Light of Chance, Inc. kicks off an online fundraising campaign today for its new after-school arts program, Breathe, through the popular crowd-sourcing platform, Indiegogo.

Breathe seeks to cultivate creativity while providing a positive environment for youth to express themselves, engage in important issues and experience personal and social transformation through the arts.  Students will engage in activities such as visual art, music, dance and creative writing. The program will provide a constructive creative outlet, encourage cooperation and teamwork, teach artistic and social skills and provide a setting where youth are valued and celebrated. 

Light of Chance is seeking to raise $5,000 in 45 days through the campaign. The funds raised will go toward supplies and operating cost. Potential funders can contribute any amount from $1 up. “This is something the entire community can participate in,” says Logan. “It’s a great opportunity for us to give back to the youth in our community.”

“We don’t want people to think they have to give a large amount to make a difference. You can donate as little as a dollar,” he says.

“No amount is too small but no amount is too large either,” he adds with a chuckle.

Of Indiegogo, Logan says, “It helps small independent projects and organizations like ours make huge impacts in short amounts of time. IndieGoGo is a great platform for artistry to be displayed and supported. It is exactly what we are looking to do with Breathe.” 

For more information on the campaign or to make a donation, visit www.indiegogo.com/BreatheYouthArtsProgram. Donations can be accepted online through 11:59 p.m. on June 30^th.

Breathe will begin their summer session June 5^th at the Rosenwald-Smith Center in Madisonville. For additional information, visit www.lightofchance.org or contact Eric Logan at (270) 339-0717 or eric [dot] logan [at] lightofchance [dot] org.

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Students in grades 5-12 have participated in art classes at the Rosenwald-Smith Multicultural Center in Madisonville for the past few weeks, where volunteers teach music, art, creative writing and dance to the youth.

The free show will be at 6 p.m. May 14 at the center on North Kentucky Avenue, with donations accepted at the door.

Jontae Minor, a fifth-grade student at Pride Elementary, has gained songwriting and singing skills through class instructors L’Mer Owens and Dewayne GoLightly.

His concentration never wandered nor did his voice crack while in the recording booth performing a solo part for a song the class wrote, entitled “Too Young.”

“I’m too young for the club, but that don’t mean I won’t throw my hands up…,” he said, singing to the music of the rap song.

Owens said the youth enjoy channeling their emotions through music.

The after-school classes are geared toward fostering artistic expression, said Eric Logan, director and founder of Light of Chance Inc. It also helps teach the students leadership and social skills while providing a positive environment, he said.

The historic building, which has been under renovation for the past five years, has been painted with bright colors, Logan said, so the youth and parents feel they are in a comfortable and fun environment.

“This program has been seven years in the making,” Logan said. “I think the community will enjoy our debut performances.”

Michaela White, a student from Jesse Stuart Elementary, was practicing steps for a dance routine with a group of about 10 other girls.

“I like hip-hop dancing best,” she said. “You can express yourself, make friends and have a lot of fun in dance class.”

Classes for Breathe’s 12-week summer session will begin June 5. Logan hopes to add more classes for the arts program, which are held weekly from 3:30 to 6 p.m. each Tuesday.

For more information or to register for the summer arts program, call

Logan at 339-0717, email eric [dot] logan [at] lightofchance [dot] org or visit http://www.lightofchance.org

By Doreen Dennis

Messenger Staff Writer

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The showcase will serve as a demonstration to the community of what the youth in the program have learned in their 8 weeks in the program. Attendees can expect to see performances from Breathe’s music, dance and creative writing classes. Artwork from the visual arts class will also be displayed.

Breathe provides after-school arts sessions, offered free of charge, for grades 5-12. The program is geared toward fostering artistic expression, leadership and social skills through arts such as visual, music, dance and creative writing.  Breathe cultivates creativity while providing a positive environment for youth to express themselves, engage in important issues, and experience personal and social transformation through the arts. The program provides a constructive creative outlet, encourages cooperation and teamwork and teaches artistic and social skills, while providing a setting where youth are valued and celebrated.

Light of Chance Founder and Executive Director, Eric Logan, is particularly excited about the program and the upcoming showcase.

