Combatting Summer Learning Loss: SLAM 2010

I recently saw a time magazine article about summer learning loss for children in low income groups: it was startling, but not surprising. What we've seen, felt, and heard for years at the Rescue Mission is becoming common knowledge. According to the article, "By ninth grade summer learning loss could be blamed for roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap separating income groups."



Basically what that means is kids at the Rescue Mission and from the lower income bracket have few opportunities to learn during the summer. If you ask Tacoma parents about free summer programs for youth you will get a lot of blank stares. Why? There really aren't any. This is where SLAM comes in. SLAM stands for Students Living A Mission. It is a free program for Rescue Mission youth, other shelter youth, and community youth living on the hilltop. One mission that the kids are living is bridging the summer gap between their more priveleged peers. SLAM this year was a huge success and I believe it prepared kids to enter the next year of school with confidence, tools, and even fun to tackle their dreams for the future. This program wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the generous donors, passionate volunteers, and incredibly well organized staff who unanimously want to see ALL kids thrive!

S.L.A.M. 2010 Week 1

A week of Students Living A Mission, the hottest week of the year, 50 kids K-5th grade, gifted, passionate leaders, and activities to nurture kids souls & restore their hearts makes for one amazing week! SLAM is teaching kids that they are loved by others and by God. Each t shirt the kids wear says, "This Summer I'm living a mission, What about you?"





I hope the kids never forget their summer of SLAM!
I hope you enjoy their faces! Their smiles, hearts, & souls are worth more than anything I can think of!
Thank you to all the incredible volunteers, staff, donors, & readers of this blog for caring about the next generation of leaders!

A Slammin' Summer!

The Tacoma Rescue Mission youth are having a lot of fun in the sun with our summer program, S.L.A.M., which stands for Students Living A Mission. We started the program this past Monday with a very encouraging and motivating performance by Or1ginAL, and we have been going strong for the past two days. Tomorrow, I am very excited to take the kids rock climbing at Edgeworks, challenging them and pushing them to realize how capable they really are with the bodies God gave them.

In my group with the Kindergarten and 1st graders, we have been focusing on the story of creation. We learned, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" from Genesis. We have talked about how God created everything, and He said it was good. Most importantly, He loves his creation, and so we are lovely, and we are all created special and unique. Also, God's creation is a testament to how powerful He is; from nothing He created everything. That is amazing!

I'm excited to see how the rest of the month goes with S.L.A.M. It has only been two days, but I feel like we have already been able to do so much! We have had fun, we have been challenged, and we have already learned so much from each other.

Our volunteers deserve a big shout-out, too. Thank you so much to all those who have donated hours of their time to help out at S.L.A.M. We would not work without your generous help! THANKS!

Let Time Stand Still

Do you ever feel yourself growing older? Probably not. It's such a gradual process that, even though your mom asks on your birthday, "How does it feel to finally be (insert age here)," you might think, "Well, I feel exactly the same way I did yesterday."

Most kids think they can't grow up fast enough. When you're five, you can't wait to turn six. When you're 15, you can't wait to turn 16. Kids ache for freedom and responsibility. And it just doesn't seem to happen as quickly as they want it to.

But some kids actually do grow up much too fast. They transform from children to parents at a pace that almost seems instantaneous, having to take care of a handful of younger siblings or take care of themselves, having to deal with stresses like having a home, having enough food, or having adequate clothes. Responsibility is thrown at them instead of handed to them. They have it, whether they like it or not. Whether they chose it or not. I can imagine at this point, a child would ache to be taken care of rather than being the one taking care of others. They might wish to be dependent rather than independent. Slwoing down the clock might not seem so bad anymore.

What would we do if all the children in the world became tiny adults? From whom would we remember to have an insatiable curiosity for the world around us? From whom would we remember to have so much joy that we can't sit still? From whom would we remember to dance and not care who's watching, to sing and not care who's listening? From whom would we be reminded what it's like to have child-like faith?

How do we help to give a child back their childhood?

I feel like what we do at the Tyler Square Youth Program pumps kids full of opportunities to just be who they are: a kid. We do more than that, though, we give kids the opportunity to spend time with their families and to play the role of a kid within the family dynamic. We have Teen Late Nights, Family Nights, Story times, Skate Days, etc. Sometimes it seems like just a lot meaningless fun. But it's not. These are opportunities for families to enjoy each other, to forget about the stresses of life, to build relationships and memories with one another, to learn how to spend quality time together as a family without sitting in front of a television screen. They get out and enjoy the world around them. Together.

