“Everyone Must Dream. We Dream to Give Ourselves Hope. To Stop Dreaming - Well, That's Like Saying You Can Never Change Your Fate. Isn't That True?” ~Amy Tan

Update on the Junior High Retreat! 

(from Brianne, one of the leaders)

I would say that the retreat was a success! We had five kids on Friday and four on Saturday. I thought they seemed really engaged and were extremely willing to participate; I think we struck a good balance between "hanging out" and actual content for the weekend.

To me, what was perhaps the most telling was our ending activity, where Sarah had all of us write a short story about a time when we were feeling a certain way (e.g. joyful, scared, confused, etc.). We all went around and shared our stories. Though the point made in this activity was that you can't judge people or any situation based off of one piece of information, it really struck me how open the kids were with each other and how willing they were to share about parts of their lives that we don't normally see at Pomona Hope. I think that no matter how much we teach them, building relationships with the kids and helping them build relationships with each other is probably the most important thing we can do. They need a place and people that they feel they belong to/with.

Other than that, I definitely enjoyed myself. We did some out of the box things, like a blindfolded partner obstacle course, and a hospitality game where the kids had to present their snack as if I was coming over for dinner. I think everyone enjoyed the different structures we set up. I'm not sure how much they learned explicitly, but I always enjoy hearing their thoughts about things they most likely don't talk about in school. The kids might not know it, but their perspectives are in such formative stages right now and they're taking in everything around them.

In addition, we got to hang out with some of them at "the feast" afterwards (the dinner hosted by Rock of Faith). Sharing day-to-day life with them, if only for a weekend, was such a delight and privilege. It's easy to get caught up in school and even in IV ministry, so I'm grateful for the time I got to spend away from campus and kind of just hanging out with the kids.

 

 

“The Best Way to Not Feel Hopeless is to Get Up and Do Something. Don’t Wait for Good Things to Happen to You. If You Go Out and Make Some Good Things Happen, You Will Fill the World With Hope, You Will Fill Yourself With Hope.” ~ Barack Obama

Election Update
Let's see... last I left off was being excited about the election at Pomona Hope, right?  Well, the results are in, and they look something like this:

Yup, one of our kids figured out they could write in a candidate, and voted for herself.  Love the creativity.

The Conquerors (the group who voted) with their "I Voted" stickers.

Speaking of creativity, one of the students, while he was voting, asked why we weren't doing some kind of class president election for Pomona Hope.  Besides it not having occurred to us before, why aren't we?!  Stay tuned for more...

HS Bible Study

In other news, the high school girls bible study (still looking for a name!) is now meeting on Tuesday nights, in a really sweet room in the Pomona Hope building that I had never seen before.  That building is like a maze, and it's creepy and awesome all at once.  We also eat ice cream. :-)

The study we're working on is all about Jesus (which, I guess all of them technically are.  But this one is specifically about Jesus).  Last week, we discussed how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the Law.  I gotta say, I know I'm not incredibly well-versed in the Bible and all its nuances, but I seem to know more than I thought I did.  Most of the lesson was based in Matthew.  We started by following Jesus' lineage all the way back to Abraham.  We ended with the Parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32) and the Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-46) and a discussion about the fact that you can SAY you believe in Jesus all you want, but you have to actually DO something for it to be true.  And that people who have studied and learned what God wants them to do, and then go around telling other people what that is, will ultimately be in way bigger trouble for not doing it themselves.

Junior High Retreat

This past weekend, our 6th-8th graders were invited to a retreat put on by 4 of our volunteers, 3 of whom were our interns in charge of the Summer Enrichment Program this past summer.  I tried to stay out of the way, since it was their thing, but they seemed to be having a lot of fun when I was there on Friday.  Here's some proof:

Yup.  Stuff's happening!

If you like the work Pomona Hope is doing, please visit the "Donate Now!" tab at the top.  If you want to support my work in particular, please type "Kids Coordinator" in the Comments section on that page.

“Hey You, Don't Tell Me There's No Hope at All. Together We Stand, Divided We Fall.” ~ Pink Floyd

Funny kid story:  Last Tuesday, I walked into the kitchen at Pomona Hope, where the youngest group of kids was having snack, to hand a note to a volunteer.  When I got inside, one of the more spirited girls in the group ran up to me and asked if she could write on the white board.  The conversation went as follows...

Me: Well, why don't you ask the volunteers here if you can?
Kid: I already did!
Me: So why are you asking me?
Kid: Because they said no!
Me: Well, as much as I admire your persistence, I'm going to have to go with the volunteers on this one.

I figure any parent will identify with that conversation to some degree.

Now, for adorableness!




Halloween 2012

  You're welcome.

They also helped me on an international scavenger hunt that I'm doing on the side, but I can't post pictures of that until it's over.

Now updates:

Pomona Hope had its anuual fundraiser this Saturday night and it went very well!  Really classy.  I got to dress up.  And I got a fancy nametag.  But my favorite part of the night were the presentations.  Joe George, current and founding board member, explained to everyone how it all began.  Emily, Program Director, had beautiful stories about watching the kids grow up over the past few years.  Barbara, beloved volunteer, talked about the personalities of several of the kids.  And Veronica, one of our high school students/volunteers, talked about how much she loved Pomona Hope because of the help she both gets and gives there.  She is so well-spoken and poised, you wouldn't peg her as an 11th grader.  Seriously, she did better up there than I could ever dream to.  Love that kid.

The art being auctioned off was beautiful!  I didn't even get to see it all though, because there were so many people!  It was just a great event all around.

But everything is getting "back to normal" at the program.  Our one different thing coming up this week is Election Day!  While adults all around the country are voting for politicians and issues tomorrow, our 4th, 5th, and some 6th graders will be voting in a mock election as well!  We gave them time to do some research at the computer lab, on who they should vote for according to their take on the issues, by sending the here: Vote Smart.  We also showed them a few episodes of Schoolhouse Rock and explained to them why it's important to vote, and what the world would be like if we didn't get to!  One thing I had to get used to telling them, when they asked "What's the right answer?" was that if there was an obvious right answer, we wouldn't need to vote!

They seem to be excited about it (they probably hear about the elections everywhere they go too).  Should be an interesting result!  And more importantly, they'll be interested in voting for real when their chance comes.