“This program is a dream-come-true for me. It has been seven years in the making and it is the epitome of a dream and vision materialized. We are excited for the community and our youth to display their talents and what they have learned thus far during our inaugural session,” he said. “We want to see the place packed to encourage and support our youth. Breathe is a community program and we need and want their support.”

The Rosenwald-Smith Center is located at 208 N. Kentucky Ave., Madisonville, KY 42431.

Breathe’s summer session will begin Tuesday, June 5th. For additional information or to register, visit www.lightofchance.org or contact Eric Logan at (270) 339-0717 or eric [dot] logan [at] lightofchance [dot] org.

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 In 2008 – at the urging of Western Kentucky University’s track coach, Erick Jenkins – Light of Chance Founder, Eric Logan toyed with the idea of adding a wellness program to his already multifaceted nonprofit organization. The idea seemed like the perfect addition to his thriving, community-focused organization, however, Logan found himself a bit too busy with Light of Chance’s other programs. Organizing the annual Dust Bowl, Save the Dream Credit and Debt Management Program and Aspire proved to be too demanding at the time. Thus, the wellness program would have to sit on the shelf.

Fast forward a year: Logan found himself becoming increasingly more motivated to bring the program to life, after discovering that childhood obesity was a huge epidemic in America, and that Kentucky was ranked third. He was then propelled to set his plan into motion, resulting in Get Set Go, a free, fun and comprehensive health initiative that encourages youth, grades K-8, to become more active and healthy through nutrition and physical activity. Get Set Go strives to increase youth physical activity and show them how to make healthier eating choices in their existing environment.

Logan successfully launched the pilot program for Get Set Go at Western Kentucky University in 2010. In 2011, he partnered with the Boys and Girls Club to provide Get Set Go during its program on Mondays and Wednesdays and with Bowling Green Parks and Recreation on Thursdays, servicing over 150 children weekly. WKU’s Exercise Science Club, the Finish Line Youth Foundation and the Barren River District Health Department all are partners in the program.

With Get Set Go, children participate in both traditional and nontraditional physical exercises such as zumba, aerobics, kicking, dance and yoga. They also learn new and healthier ways to eat and prepare food. Logan would like to see Get Set Go change lives and dispel myths that healthy foods cannot also be tasty.

“We listen to what the kids want,” Logan says. “We try not to make it like school. We make it real interactive.”

By: Shawn Whitsell
Article featured in Bowling Green Parent Magazine’s April/May/June Issue

__________________________________________________________________________________
Shawn Whitsell is a Nashville-based freelance journalist, activist, spoken word artist, writer, actor, producer and director. He is the founder of the Destiny Theatre Experience and Focused Dreams Films, and an organizer for the Shades of Black Theatre Festival. He is the father of a beautiful five-year-old little girl by the name of Destiny.

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Gracie Rice is worried about her grandson.

It’s not as safe to let children run around with their friends as it used to be, the Bowling Green woman said, so her grandson doesn’t get the type of exercise that children got years ago.

“He stays in the house a lot. It’s causing him to gain weight,” she said. “We have many children who are overweight in the black community.”

Rice decided to attend the Family Teaching Kitchen at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School. The event is part of Light of Chance’s Get Set Go Wellness Program, which encourages children in kindergarten through eighth grade to become more active and healthy through nutrition and physical activity. Thursday’s event, which was geared toward families, was presented by Light of Chance and Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana.

“We’re trying to show them healthier ways of eating. We want to get the parents involved,” said Eric Logan, executive director of Light of Chance. “Hopefully, this will be a healthy start. We’re trying to do it on a quarterly basis. Chef David (Owens) has agreed to be the chef for this program.”

Owens does catering services, restaurant consulting, school consultations and cooking demonstrations, and is the author of the children’s cookbook “Brocklee and the Little Chef.”

“It educates and motivates kids on how to eat healthy. Fruits and vegetables fill the body and brain with nutrition,” he said. “It’s almost like pulling teeth to get them to eat right. We have to train the children by letting them see us eating healthy.”

Healthy eating is about more than obesity, Owens said. Some people are what he calls “skinny fat.”

“They eat fast food all day and don’t know they have a problem,” he said. “Their insides are like folks who are overweight. They have heart attacks later in life.”

Owens knows about being overweight. He once tipped the scales at 355, but has since lost 145 pounds by changing how and what he eats and by exercising.

