The Heart of Learning Club
by Brad Grabs, Founder
In the spring of 2023, Brad Grabs, Founder and Executive Director of the Learning Club, asked the Board of Directors to step into a new role. During the process of transition to a new Executive Director, the Board asked Brad to articulate his inspiration for founding the Learning Club, and to describe the heart of our mission as he sees it. Below is what Brad submitted to the Board. A history of the Learning Club can be found here.
- Learning Club is relationship-driven more than data-driven. A plethora of research has clearly shown that having at least one caring, supportive adult in a child’s life is a significant factor in their well-being. Children come to know their inherent goodness as a child of God by the way we treat them, speak to them, and see them with dignity and without judgment. Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
- Learning Club strives to offer children a positive and pivotal (life-altering) experience through education, not just in academic subjects but in various ways of helping them to develop their potential and becoming the people that God created them to be. John 10:10 “I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.”
- Learning Club is inspired to be bold and fearless because of the many reassurances throughout Scripture: “Do not be afraid, I am with you.”
- We are driven to seek out and serve the most marginalized children in our community. Matthew 25: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Pope Francis: “The church does not exist to condemn people, but to bring about an encounter with the visceral love of God’s mercy. I often say that in order for this to happen, it is necessary to go out...and look for people where they live, where they suffer and where they hope.”
- At Learning Club, volunteers, donors and staff experience a blessing in their own lives through their involvement. Acts 20:35: “Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ “