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X-Life Youth Society
Mission, Values, History, Objectives, Leaders, Programs
X-Life is group of Christian young people who are building a solid foundation in their lives by establishing good friendships, healthy habits and by reinforcing values and skills that will enable them to lead the next generation.
Our Mission
X-Life's mission is to build a network of young people that will transform their world through sincere acts of faith and self sacrifice and, by so doing, find their own lives and families transformed through that oasis of compassionate caring.
Here's what's important to us
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Freedom from Drugs and Alcohol.
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Commitment to One Another as Friends.
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Sexual Purity.
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Faith in Christ.
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Living for Others.
Freedom from drugs and alcohol (D&A)
Drugs and alcohol can cause our body to produce good feelings. They stimulate a part of our body that releases 'happy' chemicals. So its not really the drugs and alcohol that temporarily make you feel 'good'. Its actually your own body. Here's the problem; If you use an artificial stimulant to activate the body's happy chemicals, those chemicals will stop being produced on their own. Your body's natural ability to produce those good feelings will disappear. Then, the only way to recapture those good feelings is to use drugs and alcohol. Of course there are many other risks associated with using drugs and alcohol and a huge list of benefits if you don't. But being able to get a 'natural' high is something we think is important. That's why we promote freedom from drugs and alcohol - you'll have a happier life!
Commitment to One Another as Friends
We encourage young people at X-Life to commit to being great friends. That is, being willing to watch our friend's backs and to being there in times of need. We promote the idea of including new people in our friendship circles by inviting them to do things with us like go to the movies, sit at the same table or just hang out. Let's treat others like we ourselves would want to be treated. Jesus said if we do this, we fulfill the second most important principle for successful living. The first most important principle is ... well, rather than tell you, why don't you find out on your own. Read through the website and maybe you'll discover it.
There are big benefits to saving oneself for marriage and a long list of risks for those who don't. In a world of STD's, broken promises and a fear of intimacy, there still remains a proven formula for building a healthy marriage and family. Sexual purity is at the heart of that formula.
X-Life promotes extreme living, with faith based Christianity at the centre. We take the words of Jesus seriously and believe that his common-sense approach to success in life still applies today. And we believe that faith is the strategic component that acts as a type of glue, tying our values together in a meaningful and beautiful purpose, giving us a sense of destiny and self worth.
The words of Jesus tell it best; "He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who loses it for my sake will save it". When this was first written, most people couldn't understand what he was trying to say. Now, two thousand years later, many activists and visionaries are realizing the power hidden in those words. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you end up losing it. The only way to truly live is to is to be willing to give yourself away for the benefit of others. We believe that self-centered people are the cause of many of the world's most horrific problems. As Edmund Burke put it; "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing". Therefore we will not rest in the squalor of our self-centeredness only to see our friends and family dwindle due to apathy and criticism. We will not idly stand by as people in our community go hungry and where lonely people are unloved. We will not stand aside and do nothing as the innocent children of our world are starved, raped and sold into slavery. We are committed to living for others.
History: X-life was founded in February 2005 by Carmen Traub. Her humble goal was to create a network of good friends for her son Izzy, who would then help each other make it through high school without getting into drugs and alcohol. X-Life began with Izzy and three friends meeting in Carmen's living room. Then as word spread, other kids joined in and more adults signed up to help out.
From the beginning, faith has played an important role at X-Life. Many local kids go to bible camp during the summer to enjoy water sports, camping and adventure. Surprisingly, survey's of kids that attend the camps show that their favorite part of camp is usually 'chapel'. Singing gospel songs and being exposed to issues of faith somehow resonate with the kids and many experience positive change in their lives as a result. X-Life has tried to build on those experiences by making faith in Christ a practical part of every day living with the objective of us finding peace with our Creator, becoming more successful as families and better servants of our friends and of our community.
Commitment to principles promoted by X-Life will be evidenced by positive habits such as standing up for what is right, defending the innocent, honoring one’s parents, obeying the law, faithfulness, exercising self control, maintaining good attitudes, showing mercy to the poor, serving our community, resisting peer pressure and choosing friends wisely. A positive lifestyle such as this requires extreme commitment and the making of many difficult decisions. That’s why Carmen called the group ‘X-life’.
Who runs X-Life? : X-Life is governed by a board of directors and managed by a network of volunteers most recently overseen by founder, Carmen Traub.
Volunteers: A huge assortment of volunteers work throughout the year to serve the kids in many capacities. As a parent, you can drop in to any meeting at anytime, however, if you want to help on a regular basis you’ll have to go through the screening process (got to keep the kids safe!).
Who pays for it? Most events and programs are free for the kids and there is no obligation as a parent to ever give money. We want X-life to be accessible to every child in the community. X-life is paid for by generous donations from parents, friends, businesses, churches, the municipality and other interested community organizations.
- Reestablishing appropriate norms of behavior through ongoing education on the consequences of drugs and alcohol and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
- Facilitating the building of a network of like minded teens and utilizing positive peer pressure to create appropriate behavioral boundaries.
- Creating self esteem and a culture of success through skill development, achievement opportunities and positive feedback mechanisms such as praise, prizes and recognition.
- Reinforcing a strong moral compass by giving individuals the opportunity to explore and enhance their personal experience and commitment to traditional Christian values such as social justice, generosity, serving our neighbors and faith in Christ. It is worth mentioning that X-life is the ONLY ongoing community program with a recognized spiritual component that is designed for teenagers. X-Life is non denominational and is not affiliated with any church. Over 90% of the kids that attend X-Life programs do not attend church, nor do their families.
Here are the programs we currently offer for the youth in our community.
§ Xsled; Winter snowmobile training.
§ Barely Legal Driver Training; In cooperation with the Pemberton Race Association and Barely Legal Motorsports we offer driver training to kids as an incentive to remain free from drugs and alcohol.
§ Music Program; Participants learn musical skills, team work & self esteem. Participants are offered free lessons (guitar, bass, vocals) as well as a practice room and equipment. Since inception we have formed three different youth bands for special performances in Millennium Place, Conference Centre and the High School.
§ Sound engineering; Kids have the opportunity to learn basic and intermediate skills in live mixing and sound engineering by volunteering at various live performance events.
§ Community meals; Frozen meals are prepared by X-life kids for the needy and demobilized in our community. The children build the menu, shop, cook and freezer bag the prepared food in meal sized portions. The recipient of the donated food can then thaw out the prepared meals at their convenience.
§ Drop-in Centre; In the past this has been our flagship program.
§ Fundraising for the needy; We promote an ongoing focus on helping those around us. As a result, X-Life kids helped raise $4,000.00 for two local children who lost their mother in an ATV accident. X-Life kids helped raise $1,000.00 for medical equipment for a Sea to Sky family who had a very sick baby. X-Life kids helped raise money to build a simple village in Uganda to support the ongoing care and education of previously kidnapped and tortured children. X-Life kids are currently raising money to build an orphan home for seventeen parentless children in Mozambique.
§ Special Events – Several per year including road trips, youth conferences, DJ workshops, reunions, birthday parties, songwriting classes and parties.
All groups are supervised by responsible adults.