“Over the course of a year, I started organizing my animals, quit eating fake food and stopped eating mystery food,” he said.

Many people eat meat three or four times a day, which is too much, Owens said. The animals that people eat don’t usually eat the same things or live together, and the body doesn’t digest them the same way.

“The only time they meet is right here,” he said, pointing to his stomach.

So he has days during the week that he eats one type of meat or no meat at all to aid in digestion.

“I can tell my best days are when I eat fish,” he said. “I spend two days not eating meat at all. I let my body rest.”

He doesn’t deprive himself of dessert, such as a doughnut, if he really wants it.

“I have to have it but I have to half it, and I eat a lot of fruit with it,” he said. “I’m not starving because I’m eating in moderation and in rotation.”

This means he practices portion control. He talked to participants about making correct portions of cereal by pouring the whole box in a mixing bowl, using sandwich bags and putting one portion in each bag, and putting the portioned bags back in the box. When people eat cereal, they take out one bag for one portion.

“We have to watch the way we eat cereal. We’re eating too much in a bowl,” he said. “The commercials say that cereal is part of a nutritious breakfast. The problem is that we don’t know how to eat in moderation.”

It is better to eat small meals and snacks such as nuts, popcorn and pretzels instead of eating huge meals, Owens said. “Starvation is not a way to make you lose weight,” he said. “You have to portion everything on your plate.”

Owens said he likes to know what’s in his food and doesn’t eat much fast food, such as chicken sandwiches.

Eating health food doesn’t have to be expensive, Owens said. People can do fine by eating regular fruits and vegetables.

“It’s a myth that eating healthy costs more,” he said. “Organic fruit is fine, but it’s overpriced in some situations. Sometimes they label something organic that’s not organic.”

Owens suggested people eat fresh pineapples four times a week because it helps break down food. Spinach is a colon protector, and broccoli is a superfood because it has a lot of nutrients. He demonstrated how to make a tasty, healthy broccoli slaw using fresh ingredients, including broccoli, pineapple, red onion, cilantro and coleslaw dressing.

“Don’t throw away the (broccoli) stem. It’s where all the nutrients are. It’s broccoli gold,” he said as he shredded the broccoli in a bowl. “You can use the base of broccoli to make broccoli soup or put it in salad.”

He showed the audience how to properly cut oranges, apples and onions.

“When you cut an onion, cut it in half and place it face down,” he said of how to have a tear-free experience with onions. “Trim it. Cut into your onion. Go around the little ridges. What this is allowing you to do is cut your onion with good composure.”

Owens also suggested sprinkling juice from a fresh orange on sliced apples to keep them from browning. On Thursday, he served the apples with a bit of lemon pepper sprinkled on them.

“You can leave it in the refrigerator for a couple of days, and it will not turn,” he said. “It will be crisp, and it will be sweet.”

Lavette Dice of Bowling Green brought her daughter, London, 7, and her son, Gavin, 4, to the event. She said she enjoyed watching Owens make the broccoli coleslaw.

“I would never have thought of putting broccoli, onion and pineapple together or eating pineapples four times a week,” she said. “I really enjoyed myself. I’ll be coming to the next one they have.”

Her children like to cook, Dice said.

“I like to make pizza,” Gavin said.

“Sometimes I cook food for my brother,” London added.

Rice said the discussion about fresh food being healthier wasn’t new for her. Although various members of her family like fast food, she prefers fresh food.

“I eat real food. I like real food. Since we didn’t have options when I was growing up, we had to eat it,” she said. “We ate from the garden, so my palate knows all about fresh food.”

Still, she learned many tips that can help her and her family.

“What he shared about broccoli and pineapple is fantastic,” she said.

- Written By Alyssa Harvey, The Daily News, aharvey [at] bgdailynews [dot] com

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During this age of technology where children spend more time playing video games, listening to music on their ipods and interacting through social networking websites, rather than engaging in physical activity, it’s no wonder that kids these days aren’t quite as physically fit as the children of yesteryear.

In 2008, Eric Logan considered adding a wellness program to his thriving nonprofit organization, Light of Chance, Inc., which had already garnered a great reputation and strong track record for service to the community with events like the Annual Dust Bowl, Save the Dream Credit and Debt Management Program and its signature event, Aspire.

