One relationship with a loving adult can change the course of a child's life forever! Ezekiel Ministries partners with local churches to recruit Christian mentors who will make a long-term investment in the life of a child through our programs. Children can participate in our programs through community-based mentoring, our after-school programs, or through our youth program, EZE NextGen. Each program is designed to give hard-working parents a valuable long-term resource where their children can be safe, encouraged, and guided well by loving adults. Ezekiel Ministries began as part of a service project in 2009 in a low-income community called "The Gates." The short-term service project led to the revelation of major problems facing the children who lived in The Gates community, and the immense need of children in the community to have relationships with loving adults. Members of the local Church jumped into action, showing up consistently to meet the relational needs of the children in The Gates community, which quickly led to the beginning of what is now our EZE Mentoring program. In 2012, the EZE After-School program was officially started in Columbia, officially becoming Ezekiel Ministries. In 2014, Ezekiel Ministries attained 501(c)3 status. And in 2016, EZE Farms was created as an apprenticeship program for middle and high school boys, and a second EZE After-School program was started in Downtown Lexington. In 2022, a third EZE After-School program was started in White Knoll; our peer leader program for middle and high school students was relaunched as EZE NextGen to provide an after-school program for teenage students. As Ezekiel Ministries continues to expand, our foundational roots in mentoring remain the same. We continue to focus on children building quality long-term relationships with loving adults who show up, listen, and guide through all avenues of our programming.