SYRACUSE — “You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything,” Bill Ballenger said of young people today. “There just seems to be this grey area everyone operates in, where nothing really matters anymore.”

Break the Grey, Ballenger’s nonprofit faith-based organization, seeks to restore absolutes in the eyes of the youth. Ballenger, founder of Break the Grey, knows the trouble youth can get into when they live in a life where there are no absolutes. Originally from Franklin, Ind., Ballenger found himself in White’s Residential and Family Services in Wabash after getting into drugs and dealing and eventually running away from home.

A few years later, he and his new wife were arrested at home for his role in local violence and burglaries; their daughter was taken from them and they were sentenced to six years in the Indiana Department of Corrections. It was his first offense.

During his time in prison, Ballenger made a promise to himself and to God he would make a change in his life. He began Break the Grey as a pop rock band called Ballenger, recording music in 2001 and, in 2005, he started speaking at schools.

“Our organization is a faith-based organization, however, because we work within the public school systems, we can’t and we don’t bring any of our faith into it,” Ballenger said. “Even though we don’t share any of the biblical references in schools, they know something is different about us.”

Syracuse-Wawasee Ministerial Association has been working with Wawasee High School in the wake of the student tragedies around Kosciusko County.

Next week, Ballenger visits Milford Middle School students at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday. He’ll visit Wawasee Middle School at 2:20 p.m. the same day. On Thursday, April 11, Break the Grey will have a school assembly at Wawasee High School at 8:15 a.m. to present his message to more students lost like he was.

“Can you imagine trying to focus nowadays in school? There’s so many different things going on in your life and if home is terrible, school’s going to suck for you,” Ballenger said. “We try to really focus on what they could be, not all their mistakes. We’re here to talk about it and get it out on the table, the issues we’re dealing with as teenagers.”

“We’ve got to do something. None of us are perfect and the schools are trying. Across America, it’s the same thing,” Ballenger continued. “In almost every school, I ask the question, ‘how many of you know at least one person that has made a decision and they’re, today, dead because of it?’”

According to Ballenger, at least 20 percent of students in most of the schools he visits for Break the Grey raise their hands. “They need some hope right now,” Ballenger said. “We don’t spend any of our time telling them to not do any of those things; all we do is try to raise awareness and ask questions.”

After the assemblies, Ballenger and his group of interns who run the program try to stick around to talk to students who are struggling.

“The stories that these students come and tell us about what’s going on at home or what’s happening to them, or what’s happened to them, that’s how I know it works,” Ballenger said. “Students know if something really cares or not.”

Break the Grey interns also follow up with students after the group leaves the area through social media.

“I’ve got to help think about their choices. We all think about it when we’re at the funeral home, visiting and paying our last respects. Break the Grey is trying to bring it out into the open and talk about it now.”

Thursday night, after all the assemblies have taken place, Ballenger and his crew will return to Wawasee High School for a concert with Ballenger featuring Forever at Last as the opening band.

Tickets are free to students, but every entrant must have a ticket, which will be available at both Milford and Wawasee middle schools as well as Wawasee High School. Dairy Queen in Syracuse will also have a limited number of tickets available, which will be open for pick-up on Wednesday, April 10. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the show, which goes from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and will close with a prayer.