More than a Mission Statement

Photography by Jodi B Herrling    

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Hello Family and Friends,
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We hope this message finds you all in good health and high spirits. Throughout this particular summer, I've been thinking a lot about the SSYO mission statement, that is, “to build strong, young lives, so our community will thrive.” As a person who's almost always assessing things, it's pretty normal for me to ask myself if our organization is staying on course, as far as practicing our core values, in order to continue achieving our mission. However, I've realized something even deeper recently in regard to this assessment. For those of us on staff here at SSYO, building strong, young lives is much more than a mission statement at our place of current employment.

All seven of our paid staff here share a deep passion for investing in and helping shape the younger generations in whatever positive capacities we can. This passion, calling, and commitment goes far beyond only doing these things at our job. Over half of our team are parents with their own children. The other three staff members hope to have children of their own someday. Beyond this, all of us invest in younger people in different ways outside of our jobs here at SSYO. Whether it's with our own kids, through youth ministries at our churches, coaching youth sports, etc., we all do our best to build strong, young lives wherever we are.

What's the point of sharing all of this, you might ask? It's pretty clear to see. I have realized that building strong, young lives is much more than just our mission statement at work. For all seven of us staff members at SSYO, living out the mission is a lifestyle. That's a pretty exciting thing to realize! You see, I believe that we invest far more of our time, energy, and resources into things that we’re passionate about and genuinely believe in. The fact that each of us are living out this mission statement every day explains why we put everything we have into this mission.

I don't know about you all, but I feel a lot more confident supporting causes that are being led by teams that are passionate about what they are attempting to accomplish. There seems to be a higher likelihood for success, given that those teams are involved for more meaningful reasons than financial gain or career advancement goals. We are a group of leaders who are committed to building strong, young lives as a lifestyle – not just for work. The same can be said about our wonderful board of directors as well. For those of you who've never heard this before, your support is appreciated and is being stewarded well. This is primarily because of who we are as a team. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We promise to continue building strong, young lives through SSYO and beyond. And once again, it's your prayers and support that enable the mission to keep moving forward. Blessings to all.
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Sincerely,
Liavaa “Jake” Moevao

Jake Moevao

Liavaa Iakopo Moevao is known to most as “Jake.” Jake is the Executive Director here at SSYO. Prior to joining the team here, Jake served as a Youth Pastor at Calvary Corvallis & has also been involved with coaching high school varsity football at both Santiam Christian & Crescent Valley. Jake is very passionate about doing family & leadership well. Outside of work, Jake loves spending time with his wife & daughters, hanging out with family, traveling, watching sports, and having time alone to play sports video games.