Over the past 18 years Patti Skelton-McGougan has served as executive director of Youth Eastside Services, drugs have become stronger and children more susceptible to feelings of depression and anxiety — but YES has and continues to be there to help youth and parents recover.

Last year YES provided 38,000 teens and parents with education and prevention programs dealing with alcohol, drugs, LGBTQ support, antibullying and at-risk Latino youths, with 5,000 teens receiving one-on-one counseling, said Skelton-McGougan.

“I’m proud to say we never give up on kids who are suffering through a hard time,” the executive director told a packed crowd at Wednesday’s Invest in Youth breakfast and YES fundraiser.

Those helped by YES included Julianna, who will graduate in June, after a long struggle with substance abuse that started early in life following a bout of family losses. She said she was blessed to have been caught with drugs at school, which meant being put into programming at YES and on her way to recovery.

“I didn’t know any other way of living and this was the life I knew,” Julianna said of her addiction to drugs and bad friends, but YES gave her a way to build up her self-esteem and share the emotions she’d kept to herself for years. “I have a future I never thought I’d have.”

“I’m not the gangster I used to be,” said Placido, who joined a gang and began abusing drugs shortly after the death of his little brother. Through YES’ Latino Hispanos en Acción Together (Hispanics in Action Together) Placido went from graffitiing walls to painting on canvasses, his art being displayed by the Bellevue Art Museum. “I paint because that’s a way to find myself.”

Keynote speaker Penny LeGate shared a different story on Wednesday, about her daughter’s long struggle with addiction that ended in her death. Marah Williams was just one of 3,665 people to die from a heroine overdose in 2012. She would have been 22 this month, her mother said.

“She once confessed to me, ‘Mom, the only time I feel normal is when I’m using,’” LeGate said of her daughter, who had an affinity for hats and was a star softball player in high school. “When Marah headed down this dark path, we tried everything.”

LeGate said her mission now is to improve access to treatment and its affordability for those suffering from addiction, pointing out Washington needs in-patient programs that run at least 90 days, and not 30 as they are now. She also advocates for early education for children and continuing education about substance abuse for parents, teachers and the public at large.

“The world would have been so much better with her in it,” LeGate said of her daughter, “better than we’ll never know.”

YES reported Thursday raising $680,000 at the fundraising breakfast, exceeding its goal of $638,000.