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Indianapolis May Be Life Station Model City
(posted Feb 15)
Establishing as many as twelve Life Stations in Indianapolis might seem
like an impossible goal, but not for BGW founder Dan Cook and Pike Township
resident Jerry Twombly. They are counting on God's divine power to give
them guidance to save the youth by organizing not-for-profit organizations
called Life Stations.
Twombly and Cook made a presentation on January 20 at the Kingdom Center,
located north of the Lafayette Square Mall, before members of the congregation
and city officials. Cook came from Utah to share the plan. During his visit,
he tried to schedule as many meetings as possible with local and state
representatives to discuss the plan.
Part of the Life Station program provides an opportunity for the youth
to earn scholarship money by volunteering ten-hours a week for three years.
Students can earn scholarship credit as high as $30,000. The money will
be invested by the Ambassador Foundation, located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A student must volunteer 500 hours
before becoming vested into the program. The scholarship money will be
generated by profits from students volunteering to work at the restaurant,
performing art center, facility rentals and micro businesses.
Twombly explained Indianapolis is to be the model city for saving youth.
“It is not our vision. It's God's vision to claim this generation of youth
to Jesus Christ.” The two men's overall goal is to have as many Life Stations
as McDonald's with the hopes to grow them internationally.
The first step of their international vision is to construct a 15,000 square
foot facility in the Lafayette Square area. The plan is to partner with
other non-profits that are interested in helping the youth and others.
Twombly said that non-profit organizations that come to volunteer to assist
the youth can receive ten percent of the Life Station's sales for its week
of service.
Twombly is starting fund raising for the Life Station Foundation, although
each Life Station is expected to be a stand alone 501 (c) 3 tax exempt
organization with its own board of directors. Twombly expects each Life
Station to have two boards. A development board, comprised of the "whose
who" in the community, will oversee construction, the second will
make managerial decisions.
Twombly circulated email requesting donations for the foundation's “one
in a million” plan, designed to inspire one million people to contribute
$25 each. He said idea came from Obama's campaign.
Although Twombly stated that “Life Station Foundation is a registered 501(c)3
and is eligible to receive donations and grant tax deductible receipts”,
IRS Spokesperson Jodie Reynolds said, “Based on my research with the provided
information, the IRS does not have an approved application for the organization
as a tax exempt organization under IRC 501(c)(3)."
According to Reynolds, there are a number of technical reasons an application
might not be approved.
Cook explained that BGW designs and build churches, and has built over
500 churches in last ten years. Cook expressed his concern that our youth
are drifting from the Christ's principles. “It feels like we've lost three
or four generations over 30 or 40 years and statistically, we can't afford
to lose another one. That is just where we are at.” He said the youth are
searching and they want to be mentored.
The IRS would not comment if the students would have to pay taxes on the
scholarship money once it's received from the investment.
Twombly and Cook will be lecturing at the Ambassador Foundation's seminar
in March. Twombly, who is the president of BGW|Development, has an alliance with Ambassador Foundation. Each Life Station is to be
a licensing franchise with BGW | Development that will receive a nominal
fee based on revenue.
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