I’ve been the photographer for Original Design for almost every camp since its very first year. It is an amazing program that has been awesome to see develop from its first days. Jay, Emily, and everyone else who has been involved, including mentors, donors, and support volunteers have created something that has a lasting impact on the youth in this community. Being able to watch generations of these campers grow over the course of the year and see their connections to their mentors deepen from the first camp to the last, all while learning tons of valuable life skills, has been a very cool opportunity to help document. Finding smiles and laughter in the huge amount of photos I’ve shot each camp day is an incredibly easy task. These kids really have a blast at these camps and Original Design has created genuine relationships and imparted so many life lessons that will benefit them for years to come.

As a local pastor, it can be overwhelming to consider how to share the good news in my community and equally as overwhelming to consider how the Father’s kingdom might truly take root in his children’s hearts. From its inception, Original Design has been a testimony to me of the various ways that the love of the Father is redeeming our community. There are real lives that are experiencing the Isaiah 61 hope that Yeshua announced he has made available. If you desire to contribute to the good news being shared and experienced, lives and families being restored and generations being impacted in Columbia, Original Design is a wonderful avenue to make a difference for the sake of kingdom come in every heart.

Cyndi and I met Jay and heard his plan for mentoring children in our community by meeting them where they are. He has built a team of mentors willing to Help these kids learn responsibility and skills for school and daily living combined with fun events for them with lessons of life, sport and adventure always sprinkled with a message of God’s love and their own Original Design. We are proud supporters of this work done by Jay and his team and for the love they provide these kids and families.

I'm a dad before I'm Attorney General and making sure kids are protected and taken care of is one of my top priorities because it's personal for me. Original Design does great work making sure kids know their purpose, know they're loved, and learn skills they need to be successful and empowered. I'm proud to support such an important organization.

Life here in South Carolina was not meaningful. We didn’t know anyone didn’t believe that anyone had our best intentions for us. I got in connection with the original design, and everything changed. The people at Original Design genuinely care. Not just for me as a parent, but for my kids. They spoke the word over my children. Had my children asking me to pray. The change I saw in my kids and the excitement before any event held by Original Design was priceless. Words can’t express how grateful I am for them coming into our lives and helping when I needed it most, and my children needed it emotionally. Thank you so much for making such an impact.

Being able to reunite with my camper, allowed me to reflect on this first year of mentorship and made me so grateful! I could feel a sense of trust in my camper, and that she felt safe and known by me. That is truly such an honor to be trusted by her and it was such a special day.

Before Original Design the kids didn't have a mentor to look up to. They did not have an outing with anyone to look up to. With our house hold being just me,grandmother, as the adult if the house and no father interaction and mom visits once a week or so, they craved something to look forward to. What has changed are the memories from the Original Design events and outings they had with their mentors to loon back on. Lessons of life or just conversations that helped them. The lasting impact that was made on all three of my grandchildren were the fact that their mentor showed up and if something came up they always called and left a message with me to give to them. The kids still talk about their experience at the USC gamecock football game. The Thanksgiving dinner was awesome and the kids loved being there with everyone they had met. The Christmas gift surprise was amazing. I couldn't have been more proud of a team like Original Design. They have give above and beyond the duty of being there as a mentorship for the kids and an outlet for my grandchildren. I would encourage other families to get involved because of the attention to detail Original Design put towards making sure that all of the kids needs were met and the amount of thoughtfulness and selflessness was present in every activity or gesture. The mentors were also there for me as I am going through the journey of raising three grands on my own.any phone conversations with all three mentors, especially my porch conversations with Jayce's mentor Matthew. When Joseph's mentor couldn't come, he always included Joseph in their outing and I thought that was so sweet. This is a charity that should be at the top of everyone's list to donate to or give their time as a mentor to. I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done for my family.