We are C.B.A. & You, Inc., an organization focused on providing youth archery education free of charge to youth and their parents.

We started this organization after talking with one friend in particular.  He said that he lived all of his childhood down the road from a bow manufacturer and always wanted to learn archery, but his family didn't have the funds to purchase the basic archery equipment.  Now, he is in his 60's and still has never picked up a bow.  We thought that this was such a loss and tried to think of what could be done for youth like this friend of ours to be educated in archery without expense to them or their parents as it is a great expense for many parents to check out the sport of archery for their children.  We came up with the idea of having youth archery centers, camps and outdoor adventures in hopes that youth from all walks of life would be able to come and discover the sport of archery and if they liked it they could return any time the center is open and go on outdoor adventures and to camps beyond the city limits into the natural habitat for archery.  We weren't sure how we would get the funding for this type of opportunity until we received information on non-profit organizations.  We decided to go ahead and start a non-profit organization.  We learned how to receive funding from many different sponsors, allowing the youth to not have any monetary commitment.  Some of our funds come from private foundations who give to youth education opportunities and the other comes from other sponsors.

We have found in our own experience and in watching the media that in the inner cities a lot of youth are familiar with guns, but are not as familiar with bows. Though archery is only one discipline of many, we feel we can best educate the youth in the value of life through the sport of archery. We believe this because of our own experience with archery in comparison to firearms and feel the youth should have the opportunity to experience this for themselves. Our goal is to give this opportunity to youth who would never be able to experience it on their own. We believe that the youth can become better familiar with the value of life by taking away the mental thoughts of hurting another person, which is something that is shown to them on a consistent basis by the media. Through the disciplines learned in archery, we hope the youth will value their lives and treat others with that same value. We are offering the youth an opportunity of a lifetime and will hopefully bring about some of the next generation of expert archers and Olympic medalists, as well as doctors, lawyers and model citizens in the process.  There is a national program going on to teach you in schools across the country and we hope to join in with them and the national conservation departments in bringing archery and youth back together.

Our name stands for Christ (without Him we are nothing), Bows & Arrows (what we are educating the youth in) & Youth (our target group to educate), Incorporated. We started our organization two years ago and asked for funding from 45 different foundations, but they needed proof that we weren't solely dependent on them, and since no one has ever done this (at least to our knowledge) before, they weren't willing to fund our opportunity as yet. We were out of ideas to raise funds until the spring of 2005 and learned of an opportunity to have land donated to us for a fundraising opportunity and we are now holding 3D Fundraiser shoots.  See the "events" page for more details.

Our long-term goal is to have youth archery education centers where the youth come and borrow all of the equipment necessary to learn archery free of charge and have volunteers to teach them. Our focus in the next couple of years is on raising enough funds to create one youth archery center in the Kansas City metropolitan area. This center will cater to the youth in Kansas City and the surrounding areas. In the following years we plan to open a center in each of the major metropolises in Missouri and eventually open centers nationwide.    We have a great outlook on what the future holds for these centers and the youth involved with them, but for now we are focusing on raising the funds and informing the public of what we are offering and wanting to offer in the future.

We are always looking for more ways to advertise and let others know about our organization and its purpose, so if you have some, please "contact us". We will be holding a few more fundraiser shoots this year and will end the shoots the weekend before archery hunting season opens.  The shoots will open again in the early spring and will continue through the Fall and will continue each year as long as the landowners will allow us.  We hope to have a fundraiser shoot everywhere there is a center to help in funding the centers operations.  Our major funding is from individual people like you who come out to have a good time and enjoy helping youth learn.  If you have more questions about us, please "contact us".  We would love to talk more with you about our goals and your ideas to bring archery and youth back together again.

CBA & You Board Members

 Christ Bows Arrows & Youth Inc.