Summer updates for all those asking for news.

Heaventrain is in full swing this summer, we had over 1100 kids this past week that spent time with volunteers from 4 churches in southern Ohio.  The volunteers left saying their lives will be forever changed by the experience.  We are often surprised by how significant the impact on adults and young people can be, spending a Saturday in a community that is not in some third world country.  The concerns about safety and security are put to rest in no time and groups seem to catch the vision for a better future.

We also launched an Aspiring Leaders Academy this summer.  We are partnering with several other groups to lead young people in a leadership development program that aims to build on their skills and interests.  We focus on team building and personal responsibility as the cornerstones of a better community.  The kids are going to begin planning a way to give back as part of the community.  Our hope here is to bring in Brice Rapp to close the year teaching the young people how to build and maintain their own bicycle.  We need to get about 25 used bikes to serve as donors for parts and frames.  Almost any style of bike can be used.

Lastly, we are knees deep in our summer nutrition program.  We have spent the last several years trying to build this effort as a labor of love for our kids.  There are much larger organizations feeding much larger groups of kids.  They focus on quantity of students and are able to generate large profits by cutting costs of food quality.  We have worked hard to push the limits of what is possible.  When you focus on quality, the financial issues are challenging and the truth is that most people could care less about the quality of food that is given.  This year we have heard two major votes of confidence.  First, one of our partners asked why the kids keep walking almost a mile and past three other summer feeding sites to get to outs.  “I see 47 kids walk past three other sites each day to get to your site”, why is this happening?  A little girl answered her question, “When I eat at the other sites, the food does not taste as good, and I feel sick afterward”  (she called the sandwich served a “Gut Bomb” because it gives her gas.  She then said, I look forward to the heavetrain food, the fruit is better, the milk is fresher, and the hot meal tastes so much better, and I don’t feel sick after.”  She then asked, “Why can’t everyone feed us food like that?”  It has been challenging to push the limits of quality food, but we do it out of love for our kids.  Love always trumps profit and quality alway trups quantity, I am very encouraged that this quality speaks for itself.

Our tutoring project is slated to start in September at Carl and Lewis Stokes academy.  We are changing strategy here by moving from a High School focus to a elementary focus.  The ability to control the environment is a key factor here and the idea is to help younger students develop a love of learning will help them get ahead rather than to help high school students catch up.  This work will be taking place from 9 to 2 Monday – Thursday and will be divided into two two hour shifts from 9 to 11 and 12 to 2.  We are in search of tutors that can offer at least one shift per week for the upcoming school year.