Emerald Youth Foundation hosts annual prayer breakfast
By Ken Lay
Supporters answered an early wake-up call to attend the Emerald Youth Foundation’s annual prayer breakfast.
The inner-city youth ministry hosts the annual fundraising event on the first Friday in May at the Knoxville Expo Center.
Emerald President and CEO Steve Diggs discussed the work that the foundation has done in the past with Knoxville’s urban youth but he also looked toward the future as the Emerald Academy, the organization’s K-8 charter school, has lost a large portion of its federal funding.
“Knox County Schools has extended our partnership for 10 years but we got a phone call saying that our federal funding cut off, and it was cut off immediately,” Diggs said. “But the Lord never ceases to provide for us.
“We’ve had success. We have four scholars applying for every opening we have, but we face challenges. Our neighborhoods are changing and our youth face many distractions, largely from screens.”
The Emerald Youth Foundation honored Mary Frances Tucker, who has served in the organization since its earliest days.
“I love Emerald Youth and I love the Wesley House,” Tucker said in a video highlighting her service.
Diggs made his remarks following the tribute to Tucker.
“It has been an honor to serve in ministry with you,” Diggs said as he directly addressed Tucker.
The breakfast, emceed by WVLT news anchor Ted Hall, featured music from both the Emerald Youth Gospel Choir and the Emerald Youth Singers.
The organization revealed plans to open a facility in East Knoxville similar to its facilities at Dale Avenue and Texas Avenue. The new facility is projected to be in a vacant lot adjacent to Chilhowee Park.
Attendees also heard from Andrew Harrison, who benefitted from Emerald Youth Foundation.
Harrison, who now serves in the ministry as a youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Strawberry Plains, is also a CTE teacher at Norris Middle School in Anderson County.
“It’s such a blessing to be here with you today,” Harrison said. “I never dreamed that I would be standing in a room this full of people.
“In 1991, Mr. Diggs asked me to lead the prayer at the first prayer breakfast and I told him no. I should’ve done it because we had a lot fewer people there back then.”
Harrison said that the Emerald Youth Foundation changed his life.
“The lives that Emerald has changed have been countless,” said Harrison, who was been named Anderson County Schools Teacher of the Year three times. “I don’t want to think about what Knoxville would be like if it wasn’t there.”
