Kendallville, a small community of nearly 10,000 in northeast Indiana, is a place where teens are often left with little to do and need a place to hang out. So, when a group of teens had a dream to turn a junkyard into a teen center, the town rallied, and "The Wreck" was born.

One winter, a group of teens in Kendallville were walking by an abandoned junkyard with a derelict building, where some of their peers hid and did drugs, when they had the idea of building a teen center. They took their idea to the owner of the site, and he donated the property. They rallied businesses, churches, and the community for support as their passion for their project snowballed.

In May 1999, their new teen center, The Wreck, held its first event—a battle of the bands. Since then, The Wreck has served as a faith-based coffee house, concert venue, and place to relax. On most Saturday nights, you will find 80–120 teens playing pool or foosball, hanging out online (with a filter), watching a movie, or just enjoying time with their friends.

The Wreck is run by a board of fifteen teenagers and a handful of adults.

Once the founding teens of The Wreck grew older and graduated, the original passion was harder to sustain. The teens were holding monthly fundraisers—car washes, duck races, bake sales, etc.—but they needed something more reliable to cover their $65,000 annual budget.

They turned to the Dekko Foundation, a private family foundation based in Kendallville that helps organizations that build skills and abilities in young people. The Dekko Foundation offered to pay for The Wreck to send a team to be trained in fundraising at a Benevon Workshop, making them the first group of teens to be trained and coached by Benevon.

"They had a great story and a great mission. They just weren't getting the people in to hear it," said Sharon Beckman, program director at the Dekko Foundation. A team of three teens and three adults from The Wreck attended a Benevon Workshop in November 2004.

"After the workshop, they cast their net more broadly in the community," said Beckman.

The teens struggled with getting enough Table Captains, but at their first Ask Event^™ in May, they had sixty-nine attendees and raised nearly $50,000 in gifts and pledges—more than any other fundraiser in their history, according to Cheri King, The Wreck's executive director.

At the Ask Event, the teens themselves gave powerful stories on how The Wreck changed their lives. There was Ashley, whose life growing up covered every kind of challenge imaginable—divorce, drugs, and loss of family members. Ashley had started cutting herself and felt very lost before finding acceptance at The Wreck.

Beckman said the president of the Dekko Foundation was so moved by Ashley's story that he had her come speak to the foundation.

Four other teens spoke as well. One talked about how The Wreck filled a void when her brother left for college. Another talked about how The Wreck could help her sister from going down the wrong track.

"We learned that teens are their own best asset," said King. "We learned that, with their passion and love for other teens, this fundraising technique could, would, and did work."

Now they are spinning the next dream, said King: an indoor skateboard park open seven days a week that will double as a concert arena with paid staff to provide programming and supervision.