Asian Youth Services serves primarily Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese children in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago (though all kids are welcome, if they follow the rules).

The center is located at 4750 N. Sheridan Road (Institute of Cultural Affairs), rooms 476-478 (4th Floor). AYS is just three blocks from the Lawrence El stop on the Red (Howard-Dan Ryan) Line, on the southwest corner of Lawrence and Sheridan.

Volunteers from Northwestern University, especially the Northwestern Volunteer Network as well as the Residential College of Cultural and Community Studies (CCS) have helped AYS greatly over the years, as have students from New Trier High School and North Shore Country Day School. For example, CCS turns their basement into a haunted house every Halloween.

The director, Shari Fenton, has worked hard to get several children into Chicago's finest private schools, including North Shore Country Day School, Northridge Academy and St. Scholastica College Preparatory.

Asian Youth Services wish list

• Money (to pay for rent, buses for field trips, private school tuition; checks made to specific needs are appreciated)
• Tutors, especially for reading, math, and the sciences
• Notebook paper
• Cleaning materials (paper towels, cleaner fluid, garbage bags)
• Sturdy bookshelves
• "Modern" computers (we have 2 working Apple IIe and an IBM (pre-Windows). Software for these would be nice, but MacIntoshes & higher-end IBMs would be better.
• Pool Table equipment (sticks, racks, balls)
• A vacation for Shari Fenton, the hardest-working and most dedicated social worker in Uptown
• "El" tokens (especially student tokens, for kids who go to Chicago area schools)
• Money (hey, it's a major need; AYS isn't a for-profit business)

People have helped in creative ways, such as a Talent Show at Northwestern University.

Thanks to everyone who has helped AYS --so far!

AYS is a non-profit organization, and gifts are tax deductible.

If you have any questions, you may call the center, or the director, Shari Fenton, at 773-517-8525. Donations may be sent to:

Also, you may call the following volunteers:

from Northwestern University

from the Uptown neighborhood

More pictures

Asian Youth Services
Preparing Our Future

4750 N. Sheridan Road (Institute of Cultural Affairs), rooms 229-230

Chicago IL 60640

at 773/517-8525  AYS Center Phone

Thanks to Vuthy Pen for giving me a corrected graphic of the Cambodian flag

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This counter was initiated on 2 September 1997

This home page was created by j.p. paulus . Email: jp@paulus.com

The neighborhood of Asian Youth Services:
Map of the AYS neighborhood, Uptown