The concept for a wellness program was suggested to him by Western Kentucky University’s head track coach, Erik Jenkins, but with Logan’s time and energy being poured into other areas of Light of Chance, the idea for a wellness program would be put on the backburner. It would be an entire year before he would begin his research. To his surprise, he learned that childhood obesity is a huge epidemic in America and that Kentucky was ranked third in the country.

It was after making this alarming discovery that Logan became more motivated to make his wellness program a reality. After further research, consultation and planning, Logan set his goal into motion. The result was, Get Set Go, a free, fun and comprehensive health initiative that encourages youth, grades K-8, to become more active and healthy through nutrition and physical activity. Get Set Go strives to increase youth physical activity and show them how to make healthier eating choices in their existing environment. The program also seeks to combat the overwhelming epidemic of childhood obesity.

Logan launched the pilot program for Get Set Go at Western Kentucky University in 2010 with the support of Coach Jenkins and WKU’s track staff and team members.  Logan and his supporters urged parents in the community to bring their children to participate in the program after school, which yielded successful results.

This year, in effort to increase the number of participants in the program, Logan changed his approach. Instead of trying to get children to come to him, which proved to be an uphill battle, Logan took his program to the children.

He partnered with the Boys and Girls Club to provide Get Set Go during its program on Mondays and Wednesdays and with Bowling Green Parks and Recreation on Thursdays. WKU’s Exercise Science Club, the Finish Line Youth Foundation and the Barren River District Health Department all partner and actively participate in the program. With what Logan refers to as a “built-in audience” Get Set Go now services over 150 children on a weekly basis.

Get Set Go engages participants in physical activity, teaches them about nutrition and promotes an overall healthier lifestyle – mentally, physically and emotionally.

“We deal with the entire kid, not just physical activity, not just nutrition, but the emotional aspect as well,” says Logan.

Children participate in both traditional and nontraditional physical exercises such as zumba, aerobics, dance, greek stepping, yoga, kickboxing and more. They also learn new and healthier ways to eat and prepare food. The children work together to prepare a healthy and delicious snack.

“We listen to what the kids want,” Logan says. “We try not to make it like school. We make it real interactive. We make it fun. It’s a great balance between fun and effectiveness.”

Get Set Go also extends to parents. The program offers the Family Learning Kitchen, where the renowned Chef David Owens teaches parents and children how to make healthier versions of traditional meals.

Get Set Go has also aligned itself with WKU’s Family Resource Program, to provide counseling sessions to address issues such as self-esteem and body image with participants. Counseling services are also made available to families – something Logan considers to be an important component to the program.

“It takes a family effort. Kids need support systems because in this day and age, statistics
show living a healthy lifestyle is not the norm. The obesity epidemic is affecting the entire family, not just the kids,” Logan says.

He adds, “As parents, if we do not join the fight against obesity, our entire family life is in serious
danger. Get Set Go is a program that we can all benefit from.”

Logan says he would ultimately like to see Get Set Go change lives and dispel myths that healthy foods do not taste good. He would also like to see the program gain national attention and become a model for which other wellness programs are based.  Logan also has his sights set on launching Get Set Go in other cities, beginning with Nashville, as early as next year.

When asked how the program has changed his own life, Logan says that he’s more educated and aware but admits that he still struggles with making healthier choices. For him, just like anyone else, it’s a process.

“I’m learning right along with the kids,” he says. “We’re learning and growing together.”

- Written By: Shawn Whitsell

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Piece by piece, cent by cent, I am building Light of Chance. Have you ever tried building something huge with minute pieces? It is a slow grueling process. If you knew the complete ups and downs, the long grind it took to become success in an industry that isn’t always kind, would you do it? Honestly, I am not sure I would. Old folk say, “God takes care of babies and fools”. I am not a baby, so I must be a fool because lord knows I don’t know how I made it this far.

