The fall is upon us and with that comes the start of our 9th year with the Maple Leaf students! We are happy to say that we are back at the clubhouse at the Maple Leaf complex! While we are back, we decided to keep our numbers on the lower end so we are approaching our 9th year with “invite only” those who were with us last year, along with a few of our students from the previous year. Having met twice now, we are at a dozen students and will keep this number through December. At which point we may ask the current students to invite one friend (but we will see as the year progresses)
With a smaller group, we are able to set up our time with them differently. We still provide snacks, a meal and dessert, while engaging with them on a level that will help build better relationships. We are starting our time with “get to know you” games and then dividing them into groups of 2 or 3 and placing them at tables throughout the room. At these tables we will be providing everything from: service projects to work on, creative writing, reading, homework help, brain games, bible trivia games, etc. So far, so good!
Tomorrow the Brick Police will be hosting their KICK-OFF in front of the clubhouse with food, music, games and time to announce that they will be doing a mentorship program on Thursdays for grades 5th on up. It is exciting to see this program launch and to see some of our volunteers helping them to get started.
This past Saturday a group of us returned to Atlantic City and spent part of the afternoon with the Carver Hall kids that we were with over the summer on our mission trip. It was great to see them, along with Pastor Santo, Titus and Alison, who are the “boots on the ground” in AC. We provided a craft, games, music and a goodie bag full of fun foods and activities.
As a side note…next summer’s mission trip to Atlantic City will be August 13-19, 2022
If you would like to help us at Maple Leaf or Atlantic City, just let us know!