Friday, May 30, 2014

Fairbanks CityFest

First off,
Thank You Conoco Phillips for this past month of Free Skating!



I will report next week as far as how well this program worked.



CityFest is coming!

Fairbanks CityFest is almost here!  What's that you say?  You don't know what this is or why I'm so excited?  Allow me to explain...no, there is to much.  Allow me to sum up.

CityFest is a joint effort by dozens of faith communities in Interior Alaska to work together to care for our area.  Community service projects have been going on for weeks as these congregations and their friends gave of their time, resources and money to serve some of the Interior's best causes.  This month of service culminates in a free, region-wide festival on Saturday the 7th of June.  The Fairgrounds will see family entertainment areas, concerts, action sports ride teams (say hello to the Joel's Place Ride Team performing with professionals) and moving testimonies.  The festivities kick off at 2pm on the 7th and go through 9pm.

Action sports, concerts, the fairgrounds, testimonies, service projects...it's like a big, all ages Joel's Place festival!  How could I not be excited?

The event is totally free and has hundreds of volunteers working hard this next seven days to get ready.  There are so few times that our community comes together for a common purpose that I am looking forward to see what we can do when we work together.  Bring the kids.  Bring the teens.  Bring the parents.  It will be great fun for everyone.  If you are curious about CityFest, here is the link to their website:


Come on by, look for the Joel's Place table, stop by and say hello.  We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Friday, May 23, 2014

One of those weeks

     Have you ever had one of those weeks?  You know, the weeks when crazy things happen that just make time move slowly and painfully?  Like, hypothetically, four members of your family come down with super grade A strep throat...but you have to wait for the official tests to come back to the doctors before they can get you a script for your medicine...and that takes six days?  You know, hypothetically one of those weeks?

     First, allow me to apologize to anyone that I interacted with this week through the haze of pain and the fog of fever.  I probably don't know what I said to you or agreed to so you probably want to remind me (counting on your integrity here) and if I was gruff or appeared to have no patience for listening to your story, I really am sorry.  I'm feeling much better now if you are wanting to try again.

     Sickness has a remarkable way of reconfiguring our worldview.  There are certain things that I take for granted in life, one of them is being able to swallow whenever I want to without pain ripping from my shoulders to my ears.  When those certainties disappear I notice them...every time.  I get creative at how to avoid the pain: cough drops, tylenol, blowing a fan into my mouth so I don't have to swallow and my day is absorbed by self-maintenance instead of being able to care for my family and fulfill the duties of my job.  I worry about who I can talk to and how far away to stay from people so they don't get infected instead of freely relating.  And that is just for a small thing like an infected throat.

     I am struck by the certainties of life that some of our Joel's Place Youth do not have: supportive parents, safe homes, any homes at all, food.  These are things that I did not question when I was growing up, but my Center is filled with teenagers who are trying to figure out how to deal with the lack.  They work hard at avoiding or minimizing their pain through a myriad of different approaches.  They are absorbed in self-maintenance instead of being free to grow and serve and hope and dream.  They are hungry for food and security and attention and affirmation and community.  They have no idea when the drama will slow down.

     The loudness, the arrogance, the constant boundary pressing, the short tempers...all the things that make young people (and especially young men) so aggravating are not signs that they are bad kids, doomed to become part of the justice system.  They are signs that some of the certainties of their lives have been taken away...and we have access to a small window of time to help them replace those lost resources so they can be successful for the long term.

     This is part of a longer conversation about why we do what we do and I know that there are probably lots of questions, comments or objections ticking through your mind.  If you want to send me any of those, feel free, I am good at replying to e-mail: joelsplacealaska@gmail.com.  Mostly I just wanted to share what has been bouncing through my mind as I had one of those weeks.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Graduation

I wrote this letter earlier this week:




To our Community Partners,

          Joel’s Place Youth Center has been serving the teens of Interior Alaska for over a decade.  We offer a Safe Place for teens to have Fun while pursuing the Developmental Resources that they will need to thrive. 

One of the central pieces that we have learned is that young people look to model themselves after older teenagers.  Recognizing this, we want to publicly celebrate our members who have successfully committed themselves to their education and are graduating from High School.  We want to inspire our younger teens to follow these positive examples. 

Would you consider joining us in hosting a graduation party that celebrates our Joel’s Place graduating seniors?  We are looking for community partners who would be willing to donate some supplies that we need to put on a joyful celebration.  Thank you for your consideration.

