Update from the Director

Hey Everyone:

Ever had one of those WOW MOMENTS?? We have been having a WOW MONTH!!! Things are hopping at Farm Drive. The kids are just finishing up their second week of school, and we get daily visits from many of them, just to tell us how school is going. It is soooooo cute!!

We have had over 80 kids register for Homework Club. About half of them are new---never been to Homework Club before. That is so awesome. Unfortunately, we don’t have room for all 80 kids. We are exploring ways to make it work, including maybe adding an evening session. Isn’t that cool??? Pray for wisdom for us as we wrestle with these decisions.

Last night was the first night of our Family Wellness/Parenting classes, hosted by our Hispanic congregation, Iglesia Libre. This is a ten (or so) week class taught in Spanish by Arturo and Anna Velarde, members of Iglesia. They came to the Center during National Night Out in August, and 17 people signed up. That was very encouraging, but last night when the classes were to start, there were only two people there. As my faith started to wane, people started to show up, and by the time things really got rolling, there were 16 people in the class!!! Many of those people brought their small children, and we provided childcare for 22 kids!! Thanks, Margaret and Patty, for stepping in and taking charge. We had kids inside, we had kids outside, we had kids inside-out……well, you get the picture!!! I got to do jump rope and the limbo with the mid-range kids. I had it made!! The reports back from Arturo and Anna were outstanding!! God truly answers our prayers, doesn’t he??

I just wanted to give you a glimpse into the Farm Drive Ministry, so that you can get a flavor of what is going on…..

• Our Kollao ABF is teaching cooking to our older kids. A few weeks ago, we had five boys learning to make spaghetti. They made the sauce from scratch, including chopping onions, smashing garlic, and seasoning to taste. I contributed the method to test when the noodles are done. Yeah, that’s right, you throw them against the wall and if they stick, they are done….. OK, maybe it’s a guy thing…… And then, last weekend, nine of our girls made pizza from scratch. They got to make their own creations and then eat them. What fun we have had with these classes. Oh, did I mention?? This is going to be a monthly thing!!!

• Several of our older boys have started attending Church with us on Sundays. A few months ago, one of them had told me, “I’m never going to Church.” Imagine my surprise when he showed up to go one Sunday morning!! God moves, even when we can’t!! Only a God like ours!!! Ruben Escobedo has pressed some of the boys into service ushering on Sunday morning. It provides a sense of belonging for them. Very cool…………

• CRAM, our mentoring program, is already in full swing. We had nine high schoolers commit to being in the program last year. This year, we identified 11 more and had a meeting to gauge interest. Almost all of them showed up and voiced an interest in being involved. CRAM is a great program where we assign an individual mentor to each kid----someone who will monitor the kid’s attendance and performance in high school, and hopefully encourage them to some higher learning after high school. We do need mentors for these kids, too. If you are interested in giving some time back to this great program, please contact Becky Kompelien. We would love to have you. Also, please pray for these kids----for encouragement, for academic stamina, and for the commitment to follow through in CRAM.

• Last weekend, Dave Finkle took seven of our older boys to Henry Coe State Park on a work project. Did you know that Coe Park is the largest State Park in California? I didn’t until one of the boys told me!! See Dave? They were listening!!! They worked, they hiked, they slept outdoors, they had fun………..and Dave had the opportunity to spend some quality time with them!! We are really seeing a difference in behaviors and attitudes!! God is on the move at Farm Drive!!

We are still in need of some volunteers for Homework Club. If you have one afternoon free each week, for just 2 hours, we would love to have you!! The places we really, really need help are Mondays ( 3^rd and 4^th grade boys), Mondays (2^nd and 3^rd grade girls) and Thursdays (7^th and 8^th grade girls). God will really bless you through these kids whom He loves sooooo much.

Thank you so much for your continued support----for your financial support, for you support in donating school supplies for the kids and most of all, for your prayer support. May God bless you in ways you cannot imagine!!

Gary

Read and Swim

Kids don't like to read. Especially during the summer. But they like to swim. Over the years we have had many read and swim events. They spend some time reading to a leader and their reward is getting to swim for a few hours. this year we had 4 such events as this at Pinehurst (a local neighborhood swimming park) and also at Gary's house. Below Marcus reads to Rich.


