“Every Moment has its Pleasures and its Hope.” ~ Jane Austen

New Volunteers
It's been a week full of volunteer trainings and I have to say that we're SO GLAD to have our college students back!  So far, in the last week, I've trained 12 new (and a few returning) people, and I have 8 more coming up tomorrow!

One of the nice things about training returning volunteers is that they already know what they're getting themselves in to.  I've taken up warning people at the trainings that once you sign the Volunteer Promise, you're in it forever.  You become part of the family.  The returning volunteers are proof of that.

Touching Story
I trained one on Tuesday who was not able to help out last semester, but he was here last year, and he very specifically asked to be placed working with one student with whom he got close last year.  The student he was asking about came to us a couple years ago, straight from Mexico, barely able to speak English and has excelled at catching up since then.  Last year, there was one day he started crying at the end of the program because he didn't finish his homework and he knew that there was no one to help him at home.  This year, he's gotten a little more rambunctious.  He's a kid who is finally comfortable with his surroundings, so he's pushing the boundaries and getting into a little bit of trouble.  I'm really glad this volunteer is back and wants so badly to take an interest in this one kid.  Sometimes, that's all it takes.

Health Concerns
We've sent a lot of our kids home sick this week.  We've also had several call in sick.  The first one we sent home is a very sweet girl who always has a huge smile on her face and works very hard.  You can tell, every day, that she is very appreciative to have this opportunity for help on her homework, the chance to meet safely with kids her age, and maybe try some new things.  On Monday she came in with a bad cough, but was still smiling throughout the day.  Until I walked into the room she was in and she asked me if it was hot in there.  It was not.  In fact, it was downright chilly.  I felt her forehead and told her that if *I* could tell she was running a fever, she must be burning up, and she would have to go home and get some rest.  Wednesday, her mom called to say that she hadn't gone to school that day, but she was asking if she could come to the program.  Unfortunately, the answer was no.

The weird thing about all the kids we've sent home is that none of them were for the same thing.  I know that the flu is going around, and some were flu-like symptoms, but some were not.  Just remember to wash your hands, people!  Eat right, exercise, drink lots of water, and get lots of rest.  This flu season is a bad one!

Still Going Strong
Despite all that we have going on this week, we're still running our regularly scheduled program.  Our kids actually had a chance to go to the store this week (which sometimes doesn't happen when we don't have enough volunteers).  The hot ticket item to the younger kids was the Mr. Potato Head that I bought as an illustration for the Children's Sermon I gave this Sunday.  I never had a Mr. Potato Head growing up, and Toy Story came out when I was older, so I had no special attachment to it, and just stuck it in there.  The saddest part is that there was only one, so all of the kids (K-3) wanted to go to the store first.

And now some pictures proving the kids actually do work too.  These were taken during the Troopers and Braves' 2-minute math tests.  If you look closely, you can see some of them counting on their fingers.

And one of the Conquerors (4-6) playing *something* during gym games.

I just like the ghostly look. :-)


What I'm Up To
By the end of this week, I will have coordinated the program twice and run two trainings.  I've finished "Thank You" cards to people who have donated to me (finally!), and, thanks to the help of awesome volunteers on Monday evening, my regular tasks of putting price tags on things for the store and sorting out newly donated books (by AR Reading level, and organization for our library) are almost done!  Now I have the new task of working on the K-1st grade curriculum, if I can figure out how with the resources we've got.  We actually have plenty of actual resources for the curriculum.  The problem is the resources for organization, given the actual physical size of some of the parts of the curriculum.

Should be interesting.

THANK YOU
I just want to say again, to everyone who is supporting me in this mission, financially and otherwise, how much it means to me.  The outpouring of love I feel from you guys is beyond what I ever expected.  Even if you haven't been able to contribute with your money, you have been so creative in finding ways to help out and it just blows me away.  And definitely keeps me on my toes.

So, if you're one of the people who loves me and/or the kids at Pomona Hope, gives of your time, your resources, and/or your creativity, and you happen to be reading this, thank you.

"There is Surely a Future Hope for You, and Your Hope Will Not Be Cut Off." ~Proverbs 23:18

It's been so long!  I apologize!  But so much has been happening that it's been hard to keep up with.  I'll try to break it down simply and quickly here.

New Employees

Jeff and I started at half-time salary at Pomona Hope as the Youth Coordinator and the Kids Coordinator, respectively, as of January 2, 2013.  YAY!!!