__________________________________________________


I have been talking with Kelli for the past few weeks about our upcoming Graduation Party. We both agree that this should become one of our big annual events.  High School Graduation is a milestone that many of our members are in danger of not achieving.  Some need to drop out of school to support their family.  Some have developmental delays that make passing classes challenging.  Some are in and out of treatment which makes it hard to consistently attend school.  Some just do not believe that education is worth pursuing.

It is a joy to be able to celebrate our seniors who are graduating.  It is important for us to be able to show the younger members that their mentors, the riders that they look up to and respect, have invested in school and in their future.  As in most things, the staff can preach all day and it will not have as much impact as a young person watching one of their older friends act in a certain way.  Actions speak louder than words.  We really value our members investing in their education and their future.  It speaks to their hopes and dreams; it is evidence that they have ambition and are eager to pursue something more than what they have now.

We are proud of our Seniors.  We are eager to see them establish a legacy of success here at Joel's Place.  Thanks for supporting us as we support them.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Opportunities

     Free skating began yesterday.  Our kids are coming in and asking us if this is for real or not.  When we tell them that it is for real and that it will not just last for today or this week or this month but actually last through the end of August, their eyes pop and they tell us that they will be here every day of the summer...which is what we were after in the first place.  They are fun conversations to have and we are so grateful for these opportunities.

     With summer just around the corner (school gets out three weeks from today), there are a few opportunities that I would like to share with you in case you were wondering how you could help support Joel's Place during these next few months.

Walk for Charity
      Next Friday is the Fairbanks Visitor Industry Walk for Charity.  You can go to their webpage here.  It is a 4K walk/graze through downtown that will raise money for Joel's Place and other great causes.  The online registration deadline is this Monday the 5th of May.  Here's a look at the front page of their website if you are curious:

 


Online Registration
is open
CLICK HERE

Fairbanks Charity Walk

The 2014 Walk for Charity starts at 6:00 Friday, May 9th at the Immaculate Conception Church parking lot.
Raise money for your favorite charities as you feast on fabulous food on this fun 4k walk!
Adults must raise a minimum of $25 and children $15. (avoid a late fee by registering by May 4th).

Online registration is open.
Choose from one of 60 registered charities to receive 100% of your donated funds. If you'd like to mail your donation,
Download the 2014 registration form here and mail to 2014 Walk for Charity, 101 Dunkel St, Ste 111, Fairbanks, AK 99701.
Bib Pickup and Onsite Registration will be May 5 from noon – 7 pm at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.

Late registration will be May 6-8 at the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center from 9a -4p and in the Immaculate Conception Church parking lot from 4-6p the day of the walk.
For more information on the Charity Walk, please contact Charity Gadapee at cgadapee@explorefairbanks.com

Walk for Charity Fairbanks

You are cordially invited to consider joining the walk, and bringing your friends along, in order to benefit Joel's Place.

Barnes and Noble Bookfair
     May 17th we will be stationed at Barnes and Noble Booksellers here in Fairbanks.  There will be a book table where I will be selling and signing copies of my new book as well as raising money for Joel's Place.  We will have vouchers available that, when presented to the cashier will allocate a percentage of the purchase to Joel's Place.  We will be there all day so feel free to stop by, find some great reading material and help support a great cause.

Bone Builder's Backpacks
      Every summer we team with the Food Bank, FRA, several other agencies and dozens of volunteers in order to provide over 200 weekly food boxes for hungry kids in Fairbanks.  Every Wednesday over the summer they will be able to come to one of our distribution centers and pick up a free bag of healthy food to supplement their diet over the week.  If you are interested in helping we can always use donations of shelf-stable, nonperishable proteins (like peanut butter, tuna or vienna sausage packs), fruit cups, granola bars and other healthy snacks.  You can drop food off at Joel's Place or at the Food Bank; just make sure that you indicate it is for BBB.

Fred Meyer Rewards Program
     On the right hand bar of this screen is a link to this program.  It is a simple way to donate money to JP by simply buying your own groceries.  Once you link your Fred Meyer's Rewards Card to Joel's Place, every purchase that you make in the store makes a donation to Joel's Place.  It does not cost you any money or alter any other benefits of the rewards card, Fred Meyer is simply democratizing their required charitable giving.  We currently have 30 people who have linked their cards to our cause and that netted a $700 donation over the first quarter of the year.  It is quick.  It is easy.  And if enough of us sign up, it could have a significant impact on our budget.

Thank you everyone for all the ways that you have helped us so far this year.  Please consider joining us in making this summer a special one for our kids.