Meet the Founder
Shawn York is an Owner/Operator of two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Southern California and the author of an upcoming book, “Love Works Here.” His success is largely attributed to his leadership and his development of team culture at his restaurants. Shawn’s commitment to care has been the catalyst for this new vision of the Malama Youth Foundation.
I was 14 when my faith in Christ became real. The summer between 7th and 8th grade, my parents decided to send me to tag along with my older brother and his friends, high school juniors, in their final year of Christian summer camp. Within our first hour of checking in, as I watched my brother's friends deceive camp leaders into believing that my brother was our counselor, I knew I was in for an unsupervised and unforgettable wild ride in the mountains. Despite ditching every game of recreation during the day, sneaking out of camp at night, and getting our mom called to suggest she come pick us up early, God’s calling on my life prevailed in an unlikely way.
One night at around 2:00am, by a coincidence that only God could orchestrate, this small group of the camp’s very worst ended up knocking on the door of the camp’s evangelist and keynote speaker. That night, the Holy Spirit used the words of Donny Burleson to cut through to our hearts. He spoke to us in truth and with a depth of grace so tangible, it would forever change who I was as a person. Two days later, I returned home transformed, with Christ as a very real and present part of my life.
I spent my high school years surrounded by a great youth group that attended annual mission trips and I came to love attending summer camps. In between all of the good, I still bounced in and out of trouble. God’s hand over my life became undeniable during the Spring Break of my senior year of high school. A day that began innocently ended with one of my closest friends experiencing a sudden, violent brush with death. Not only was my friend’s life miraculously spared that day, but what should have resulted in a judge sentencing me to jail turned into a sentence of community service – supervised by my youth pastor. By order of a judge, I would spend the next year serving in youth ministry. Once again, God’s depth of grace overwhelmed me.
Having failed my first attempt at community college, I took the year off school and spent my time working at Home Depot and serving in church. That next year, following the resignation of our youth pastor, our youth group was heading to camp with no one to lead them. At 19 years old, I was asked to represent our church by filling the role of their lead camp counselor. This would be my first experience leading a large group of high school kids – a small glimpse into my future career a decade later.
A competitor at heart, I was thrilled with the opportunity to return to camp and utilize my years of experience to lead our group to victory in camp games. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Our youth group had dwindled in numbers leading into the summer and we were no longer the team of athletes and competitors we once were. We would end the week-long competition dead last in recreation. I would have deemed the entire trip a complete failure if not for the final night at camp. That evening chapel ended with nearly every one of my boys standing up and giving their life to Christ. While the final service emptied and campers ran out to enjoy their last moments of free time together, I had the honor and privilege of watching my boys stand together in a tight circle with arms clenched around each other, sobbing in the back of an old wooden sanctuary. Just as Christ had taken ahold of my heart five years earlier, I watched His grace overwhelm and transform their hearts as well.
I never did become the camp champion at recreation, but I know what it feels like to truly win at camp.
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I am wired to see the full potential in others and challenge them to live out their best version of themselves. That week as a camp counselor had a profound impact on me. I had a front row seat to the power of the Gospel, its ability to radically transform the lives of young people through the Holy Spirit and to free them from the chains that prevent them from living out their full potential.
I founded the Malama Youth Foundation for the purpose of helping fund ministries that exist to see young people be transformed by the message of Christ. My goal is to find leaders whose passions are aligned with ours so that we can use our funds to "Take Care" and expand and amplify their impact.
