Soma Sacred Spaces!

The Tyler Sq. garden is just waiting to grow yummy, fresh, local produce this spring/summer after receiving a face lift with raking, weeding, and much love today! A missional community from Soma Communities came and rejuvenated the garden at Tyler Square and reorganized our cluttered storage space as well! They did an amazing job serving!!!

Teens at TRM going to Mexico!

Dear TRM Youth Supporter,
This upcoming spring break while other kids are playing video games, getting in trouble at parties, or doing nothing, the teens at the Tacoma Rescue Mission will be building a home. We as a team are going down to Mexico to build a home with wood, hammers, and nails. No power tools here. Just hard, hot, sweaty work. It is clear that the teens and their families have been given incredible opportunities by TRM. Like any gift the purpose is not to hoard, bury, or keep for themselves: WE ARE BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING! So, with that mentality we are going down to Mexico to give back. We are grateful to work with an organization that has provided new homes for thousands of families already. Check them out and see for yourself: www.amor.org/Page.aspx?pid=413
But, we can't get their alone! We are having an auction on February 5th, 2010 which will help us get there. let me know if you need an invitation or more info. (James Leet, email: jamesl@trm.org or call 627-4308)
Lastly, If you have ever "talked" to God before, would you consider asking Him to be with us as we go?
Thank you,
~James

Young Chefs

Now that the holidays are over our young chefs program is in full swing again. Every Friday, the youth from Tyler Square and the Family Shelter gather together at the Family Shelter kitchen to mash, cut, dice, fry, beat, measure, and of course eat a meal that they prepared. Before the New Year, our rhyme and reason to young chefs was to experience food from the past. We had Indian fry bread, Settler’s food, and tried to use food that was in season as many had to in the past because it was the only food available. One of the favorites from last year was an apple cobbler. We had some great volunteers from the University of Washington Tacoma to help us out and the mascot even decided chip in, although the mascot definitely ate more than its share. This semester we’ve changed courses and will be trying foods from different cultures. We decided that this will open up some more opportunities to explore the endless possibilities of food. This past Friday we made coco rice and egg rolls. The kids did everything from cooking the beef to rolling the egg rolls to loading the dish washer. Some of the older kids were great for taking on the difficult role of frying the egg rolls. It was a messy job as the kitchen was already really hot on top of the steaming peanut oil. Many of the kids also took advantage of the crosswords and computer games available in-between jobs. It was a great team effort to pull all the components together for the meal. Time wasn’t really on our side as we started out, but as usual, we still had a little time to enjoy the fruits of our labor before everyone had to go. I had four egg rolls myself and way too much rice. In fact, we made so much food that we were able to share it for dinner with everyone from the Family Shelter.

It has been fun getting back into the groove of the Afterschool Program here at Tyler Square after the long holiday break! We are back to meeting during our scheduled times, 4:00 to 6:00 Monday through Friday. This past Friday from 4:00 to 6:00, we had our weekly Young Chefs event held at the Family Shelter on 15th and Tacoma Ave. We had so many kids attend, and we had a lot of chaotic and messy fun making some Asian foods. We made eggrolls and chocolate rice, the recipes of which we were able to get from one of the mothers of some of the children who are in our program. She is a GREAT cook, and the recipes she offered us were Guamanian, inspired by her own ethnic background. The kids had a blast cooking all of the food, and I think they feel good to be trusted with cutting and cooking and mixing--but there is always good supervision. :) A lot of the kids wanted to wear aprons and chefs jackets, and they got excited even to just pour ingredients into a bowl or to wait for water to boil. They really do enjoy learning these life lessons that empower them to know how to lead healthy lives. The knowledge they receive and these helpful know-how skills build their confidence and shows them just how capable they really are! And we were lucky to have some of the kids who belong to the mother who donated the recipes. They knew from firsthand experience how to cook these foods, and so they knew so much more than I did because I had never cooked these types of foods before. It reminded me about how much of my role as a leader is to be a learner. I often can get caught up in being the teacher, but I was thankful to be reminded about how much I can learn, especially from children. They have so much to offer, and my relationships with the children work as a two-way street: we both learn and grow from one another and we both have those things that we can teach. I hope our volunteers feel the same way. They give us such a great gift in offering their time and their dedication, but I think (I hope) they get something out of it too. I think volunteering with the children here can teach you a lot. The children get much out of it, but the volunteers do too. We all have a lot to learn from one another!