Birthdays

The First Tuesdays of the month at the Family Shelter are full of laughter, surprises, and unique activities. Tuesday nights are family night where families are able to have time tasked with creating memories and doing something fun together. The first Tuesday of each month, however, is set aside to celebrate all the youth birthdays of the previous month and all families are always invited to come and participate. For Previous celebrations there have been puppies and puppy chow, kids making their own unique Italian cream sodas, personalized cupcakes, games, and always a story. This month's celebration was yet again another success. The children, along with their parents, were all able to make their own chocolate covered bananas with nuts, sprinkles, and coconut. Without the help of our some of our great volunteers, Kathie and Katherine, the celebration for the kids would not be what it is. Katie always comes prepared with her family with fun activities and goodies for the kids and Katherine pours love into the kids and brings her favorite books to share with all. It is truly a special night for the kids whose birthday is being celebrated. There are usually about 25 clients, staff, and volunteers to celebrate with and sing happy birthday. The kids love all the attention they get as they blow out their candles and open presents; the attention they so much deserve. Thank you to all the volunteers and financial supporters!
I bet one of your best memories when you were little was at one of your birthday parties being surrounded by people who care about you. If your family had no means to give you a party you would be without that memory. If you want to help out for the next youth birthday celebration in July for the Family Shelter to continue making great memories for the kids with your creative ideas and servant heart shoot me an email or call me. Brian 970-231-8827/beggers84@gmail.com.

I am a firm believer that God is working in amazing ways through the Tacoma Rescue Mission to transform people's lives. After having personally witnessed changes both big and small, I know people are living better quality lives due at least partially to the work and outreach of the Tacoma Rescue Mission. But TRM is not some faceless organization. It is made up of people and places that ensure good things continue to happen to restore and heal our city. This includes the staff, the facilities, the donors, and volunteers.

Do you wish to put your hand in some of the good things that are happening in the city of Tacoma? If so, you might want to consider being a volunteer during the month of July for our kids' summer program called SLAM (which stands for Students Living A Mission). The program starts July 5th and runs Monday through Friday, 12 to 4 PM until July 30th at the People's Community Center on MLK. We will be working with kids who are K-5 who are both from the Tacoma Rescue Mission and from the surrounding Hilltop community. We have a lot of fun going on field trips, doing fun games and activities, having guest speakers, doing service projects for the community, and doing a lot of learning and growing in the midst of it all (for kids AND the leaders).

If you enjoy working with kids and could see yourself volunteering anywhere from once a week to once a day, then please let us know. We can use all the help we can get!

If interested, e-mail Kim Maki at makisolomon@aol.com and she can connect you with a time and an age group that would best suit you.

Thank you!

When Elephants Dance

In preparation for a Mexico Mission Trip Meeting this past week, I came across this story:

"'Would you like to know what it is like to do mission with Americans? Let me tell you a story,' said David Coulibaly, a ministry leader in Mali, West Africa.

Elephant and Mouse were best friends. One day Elephant said, 'Mouse, let's have a party!'
Animals gathered from far and near. They ate, and drank, and sang, and danced. And nobody celebrated more exuberantly than the Elephant.
After it was over, Elephant exclaimed, 'Mouse, did you ever go to a better party? What a blast!'
But Mouse didn't answer.
'Where are you?' Elephant called. Then he shrank back in horror. There at his feet lay the Mouse, his body ground into the dirt -- smashed by the exuberance of his friend, the Elephant.

'Sometimes that is what it is like to do mission with you Americans,' the African storyteller concluded. 'It is like dancing with an Elephant.'"

From the Mobilizer Vol. 10, Fall 2000

In preparing for our trip, we try to understand that though we have good intentions and want to help a homeless family in Mexico, good intentions aren't necessarily enough to produce good outcomes. With cultural awareness and humility, we want to approach this new and different place as respectful outsiders.

In our bi-monthly meetings, we discuss topics like these to best prepare ourselves for what or who we will encounter and HOW we will encounter them. We understand we represent much more than just ourselves; we represent our friends and family, the Tacoma Rescue Mission, the U.S., God. We want to be good representatives, and we genuinely want to leave a mark on the community we visit that is good and lasting rather than imposing and damaging. We don't want to find ourselves caught up in the music, dancing like elephants.