updates……..
The summer is over already!
This summer I volunteered cooking at Escape Ministries, Grace’s Table and did reading at CASA. Last summer I volunteered at Eat Up & Meet Up, Escape Ministries, Grace’s Table and the Migrant School. All summers I work our public library sale and get books to programs that I rescue, thrift or get donated to when teachers or friends weed their personal books.
Escape Ministries
ESCAPE’s Career Connections links youth ages 14-17 with part-time jobs at local organizations for the summer and beyond.
Youth get the opportunity to work hard, earn money, engage in meaningful relationships, and develop valuable skills like timeliness, work ethic, communication, teamwork and passion. Youth who finish the program are more connected, more confident, and better equipped to thrive in a productive and meaningful career.
GRACE’S TABLE
The idea behind Grace’s Table is simple: Every Friday evening, Lisa opens her own home to a dozen girls and their infants and toddlers. They gather around Lisa’s huge kitchen table to pray, eat, and talk. Meals bring a variety of people together, but we all sit at equal levels Around the Table in our time together during which we welcome Jesus to be a part. These meals nourish the body and as we share life together, we nourish the soul.
After dinner and clean-up, the children go to play rooms while their mothers, Lisa, and volunteers talk, pray, problem-solve, and share. This interaction gives these girls the opportunity to build healthy relationships with adults who can mentor them, and show them the love of Jesus on their journey to find hope. The evening concludes and mothers are given diapers, formula, and a bus pass home.
CASA
| Summer Program – CASA offers a six-week summer school program each year with students attending four sessions per week. This program is also for at-risk children in grades 1-5, including many who participate in our Academic Year Tutoring sessions. Summer breaks – which naturally interrupt the education of all schoolchildren – can be particularly detrimental to the academic progress of students who face academic challenges. Our summer program helps fill this gap with highly individualized teaching. Other key aspects of this program include:Free transportation – offered each session from the home to the program site and backFree meals – both breakfast and lunch are included.Individualized attention – classes are kept small with a certified teacher and classroom assistant in eachConsistency – sessions are held four mornings per week, four hours each, for six weeks from June through JulyCurriculum – teachers focus on remedial and basic academicsPersonal enrichment – classes also go on outings to the art museum, theater and nature centers that our students may not get to experience otherwise. Each class also participates in a service project in the community. | |
| © Hope College | CASA | Holland, MI 49423 |
MIGRANT SCHOOL
Being a child in a family of migrant workers comes with educational challenges. Families have to constantly be on the move across state lines to follow the agricultural or fishery work, meaning children switch schools frequently or go through periods of time where they aren’t in school at all.
West Ottawa Public Schools is one of many districts across the country providing additional educational help for these children during the summer months.
Currently, there are 158 students in grades Pre-K through eighth learning.
