Youthlinc Board Chair, bringing expertise in accounting, Policies and Procedures, internal controls. His passion for fiduciary responsibility is surpassed only by his love for our mission of creating lifetime humanitarians.
• Ellie Nazzal Seaborn – A past Service Year student and a Youthlinc staffer, Ellie created the Real Life program from the critical local service need for afterschool programming for refugee youth that taught life skills and provided genuine friendship along with peer mentoring.
• Kari Cutler – The engine behind Promise South Salt Lake, Kari believed in our Real Life afterschool teen refugee mentoring program and encouraged us to seek more funding and expand our services to multiple welcome centers.
• John Zone – Judy’s husband whose advice and support, emotionally and financially have been indispensable.

Click here for our Founders Award Tribute book.
Click here for our Founders Award Tribute video.