Sharing Triumphs Of Resilient Youth
An Origin Story Still Being Written
by Chris Duhrkoop
Some ideas don’t just inspire, they carry the power to change lives. My STORY My Song is one of those ideas. This idea is still in it's infancy, but the power and potential are enough that I need to write down how it has begun.
Back in August, I was on a flight from Nashville to Las Vegas. By chance, I ended up talking to Ronnie Bowman and his wife, Garnett. Ronnie is a Nashville-based songwriter and had just won a Grammy for Song of the Year with Chris Stapleton. An impressive accomplishment, but this meeting was much more than chance.
During the flight we talked about life, music, and where stories come from. When Garnett learned I was heading to the Songwriter Showcase at Mandalay Bay, she insisted I come see Ronnie perform. I wasn't going to miss it.
Halfway through Ronnie's set with two other songwriters, Garnett introduced me to Aaron Benward, the organizer of the Songwriter's Showcase and whose vision turned into a collection of talent like no other. When she told him I ran a nonprofit that serves foster youth, Aaron shared the story of the Orphan Train of the 1800s, a chapter of American history that helped shape today’s foster care system and how it inspired him to write a script for a movie to tell some of the stories born from it. As the next song began he walked away and I was left thinking about what those stories might sound like. Some good I'm sure, but some worse than I'd want to imagine.
As I listened to the next songwriter on stage tell the story behind one of his songs and how writing it had helped him through one of the darkest times in his life, everything came together in my mind.
What if foster youth could do the same?
What if kids in care, carrying so much trauma and pain, could sit with professional songwriters and learn how to take the feelings they’ve buried inside and turn them into lyrics? What if they could discover that writing down their stories and then structuring them into lyrics, hooks, and songs could be a way to channel the hurt into healing? From trauma to triumph.
I went over to where Aaron was sitting and I shared the idea with him. He immediately saw the potential, but warned that the challenge would be getting access to the kids. That’s when I explained that Share in the JOY was already fiscal partners with Clark County Family Services (CCFS) and served children in foster care through events and programs. We already had the trust and the connections to make it happen. Aaron loved the idea, and later that night he emailed me to say he wanted to move forward.
I couldn’t sleep. I stayed up writing an outline of what the program could be. The potential literally flowed through my fingers as I wrote it out. I called it My STORY: “Sharing Triumphs of Resilient Youth.” Aaron loved it, and added a simple but powerful twist: My STORY, My Song. Because it would be their story. Their song. Their way to release the hurt that would turn trauma into triumph.
From there, things have moved and come together in a way that makes the whole idea seem not like something that could happen, but something that should it happen. God willing, It's going to happen.
Momentum was building fast. Aaron and I agreed to start with a pilot session in December. This will consist of just four youth paired with four songwriters. This will serve as our Phase 1, a chance to test the process, refine how we match kids and songwriters, and lay the foundation for something much bigger.
A few weeks later, Ghalee called again. His connection in LA was all in. His vision was to connect 10 foster youth with big-name R&B artists for a week-long songwriting session and use his Las Vegas studio to record.
Additionally, we would film the process as a documentary. Aaron works with an LA movie studio.
At first, this seemed impossible. Foster youth privacy laws are strict: no pictures, no video. But after several conversations with mentors in the foster community, we believe we have found a way forward by focusing on youth who had recently aged out of the system or have been adopted and would have an easier path to be cleared for media.
And that’s how the vision expanded.
This December, we begin with Phase 1. Four foster youth, four songwriters, one powerful day of connection and creation.
But it’s just the beginning.
Share in the JOY of Music Workshop will be Phase 2 and held in the Spring of 2026, connecting youth ages 10-17 with local artists and songwriters for a day of fun, engagement and encouragement with motivational messages of hope resilience, and here we will announce the My STORY, My Song retreat later that summer.
In the summer of 2026, we will be ready for Phase 3 which will consist of a week-long retreat where youth will submit an application to be considered.
Twenty youth with lived foster care experience paired with 20 professional artists across genres.
Together, they’ll write, record, and share songs that tell their truth. And by filming this journey, we can amplify those voices far beyond the retreat itself, giving countless other young people direction, permission and inspiration to tell their own stories through lyrics.
My STORY My Song is Their Story. Their Song. Because their voices matter. Their stories matter. And sometimes, when words aren’t enough, a song can carry the truth in a way nothing else can.
This is just the beginning.
Chris Duhrkoop is the founder and Executive Director for Share in the JOY. The inspiration for My STORY My Song is about turning silence into lyrics, trauma into art, and pain into hope. It’s about showing foster youth that their story doesn’t end in hardship, it can rise in triumph and with the help of some professional songwriters, for these youth, it will.