Reason #1 this update took so long: I was still working half-time at my other job for the first two weeks.  So, it ate up a lot of my time.  That job was about an hour away, so during that period, I was getting home 12 hours after I left with no real lunch break.  I ate at my desk every day.  Except the last one.  That day I ate for free the whole day.

New Rooms

My last entry was not actually MY entry, it was something I reposted on Emily's behalf.  But it was for the work days in which we moved everything out of the church's kitchen (which we were using as two classrooms) and up to the 2nd floor into what WAS the Session Room, and is now our "Balcony Room."  It's set up like a classroom now, instead of a re-purposed kitchen!  That is where our K-3rd graders are now.

Not a kitchen!

She approves of her new room.

The loneliest goat sees the last sunset last.

Part two was moving our library across the gym and down the hallway into a newly painted classroom, and then changing what was once the library into my office, shared with Jeff.  No pictures of that until we get a chance to decorate it.  But the door is rather appropriately labeled, "Lounge." (Just kidding, we do work there!)

Things We're Working On

Jeff is working on repairing our computers.  They're all donated and very slow and he's doing everything he can to get them last as long as he can.  I'm SO glad to have an IT guy on the team!  Technology seems to hate me at the most inopportune times.

He's also working on bonding with the kids (especially the upper elementary and junior highers), in the hopes of retaining more of them through the junior high grades.  That's when they get super busy with extra-curricular activities, or when they decide they're too cool to get help with their homework.  But it's also probably the most important 3 years of their lives and lay the groundwork for shaping who they will be when they grow up!  So, in an attempt to keep them engaged, we're trying to think of more motivating ways to keep their attention.  (All ideas are welcome!)

Emily was doing SO much by herself for SO long that now that I'm really in it too, I have absolutely NO idea how she did it!

I'm working on taking over the volunteer coordination for the whole program... which won't actually take full effect until I'm full-time and creating the daily schedules myself.  (Which won't actually happen until I've fundraised all that from viewers like you. *wink, wink* *nudge, nudge*)

Part of that is training new volunteers.  We had one training yesterday and three more coming in the next week, in addition to our regular, monthly training sessions.  Let me know if you want to come!  (liz@pomonahope.org)

Reason #2 this update took so long: I was busy catching up on and learning all the stuff that Emily was doing that she was/is having me take over.

(Reason #3 was along the lines of recovery period and laziness)

There is just so much to do!  But now that there are 3 of us, we can finally move forward instead of just struggling to keep it going as it is!  And that, to me, is exciting!

Funny Stories

The K-3rd graders have been asking to play outside during their gym games lately, and I figure as long as it's not rainy or blistering hot, why not?  So their game the past couple weeks has been "The ground is water and you're the shark!"  When anyone who is not the shark gets tagged, they have to leave the playground and sit on the bench, because they're captured, where they wait for someone who is still free to tag them again.  Does anyone know the name of that game? 

I consented to be the shark for two days, but then told them to have someone else do it, because they cheat.  A lot.

In any case, on day one, our youngest girl was playing and every time I chased after her, her eyes got as wide as she could make them (taking up half her face) and her mouth got as big as she could make it while she screamed and ran away.  I never managed to catch her because, while she's not very fast, I was laughing way too hard at the spectacle to actually tag her.

On another day, one older sister got very protective of her younger sister and started telling everyone that her sister could not leave the playground (where she was safe) because she's little.  The downside to that was that just about everyone got captured, and they needed someone to free them.  That's where this occurred:

"Melina*, go save them!"

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As the first kids came in to the program on Tuesday... I stuck my tongue out at Elena* (6 year old)
Elena: Hey! I saw that!
Me: Saw what?
Elena: You stuck your tongue out at me!
Me: You're right, I did. Do you still love me?
At this point, Elena gives me this funny, "What are you even TALKING about?!" look.
Elena: Of course! You're nice!

Bible Study

Our high school girls bible study (still looking for a name!) has been meeting regularly for the past 3 weeks!  Our first meeting of the year, we talked about Epiphany.  And last week we started a "Women of the Bible" series.  So it's basically going through the bible by focusing on the important women! 

I got a bible study book about Women of the Bible for Christmas (I asked for it), but now that I have it in my hands, I'm finding that it's written more for married women with kids than it is for all women equally, much less teenage girls.  And their overview of the stories is disappointing.  So, I'm coming up with my own studies, loosely guided by the book (mostly the order, the general location they're talked about in the Bible, and a few questions).  I think I'll start a heading up above for those who may be looking to study what we're studying.

Never thought that I'd be doing this.  God works in mysterious ways!


*Names changed