"Practice Hope. As Hopefulness Becomes a Habit, You Can Achieve a Permanently Happy Spirit." ~ Norman Vincent Peale

It's been a crazy (and HOT!) couple of weeks.  But our middle school and high school kids finally started back!  Most of them are returning students, two of them haven't been part of the program for at least a year, but came back to us, and one student joined us for the first time during our summer program and decided to stay on for the school year. 

Our newest addition might be a bit of a challenge, since he's in 8th grade now and it's his first year with us.  But I think he's catching on to the way things work.  It's also an interesting contrast between him and the kids who have been there for years.  The difference in personalities, and what they try to get away with, or how far they try to take it before realizing the jig is up.  It shows me that we are making a difference in these kids' lives and that we should keep it up.

I'm glad that we only started with the high school and middle school for the first couple weeks.  It means that they have access to whatever they need early on in the school year, so they have no reason to fall behind.  It also means that they get some time to themselves and have more ownership of the program.  So often, after the younger kids start, the older kids are counted on to help with the younger kids.  Which I think they actually like most of the time.  They like that they're given more responsibility, and the younger kids really look up to them.  But at the same time, they're still kids too.

See?  I really do go there!

As for the HOT.  We've learned that this building was built before air conditioning was even conceived of... so it's hot.  It's hotter inside than it is outside, most of the time.  And there's no way to add air to the building!  Even if we had a portable window console a/c, they have to go in an OPEN window, one without bars on it.  We don't happen to have any that don't have bars that also open.

Luckily, our kids will stick out the heat just to watch us sweat.

"A Leader is a Dealer in Hope." ~Napoleon Bonaparte

"Authentic worship is living out the Word of God in the real world." -Rev. Dr. Robert Linthicum

 

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"To Keep a Lamp Burning, We Have to Keep Putting Oil In It." ~Mother Teresa

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy for staff at Pomona Hope.  You'd think that the time that the kids weren't there would be a time for us to take a break!  But in reality, that's when we start planning and preparing for the upcoming school season.  We're changing things up a bit this year, in addition to the school year starting earlier on us altogether!

New ways to reach the kids, new group names, and a new name for the program itself.  No longer will the after school program be referred to as "Pomona Hope Kids!"  Our kids are getting older, and some are getting "too cool" for that designation.  But they're still in school, so we're calling it "After School with Pomona Hope". 

We're changing what options they have available to them once they're done with their homework.  Before, their option was strictly reading quietly.  But towards the end of last year, we were losing the attention of many of them.  Now there's a cup full of craft sticks that each have a different activity for them to do to keep them busy while everyone else finishes their homework.

Before, their age groups were named after the color spectrum (the youngest were Red, next Orange, etc.).  Now, the groups are named in an attempt to give them a fighting spirit (in the sense of standing up for what's right, in the way of all the inspirational sports movies).  Now the groups are the Troopers, Braves, Conquerors, Champions, and Advocates.

There's more educational activities and ideas available to both kids and volunteers, and they'll be changing constantly to keep everyone's interest.  We live in an ADD world, and it's Pomona Hope's good fortune that the staff have ADD too!

In addition to all the changes to the program and set-up, the start dates are changing.  We don't want the oldest kids to fall behind in their schoolwork just because they don't have internet access for their homework, so middle school and high school will be starting the day that school starts (next week!).  They'll get a couple weeks to themselves, since a lot of the time, they end up becoming volunteers, and get less of the focus.  We're hoping this will promote a sense of ownership of the program.  A couple weeks later, the 4th and 5th graders will start, and a week or so later, the K-3rd graders will start.

Part of this gradual transition is to give us time to get enough volunteers on board, since most of our volunteers come from the Claremont Colleges, which don't start back to school until September.  Part of it is to give new volunteers a chance to get the hang of things before the program starts into full swing.

All this to say, lots of planning has been happening.  We've had 3 volunteer trainings in the last two weeks.  We had two Parent Orientations/Testing Days for incoming kids this week, and one more coming up next week for the kids who couldn't make it this week.  There's all kinds of rushing around going on, but we don't even care, because we're just so excited about the kids coming back.

We're hoping for a great year!  If you want to join us, please email me at liz@pomonahope.org.

Or if you just want to support our efforts, feel free to visit the "Donate Now!" tab above.  If you want to support me directly, type "Kids Coordinator" into the Comments section.