Ice Skating in Downtown San Jose

Last Sunday we took some of the kids to the ice skating rink which is downtown. It is near Christmas in the Park. We got some discount tickets through Groupon but we had to use them by Thanksgiving. Most had not ice skated before but a few of them have experience with roller blades which helps a lot with balance!

Of course, those without much experience landed on the ice quite a few times!

But they all had a lot of fun. You can tell by their smiles.



Here is the entire group that went ice skating. Patty, Gary and Ruben observed. They were not as adventurous as Pete. Afterwards we went to the Spaghetti Factory for a nice big lunch.

A Typical Thursday

What did we do at Farm Drive this past Thursday?

* Went to 2^nd Harvest to pick up our weekly food order

* 3 families, just moved in to the neighborhood came to the Center and got 3 boxes of food, 4 bikes, 4 jackets from a Hillside person, and a bookcase from Hillside

* One person (know them well) needed to borrow $40 till pay day

* Went to the ladies club at Colonial Manor to talk to the ladies and received pennies they have been collecting all year

* One person came over needing to borrow $10 for gas till Saturday

* Went to the store to buy milk for Saturday Bible Club and 6 bags hot cheetos (reward for kids doing flash cards)

* Handed out 260 pounds of food throughout the day (got at 2^nd Harvest) to kids and families

* Dick Shore, our bike man was here for several hours working on bikes so it was fun actually finding homes for some that day

* Kids come to Homework Club arriving at 2:30 (anxious to get here) and are here till 5

* Kids played street hockey after Homework Club with guy leaders

A busy but blessed Thursday! Thanks for keeping us in prayer.

CRAM

Last year we started a program called CRAM. Committed. Relational. Accountable. Motivated.



This is the Vision Statement:

That all willing and able students in the Farm Drive Neighborhood would graduate from High School and continue on to higher education or vocational/job skill training

• Mentor relationships would be built through a sponsorship program between volunteers and students from the Farm Drive Neighborhood
• CRAM would have significant positive impact on the broader sociological disadvantages which young people in the Farm Drive neighborhood face

Last year we had 7 students in the program and this year we have 17 students matched up with various mentors. One of the rewards for graduating High School is being given a laptop. Below is Cristina our first student to graduate as part of the program. Gary and Patty are presenting her laptop to her. She is continuing in the CRAM program as a college student.


Some exciting things are happening with our CRAM students. After the first grading period we awarded 9 students with $10 gift cards to McDonalds. The second grading period is complete and two sets of rewards will be awarded on Tuesday, Nov. 16 at the Center at 3:00 - 7 students will get $10 gift cards to Starbucks and we will begin our "Money for A's". A generous friend of FD is paying CRAM kids $5 for any A they get. We will be handing out $85 on Tuesday! We have invited all the CRAM kids to come even if they are not receiving a reward.

We are very proud of these kids for doing so well and we are very proud of their mentors too...for loving these students!

A Couple of Events

Some other things have been going on this fall. I will briefly share them here. Patty was asked to be a "Nina" for Ellie's Quinceanera. This meant she helped with putting on the event meaning she bought the invitations that went out. It also meant that she was to be a part of a dance when all of the helpers are called out to dance with either the honoree or Chambelán, the escort for the gal. Below is Ellie with her escort, Ronnie. Both of them live in the neighborhood and have been a part of the Center.


The rest of her court entering the celebration with the dance procession:


Patty with Ellie and Cristina. It was a fun party and a great time to hang out with many friends and family that are a part of the neighborhood.

Another event: A blue whale washed up on shore near Pescadero a few weeks back. It appears that it was killed by a ship, getting cut up by the propeller. It was also pregant since they found a fetus nearby. We wanted to take some of the kids to see it since it is rare to see a blue whale that close. After church we took them over to Santa Cruz for lunch and then up the coast to see the 80' whale.



It already had been 2 weeks since it was found and so already was decomposing and smelling pretty bad.
Below is the group playing in the surf. Something about water and waves attracts kids!

Event #3: While I was away one day, Patty took some kids on a bike ride. They went from the Center and rode down to Alamden Park. Here is the group.