At times, I deal with some sheisty people. People who act like they are about the community when really they are about themselves. In small communities in which I operate, the church is at the heart of it. Therefore, when Light of Chance has an event, program, or workshop, one of the avenues I advertise through, are churches. Unfortunately, everyone isn’t receptive to my organization. Weather it is a pastor refusing to read my announcement, post my flyer at their church, scheduling unconventional church annual days on the same days and times as my events, or just flat out hates. I could share stories with you that would make some strong Christians consider not going to church. To add to that, I have had the most trouble (hating) from older men. I do not know if they feel threaten, jealous, or just not happy people in general. If you know, please explain.

I don’t like to keep harping on how difficult my job is but it is. Every day presents different challenges. Most days I don’t pay any attention to stresses and obstacle because I love what I do so much. On the other hand, when I repeatedly get turned down for funding, leaders in the community hating, or even see someone in the industry dissolve their non-profit, it can make me weary. However, I have come too far to turn back. Every morning for the past two years when I get to my office, I read the prayer of Jabez:

“And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.” – 1 Chronicles 4:10

I have learned many things over the past six years and while trying to inspire people, I have been inspired by them. Light of Chance has changed and added to my life beyond measure. It has helped motivate me to do better and fight harder for my future. I have encountered things on this journey that are eye opening. I deal with the public all the time. With that being said, it comes with unbelievable highs and extreme lows but when a person works within the community as much as I do, some adversity is expected. Therefore, the only thing I know to do is to keep pushing.

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“I read up on the event,” the Madisonville woman said. “From the first day, I was hooked.”

Organizers hope others will be hooked when the Aspire returns this weekend for its second year in Bowling Green. The event will include a teen summit, concert and gospel explosion.

“It’s a weekend of revitalization. When you have a good weekend, you feel revitalized,” Logan said. “It’s a pick-me-up for what’s going on in your life. Each event is targeted to bring different age groups out.”

The communitywide celebration – designed to empower and unite people from different economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds – will kick off with a teen summit for grades six through 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Western Kentucky University’s Downing University Center. Participants can register online at www.lightofchance.org or onsite beginning at 9 a.m. Participants will receive free breakfast, lunch and a T-shirt.

“We want to try to encourage the teens to be themselves. It’s very interactive and high-energy,” Logan said. “We have workshops that pertain to what’s going on with them.”

Workshop topics will include college prep and life skills, sex and healthy relationships and the influence of pop and media culture.

“We want to show them how to prepare themselves for college and life,” Logan said. “They can be whatever they want to be, and we want to show them how to do that.”

Teens can participate in art component workshops such as acting, music and creative writing and dancing and stepping.

“Whatever they’re interested in, they can express it through art,” Logan said.

A panel discussion called “Hello Fear” will be about “real conversations, real life,” during which participants can hear answers to questions they may not have wanted to ask out loud.

“We’ll have question boxes in all the workshops. They can write their questions down. We’ll also give them a number where they can text questions,” Logan said. “They can do it anonymously. We will answer those questions during the panel discussion.”

The teen summit averages between 125 and 150 participants, Logan said.

“We have kids from all over Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio,” he said. “We’re pretty excited about it.”

The next Aspire activity will be a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at WKU’s Van Meter Hall. Hosted by Nashville-based comedian Brian “B Cov” Covington, the concert will include performances by a variety of acts, including Kendra Chantelle of “American Idol,” Noizejoi, Damien Home, Hurra Season, Darnell Levine, Asia Bryant, Shaun Melody, Ms. Quick and DJ Slikk. Tickets, which are $7 in advance and $10 at the door, may be purchased at Hip Hop Fashions, Giorgio’s Menswear in Greenwood Mall or at www.lightofchance.org.

“We’ll have different types of artists from different genres from pop, R&B, hip-hop, soul, jazz and rock,” Logan said. “In the down time before the concert, we’ll have a talent show. We’re trying to encourage the teens to do what they learned in the workshops.”

The weekend will culminate with a Gospel Explosion at 3 p.m. Sunday at State Street Baptist Church. The service will feature the Alpha Knights step team from Alpha Baptist Church in Franklin, Teen Skits of Deliverance from Eleventh Street Baptist Church, and the youth choir and Princes of Praise Mime Ministry of Stoney Point Baptist Church in Smiths Grove. The guest speaker will be the Rev. David Kelso of Louisville.

Logan said Light of Chance started the event five years ago in Madisonville as a way to give back to the community. The event went so well that the organization decided to try one in Bowling Green last year.

