About Us

My name is Jim Edwards. I direct an inner-city youth center that is part of Catholic Charities of Terre Haute. The youth center opened its doors on September 10, 1982 as Ryves Hall Youth Center. The center has grown to where we served 1730 different children in 2005. Also in 2005 our named changed to Ryves Youth Center at Etling Hall. The building was renamed Etling Hall to honor the first Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Terre Haute, John E. Etling.

Our primary mission is to serve children and families in one of the most impoverished areas of Terre Haute. The primary problems facing the children and families we serve are lack of education, unemployment, hunger and latch-key children. All of our programs and services are free of charge to all children walking through our doors. We provide meals (Kid's Cafe), educational support , crisis intervention, sports, computer training, amateur radio, boxing, scouting, and much more. You can better understand our youth center by visiting our website at www.ryveshall.org.