Welcome to BP

Hard Headed Youth

Coach's Note:

One of the problems of raising funds is that BP cannot really be explained and its target audience can hardly be defined. I think that you can get a good idea by looking around the BP website, but I prefer saddle worn life veterans for BP. Most young people are ten foot tall and bullet proof. We just have not had a lot of success retaining the younger crowd. (They don't finish.) This is a short essay by a young friend who was just a mess when I met him. Let me tell you the story and you can decide for yourself. I'll be short.

When we moved to the DFW Metroplex, we started over with our donor base, and I didn't know what BP would look like in the free world. I worked in the inner city for awhile and did an internship at the VA hospital. I worked for awhile in county jails. I was all over the place. One day, I received a call about a terrible tragedy. At a party of three or four dozen high school students, one of the young men, on a dare, raised a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. We don't know if he knew it was loaded or he was playing Russian roulette or what. All I know is that three or four dozen young people were in shock and needed spiritual help. Basic Progress was called in and we did a BP group to help deal with the tragedy. This young man was one of that group. I'll let him finish.

Oh, by the way, he is now married and working as a fireman. On his off time, he runs his own house maintenance company. I would say that he is a success story!

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I am a high school student. I am twenty years old. In the ninth grade, I was kicked out of school for being a bully. I have never had a job for a long period of time. I just was stupid. Last year, Jay Holland, came to a place where I had been hanging around. He is a big, scruffy guy, and I started spending some time with him. He asked me to help him teach a course called Basic Progress. I am amazed at the information available through this course.

Don't get me wrong, Jay has screamed at me and fussed at me and chewed me out. Not in class, but when we were together and I would do something He didn't like. He can be hard. He also wrote and typed my resume, he has been over to my house and spent time with me and my mother. He has actually paid me for work I did in the Basic Progress office.

Jay "encouraged" me to get my High School diploma. Because I didn't want to go to the free school, I had to pay a couple of hundred dollars a month to go. One month, I didn't have the money and Jay paid it. Later, I decided to go to the free school, which Jay had not known about. That was one of the times he lost his cool.

The reason Jay is so passionate is because he cares. He has pushed and shoved and pulled and dragged. Because, he wouldn't give up, I have found motivation. I think I will get my diploma in June. The Basic Progress Course is about life. I am so glad God put Jay in my life. I think I have a chance now.

May God Bless Jay Holland and Basic Progress!