“It’s the longest standing event for Light of Chance,” he said.

Sherman volunteers at the events in Madisonville and Bowling Green, helping wherever she is need.

“I like to work with kids. It’s good to see them come together and express themselves and bond,” she said. “They have so many things in common. It’s good to see the kids do positive things in a healthy environment.”

Her 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son enjoy the event, too, she said.

“It’s something I don’t have to beg my children to go to,” she said, laughing.

She hopes people come out to enjoy all the activities.

“It’s going to be a great weekend,” she said.

— For more information, call 339-0717, email eric [dot] logan [at] lightofchance [dot] org or visit www.lightofchance.org.

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It’s around 3 a.m. on a weekday in Bowling Green, KY. Although some of the city’s residents have just reached the halfway mark in their night shifts at businesses like Walmart, Kroger, Waffle House and Denny’s, most of the people in the city are lying comfortably in their beds, lost in their slumbers. However, there is one man who lies in bed, antsy, fighting the urge to get up. He isn’t working per se but he’s not quite resting either. He’s somewhere in between, eyes opened, swimming in a flood of thoughts, stimulated by a mind that just won’t stop moving, plotting his next chess move.

The man in question is Eric Logan, the ambitious and community-minded Founder and Executive Director of Light of Chance, Inc., a young nonprofit organization that specializes in empowering communities and changing lives. Though he never imagined he’d be doing the kind of work he’s doing today, through Light of Chance, Logan has found his purpose and is realizing his dreams of making the world a better place, one person at a time, one community at a time, one city at a time.

Light of Chance offers a variety of special events geared toward educating, empowering, entertaining and uplifting the community, such as debt management workshops, health and fitness camps and sports tournaments. However, the organization is more widely known for its signature event, Aspire: A Weekend of Revitalization.

Light of Chance’s annual Aspire Weekend consists of a teen summit, where youth between the ages of 12 and 18 engage in a series of informative and interactive workshops; a concert with performances from local and regional artists from various genres; and a praise-filled nondenominational gospel explosion.

After four successful years in his hometown of Madisonville, KY, last year, Logan decided to extend the Aspire experience to Bowling Green. Though introducing something new to a city can pose its own set of challenges, the endeavor resulted in what Logan referred to as “the best one [Aspire] in terms of quality.”

“It was what we had been striving for since the concept began,” he adds.

After yielding such great results, it’s no surprise that Logan is bringing Aspire Weekend back to Bowling Green July 23-24, and he’s expecting it to be bigger and better than ever.

“We’re fresh off our fifth annual Aspire Weekend in Madisonville, which topped the great weekend we had in Bowling Green last year,” he says. “With our great team of volunteers and mentors, I expect this year’s Bowling Green Aspire to outdo the awesome weekend we just had in Madisonville. As a whole, we will entertain, empower and inspire more people than ever and I’m extremely excited about that.”

Sharing Logan’s sentiments is Greg Moore, an educator and youth mentor currently residing in Cincinnati, OH. Moore, who has played an integral role in Aspire Weekend since its inception, has volunteered his time toward the event in various capacities, including workshop facilitator, mentor and master of ceremony of the gospel explosion.

“When Eric called me about his plans for this program over five years ago, I knew it was something I had to be a part of,” he explains. “Other than having a heart for the success of youth, I saw this as another opportunity to directly impact their lives outside of their comfort zone, in a positive manner.”

Moore describes Aspire as “an ideal program tailored toward reinforcing hope, passion for success and encouraging youth to map out a plan to reach and exceed their dreams.”

This year’s teen summit will be held Saturday, July 23rd, at Western Kentucky University’s Mass Media Technology Hall and Downing University Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with workshops ranging from “Sex & Healthy Relationships” to “Influence of Media & Pop Culture.” Teens will also have a choice of a number of performing arts-related sessions such as music, spoken word, acting, dancing and stepping. The summit is free and open to all middle and high school students. Registration for the summit will begin at 9 a.m.

The concert will be held Saturday evening at WKU’s Van Meter Auditorium. It will be hosted by Nashville-based comedian, Brian “B Cov” Covington and will feature performances by a talented roster of pop, hip hop, soul, R&B and jazz artists, including Noizejoi, Damien Horne, Darnell Levine, Shaun Melody, Asia Bryant, Ms. Chifvon Quick, ESQ, Hura Season and American Idol’s own, Kendra Chantell. The show will start at 7:30 p.m., and tickets can be purchased for $7 in advance and $10 at the door.