Below is one of Read and Swim at Pinehurst. Pinehurst is a private club but we have a few members who attend Hillside and get us access a few times a year.


Some of the boys swimming at Gary's pool.

National Night Out

Every year in August, the police association sponsors with local communities what is called National Night Out. It is an evening of food and coming together as a community to develop better ties between the police and the local community. We have done this the last 3 years but this year we really focused on having our neighbors bring the food. Below Erika from Iglesia Libre meets with some of our neighbors.

As usual we had some great food! And it kept coming all during the evening. We counted at one point over 125 people!

We are also partnering with Iglesis Libre (hispanic church that meets at Hillside) to offer a parenting class on Thursday nights this fall. A number of their members came this night to meet our neighbors and invite them to come to the class. We had 17 people express interest in the class! Below is our friend Jaime with Gary and myself.

5th Grade Girls

Back in July, Patty and Kathy's small group went to the beach. Afterward they went to the Boardwalk and went on a ride. Went to dinner after that.



The cool thing is that they found out that Jackie has never been to the beach before! She just kept walking out in the water with her arms out. They asked her why and she just felt like doing it!

Boardwalk for Younger Kids

Last Tuesday we took 10 kids to the Boardwalk. They had a great time albeit a very cold one!

Before we leave it is always a treat to buy a few funnel cakes! It is always a gastronomical delight! In more ways than one.



Below is a picture of the group. This trip and food was courtesy of Ron Whiting. Thanks Ron!

Update from the Director

School is definitely upon us!!! Today was the first of three days of registrations for fall classes and Homework Club at the Neighborhood Center. We will be having groups for PreKinders, Kinders and kids from 1st thru 10th grades. We had a total of 39 sign up just today! We have over 20 new kids that have never registered to attend before. We can already tell that there will be kids on waiting lists, since some of our “regulars” haven’t even signed up yet. This is a good problem to have. Please pray that we get many new leaders so that every group will be staffed with at least two leaders. Groups will have no more than six kids and we like to have at least two leaders in every group. (Know anyone??? Send them our way!)



We have finished off our summer activities. This past week, we took two groups to the Boardwalk for some real old-fashioned fun. This was all courtesy of Ron and Serena Whiting, members of Santa Cruz Bible Church!! Thanks Ron and Serena!!! A couple of the older guys coerced me into a ride on the Double Shot, a ride that shoots you almost to the moon at breakneck speeds. When you get to the top, you free fall, and then, it’s up again!! Somewhere near the top, I think my tummy caught up with my body. What was I thinking??? Tamer rides like the Giant Dipper and the Hurricane are favorites of many of the kids. Have you ever had a deep fried Twinkie or funnel cake?? Wow!!!



August 3rd was National Night Out. Early in the evening, I counted about 112 people moving around the Center. Our friends from Iglesia Libre showed up and I would guess that, in total, we had between 150-175 people. It was a good time, with good food provided by our neighbors. One of the kids now calls me abuelo, which is Spanish for grandfather, but that’s another story!! On August 26th, Iglesia Libre will be starting a Family Wellness and Parenting class (in Spanish!!!) for the neighbors. About 17 of our neighbors signed up to attend!!! Praise God!!



We got to spend some quality time with the kids this summer. Well worth it!!! Our prayer is that they got to see Jesus in the times that we had together. They are a neat bunch of kids and relationships are truly being developed.



Please continue to pray for the ministry here. Pray for Pete and Patty, who live in the neighborhood. Pray for encouragement and stamina for them as the minister here 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Incarnational ministry isn’t always easy!! Pray for our kids, as they start school on Monday. Pray that they go back with good attitudes, and eager to learn. Pray for our CRAM program---this is our mentoring program. Last year, we had nine high schoolers sign up, and we identified seven more who will enter high school on Monday. And, we just thought of TWO MORE today!! We will be needing more mentors!!



May God Bless you for your continued support of the Farm Drive ministry. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!!







Gary

gary's double shot

We took some of the older kids from the neighborhood to the Boardwalk on Thursday the 12th of August. A great time of fun on rides and some "great" food!