Youth Eastside Services Executive Director, Patti Skelton-McGougan has consoled a lot of tears during the many years she has spent working in community outreach services.

Still, she was caught ofF guard when the grown man standing before her began to cry.

The man, a Boeing employee, had been one of many in the audience at a recent speaking engagement led by Skelton-McGougan. Her goal was to encourage Boeing employees to get involved in their company’s charity campaign.

Following her speech, the man pulled her aside and personally thanked her for the work that YES does.

“I said, well your welcome, that’s great, we’re happy to do it,” she said.

The man then burst into tears and went on to explain how YES had saved his life many years before.

“It was so powerful to me to remember how long this organization has been around here and how many lives it has touched,” Skelton-McGougan explained at the recent YES’ Grand Opening Celebration in Bellevue.

“I am so proud to be a part an organization that impacts lives,” she added.

YES has been serving the Eastside since 1968.

Nearly 300 kids, families and community leaders showed up to the YES’ Grand Opening Celebration on Sept. 26 to welcome the new expanded facility at Bellevue’s Crossroads Park. The new central YES facility doubles the number of individual and group counseling rooms available to clients and provides additional space for the agency’s outreach, education and prevention activities.

“YES was born here in Bellevue,” Skelton-McGougan said, adding, “We have partnerships with all the cities, but we did start here and there’s something in our hearts about Bellevue that means something to us.”

The 20,000-square-foot facility is the final product of the extensive YES $10.7 million capital and program expansion campaign. The YES Extending a Lifeline campaign aims to enhance accessibility and ensure that YES holds to its commitment to turning no one away for lack of ability to pay.

YES client Heather Burnett spoke at the celebration, sharing her story of struggle and triumph through the help of YES.

Prior to the ribbon cutting, several community leaders addressed the crowd; including, YES Board President and Campaign Chair Bill Henningsgaard, State Attorney General Rob McKenna, King County councilmember Jane Hague, Bellevue City Major Grant Degginger and others.

On his drive over to the celebration, Degginger had his radio set to an easy listening station and could not help but notice a correlation as he listened to the song, “Hey It’s Good To Be Back Home”.

“Its nice to have YES back home in Crossroads,” he said to the crowd that was gathered in front of the new YES building. “This is an Eastside community that cares about kids and cares about their futures.”

Hague, who volunteers as a mentor to a young client of YES, also spoke at the celebration.

“Today is really a red-letter day. We are celebrating a partnership between not only the community and YES but also government, the community and YES,” Hague explained. “It’s wonderful when government can help organizations lay a foundation that the community, individuals and businesses can build on.”

Government support for the $10.7 million campaign was provided by the state of Washington, King County and the city of Bellevue and close to 90 percent of the campaign’s goal was secured by individuals, businesses and foundations.

A group of kids volunteered to help cut the ribbon. Afterwards, YES Associate Director David Downing led tours of the new facility.

“This is an incredible opportunity for the community, kids, and their families. Before we were at capacity in terms of being able to serve the kids in rooms, we didn’t have enough space and were booked as far as scheduling,” Downing said. “Now we have no barriers to providing services for anyone who walks through our doors.”

The new facility is built on city-leased land and includes a spacious lobby and a volunteer-run, check-in service. The facility also has a training room with built-in kitchen, second-level staff offices and several group rooms used for drug and alcohol sessions, group therapy and intervention with youth in conjunction with parents. The hallways of the new facility are lined with art created by young clients. The counseling wing includes numerous therapy rooms, an audio visual equipment room and two play therapy rooms for children who are non-verbal.

YES provides services to help youth heal from and avoid drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, dating violence, gang activity and discrimination.

By 2015, the campaign will insure that over 43,000 youth and family members on the Eastside have the help they need from YES by additionally helping to secure, outfit and furnish new satellite facilities in Sammamish, South Bellevue and North Kirkland.

The new facility is located at 999 164th Ave. N.E. For more information visit www.youtheastsideservices.org or contact 425-747-4937.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@bellevuereporter.com or at 425-453-4602.