The gospel explosion will be held Sunday, July 24th, at 3 p.m., at State Street Baptist Church, located at 340 State Street. The service will feature the Youth Choir and the Princes of Praise, of Stoney Point Baptist Church, Teen Skits of Deliverance from 11th Street Baptist Church and the Alpha Knights step team from Alpha Baptist Church. Allataye Russ, of Friendship Baptist Church and Guildfield Baptist Church, will serve as the guest speaker.

Of the work he’s done through Light of Chance and Aspire, Logan says, “In the midst of empowering and inspiring people within the community, they have also empowered and inspired me.”

“Aspire has helped me elevate my dreams, goals and overall life to a whole new level,” he concludes.

Speaking of dreams, let’s hope Logan is getting a little more sleep these days!

For more information, visit www.lightofchance.org.

Story By: Shawn Whitsell

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Bowling Green, KY (June 24, 2011) Light of Chance, Inc. will host its annual Aspire, a Weekend of Revitalization event, July 23rd- 24th in Bowling Green, KY. Aspire is a community-wide weekend celebration aimed at empowering and uniting people from different economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The weekend will consist of a teen summit, a series of informative and interactive workshops for grades 6 and up; a multi-genre concert featuring local and regional music artists and a non-denominational gospel explosion with ministries from area churches.

“Aspire offers an enjoyable experience for all ages,” says Eric Logan, Light of Chance Founder and Executive Director. “The weekend is about mentoring, empowering and inspiring but it’s also about fun and entertainment too.”

After four successful years in his hometown of Madisonville, KY, Logan brought Aspire to Bowling Green in 2010, which yielded successful results.

“It was our best Aspire weekend in terms of quality,” he says of his last year’s event. “It was what we had been striving for since the concept began.”

“We’re fresh off our fifth annual Aspire Weekend in Madisonville, which topped the great weekend we had in Bowling Green last year,” he says. “With our great team of volunteers and mentors, I expect this year’s Bowling Green Aspire to outdo the awesome weekend we just had in Madisonville. As a whole, we will entertain, empower and inspire and more people than ever and I’m extremely excited about that.” He continues, “Every year, we try to make Aspire bigger and better so those who have attended in the past will experience it on another level and first-timers will walk away with an experience they’ll never want to miss again.”

This year’s teen summit will be held Saturday, July 23rd, at Western Kentucky University’s Mass Media and Technology Hall & the Downing University Center, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with sessions including “Sex & Healthy Relationships,” “Influence of Pop & Media Culture” and “College Prep & Life Skills.” Teens will also have a choice of a number of performing arts-related workshops such as music, drama, dancing and stepping. The summit is free and open to all middle and high school students. Onsite registration will begin at 9 a.m. at the Mass Media and Technology Hall. Attendees are encouraged to preregister at www.lightofchance.org.

The concert will be held Saturday evening at WKU’s Van Meter Auditorium. It will be hosted by Nashville-based comedian, Brian “B Cov” Covington and will feature performance by a talented roster of pop, hip hop, soul, R&B and jazz artists, including Noizejoi, Damien

Horne, Darnell Levine, Shaun Melody, Asia Bryant, Ms. Chifvon Quick, ESQ, Hurra Season and American Idol’s own, Kendra Chantell. The show will start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for $7 in advance at Giorgio’s Mens Wear, Hip Hop Fashions, and lightofchance.org; $10 at the door.

Aspire will culminate with a gospel explosion on Sunday, June 24th, at 3 p.m., at State Street Baptist Church, located at 340 State Street. The service will feature the youth choir and the Princes of Praise of Stoney Point Baptist Church, Teen Skits of Deliverance from 11th Street Baptist Church, and the Alpha Knights step team from Alpha Baptist Church. Allataye Russ, of Friendship Baptist Church and Guildfield Baptist Church, will serve as the special guest speaker.

For additional information, visit www.lightofchance.org or contact Eric Logan at (270) 339-0717 or eric [dot] logan [at] lightofchance [dot] org.

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