Friends of Youth’s third annual “Celebration of Youth” luncheon paid tribute to the vital work that the Eastside non-profit and its volunteers have done for nearly 60 years — helping young people triumph over family conflicts, addictions, mental illness, teen pregnancy or homelessness.

Attended by 450 community members, the March 19 event at the Hilton Bellevue Hotel featured keynote speaker Dave Pelzer, whose best-selling book “A Child Called ‘It'” documented the horrific abuse he suffered at the hands of his own mother.

“I should be dead,” Pelzer told the luncheon attendees. He described how he was isolated, starved, stabbed, beaten, burned and forced to drink acid by his mentally-disturbed, alcoholic mom.

“I weighed 68 pounds at age 12,” he said. “Four teachers, a nurse and a principal put their jobs on the line (to intervene). It was like a military rescue operation,” as they helped to remove him from his home and be placed into foster care.

By that time, Pelzer had no social skills, stuttered terribly and couldn’t dress himself because his arms and fingertips were so injured from the torture he’d endured, never knowing why or what he did wrong.

He recalled seeing a psychiatrist who reminded him of “Doc Brown, from the movie ‘Back in the Future.’ This doctor said, ‘He’s a mess, he’ll be in prison,’.” He thought Pelzer was too damaged to be saved.

Yet there was also a social worker who told Pelzer, “I’m so sorry this happened to you, son. But you’re going to turn this around. … Whatever you need, you will prevail.”

That is the mission of agencies like Friends of Youth, Pelzer noted.

“Gain trust, challenge them to greatness, challenge them to help their fellow man. Friends of Youth does this,” said Pelzer.

It’s not easy to feel hopeful or capable when you’re young, alone and feel that the whole world is against you, he attested. He told his own story of the time that his mom held a flame to his arm, for 58 excruciating seconds, when he was just eight years old. The pain was unbearable, he said.

But he later told himself, “If I can feel the blisters on my arm, I’m not dead. I can turn a corner. From this moment on, I will never, never quit.”

Today, Pelzer is a loving husband, a proud parent and a war hero, one of seven people in the world to qualify for mid-air refueling of Stealth fighter jets. Who would have thought it possible?

“I feel a strong, moral obligation to assist because I should be in prison or dead,” Pelzer said.

“Challenge is good,” he added, referring to the troubled economy and the way that it has forced people to re-examine their priorities in life.

“Invest in your children now. Make the effort,” he implored. “God bless you for whatever you can do for those who didn’t ask to be born, didn’t ask to be hurt or harmed. Give five dollars, whatever you can.”

Friends of Youth president/CEO Ed Belleba thanked Pelzer for sharing his memories, “coming from a place very deep, very dark.”

But that is indeed what Friends of Youth is about, “finding one person who cares and can make a difference,” said Belleba.

To learn more about Friends of Youth, call 425. 869.6490 or visit www.friendsofyouth.org.

Mary Stevens Decker can be contacted at mdecker@redmond-reporter.com