Hi! My name is Melanie Walsh, and I participated in IOOBY this past summer. I'm a junior at Myers Park high school and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte. While I was not able to attend the first youth council meeting, I have been truly inspired by my experiences with Mecklenburg Ministries so far and I'm so excited for this year. On Saturday, a group of us went to Urban Ministries to help them prepare for an upcoming art show on September 14th. The showing will be accompanied by a local food tasting and all proceeds from both events will benefit the artists and Urban Ministry Center. It was really moving for me to see how our neighbors turned painful life experiences into amazing works of art and symbols of hope. The pieces ranged from pop art to religious-themed to funky abstract art, and were all really beautiful. We did a lot of cleaning, sanitizing, and moving objects around to make the space look nice for the Art Showing. It was wonderful to look around the gallery and outdoor space after we had finished and see how much better everything looked. I really enjoyed volunteering at Urban Ministries, and I'm looking forward to the rest of our Youth Council activities this year!