Love Heals Youth's 3rd Annual 'Concert For Love'

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX -- It was a beautiful day for an outing this past Sunday for the Love Heals Youth kids and their supporters, a wonderful afternoon to listen to wonderful music and visit with foster care families and members of the Love Heals Youth (LHY) team, an organization dedicated to counseling foster care youth for a better tomorrow. LHY works with organizations and facilities that house foster care children, as well as those kids who reside with foster families in providing the counseling needed to maintain a positive state of health. No child should hurt, and it’s the mission of Love Heals Youth, to provide positive resources to children who have arrived at situations that leave them without a mother or father, or proper guardian, forcing them to face the world alone, but instilling them with hope that all is not lost and that recovery is possible. Frank Jackson’s ‘The Table at Madeley’ was the perfect location for Love Heals Youth’s ‘Concert For Love,’ their 3rd Annual event, free for all attendees and designed to raise community awareness for foster youth.

This year’s concert featured rising country star Shane Ludwig, Montgomery County’s own and LHY supporter Payton Riley, and The Heels; a Canadian singing group of ladies based in Nashville, whose magical acapella vocals can literally tingle spines. Each act brought their best to entertain the crowd, doing their duty to inspire and bring hope and awareness of youth in the region’s foster care system, and the support that Love Heals Youth provides.

Fund raising events such as the Concert4Love, and their LHYs annual winter Gala, assist in keeping the wheels turning to providing their services desperately needed to our society’s most vulnerable children. Without the LHY Board of Directors, Youth Counselors, volunteers, and donors, the special services that the organization provides; the much needed mental health counseling, the leadership series, the mobile clothes closet, and welcome home bags for new youth placements; the children of the organizations that LHY supports would be lacking in a big way.

“The young souls that are part of Love Heals Youth learn to not give up.” said LHY volunteer Birgitta Grohs, who was adopted by her aunt and uncle during World War II after her mother abandoned her in Sweden. “Just because you weren’t loved by a parent, doesn’t mean you're not worth loving.”
Love Heals Youth Founder Rebecca Smith, herself a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor, was very pleased with how the event turned out, and all the fun happening in all directions at The Table.

“I think the turnout today was absolutely incredible,” said Smith. “And we are excited for all the kids that were able to attend.”

Smith went on to say that LHY follows foster children for as long as possible, or until they age out of the system. She was proud, when addressing the crowd to tell of a success case, Malaysia, who is now out in society making a positive impact, getting ready to start her own family.

Texas State Representative Steve Toth, District 15, spoke on the legislation he authored during the latest regular session, ‘The Sound of Hope Act,’ with the vow that there should never be a child without a home. Unfortunately the bill never made it out of the Human Services Committee, but will be addressed in the next session, in the continuing effort to offer hope and love to our communities most vulnerable who need constant love and support.

The Concert for Love is a community event in the form of music, with its goal to bring awareness to the needs of foster children, fighting for their dreams to be a part of a stable and loving family. It’s about supporting incredible children, lifting their spirits, making them feel whole and capable of contributing to society.

LHY is always looking for generous sponsors in the need to cover essential expenses that are necessary to support our area’s foster youth. The aim is for children to feel valued, seen, and celebrated with a constant effort that needs to be maintained to make a difference in the children’s lives.

Love Heals Youth is a volunteer-run nonprofit providing mental health services to foster youth living in congregate care facilities, aged-out foster youth, individuals experiencing homelessness, and members of the community who cannot afford therapeutic support.

For those interested in becoming a sponsor, which is a fulfilling role, please email: LHY@CounselingCenterMoCo.com.

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