Summer Day Camp and Open Court

Who knew screaming at kids is what I needed to make me feel more alive?

Although other programs including Tapestry Talks and As We Gather have been going on, what has consumed my work life this past month has been Summer Day Camp and Open Court.

Notable facts about Summer Day Camp:

-This is 2nd Mile's 12th year of camp (started way back in 2009)

-This is the 2nd year where a former student has been the director (shout out to Ahmad!)

-My role at camp is leading Challenge Circle (teaching kids different cheers, games, and chants, hence all the screaming and yelling)

-Camp is six weeks long

-This year's theme is the different continents

-Almost 100% of the campers are new to 2nd Mile, allowing for developing relationships with families in the future.

-Kids love water day!

Fun facts about Open Court:

-It rains almost every day in Florida, at least a little bit, which means that the first 3 open court Fridays have had lots of rain, forcing a lot of game time indoors.

-Kids don't care if it's raining outside. They will keep playing unless told otherwise.

-Despite the rain, we've still had a good turnout.

-Music, concessions, basketball, football, dancing, Connect 4, chess, and Uno are all favorites at Open Court.

-Hopefully, we will get to have a dry (please pray) Friday with lots of hoopin'.

Ministry in the summer is a lot different than during the school year. It's a sprint vs. a marathon. It's strength vs. endurance. It's an energy drink vs. coffee.

Please pray for energy and endurance.

More to come in the future.

 

May - We presume the past is virtually behind us

Try to match the quote to the person:

1. "I got back on zoom all by myself without any help!"

2. "I don't go to church but I've been more interested in God since quarantine."

3. "I'm scared of the halfpipe but I'm going to be brave."

4. "Can you please leave?"

 

A.  A high school student who designed and helped paint our Nutritional Garden fence

B.  Max, my 4 year old

C.  One of our elderly participants in the As We Gather Program

D.  A middle school student in our BLOCK program.

Answers are at the bottom of this blog.

BLOCK Middle and High School Program - Looking back, the relationships that have been built for many years with our older students definitely took a hit when the pandemic forced things to be more virtual. What was brought evermore to light as the months passed on was that teens just want to be around each other in person. As I took over the already unraveling program in January, an overall goal I had was to be more fun and interactive in the virtual meetings, but also create a safe in person activity or event each month to get us back together and out of our isolation funk. And although the quantity of the program was less than ideal, I believe, looking back, that the quality of what we were given to work with made for an enriching and welcoming program for those who attended. The silver lining was that we got to know a few kids very well and give them more attention than they would've otherwise had with a big group. For an end of the year celebration, we brought 3 students to Adventure Landing in Jacksonville, FL. It reminded me like if Wisconsin Dells water parks had a little brother. We enjoyed the water park with a wave pool, lazy river, and some awesome water slides (one including a huge halfpipe), some go-karts, batting cages, and some much needed slushies and pizza on the hot day. Seeing these kids up close rather than behind the screens of their computers and phones was a welcome change to the day as well. Adventure Landing, a great exclamation point ending to a book I never want to pick up again.

Brayden attempting to hit 70mph fastballs

This summer, BLOCK will take a break from weekly formal meetings. Instead, the church will be back open. Fridays will commence with Open Court again. For two hours each Friday, anyone is welcome to play basketball, some cornhole (beanbags), or a variety of indoor games. Please pray that lots of people show up and enjoy a few hours of fun and competition in a safe space.

Other random snapshots from ministry and life last month - The As We Gather program, which is a virtual community of isolated elderly folks learning technology, socializing, and growing together has been a real hit. Although it has taken a lot of handholding to get participants comfortable with the process of logging in on zoom, from what I've been told, they are loving this program and what they are learning. I believe they do daily devotionals, daily exercise, and a daily activity, whether it's art, cooking, or having a guest speaker. Pray for continued growth and interest in this program. This is a need in our community on which we've just begun to take notice and action.

Summer Day Camp starts next week. We will be in person. It will be small, but I believe very impactful in the life of the students and ministry. I'm sure you have your own experiences recently where being in person with either friends or family has been a welcome breath of fresh air. I'm excited to reprise my role of leading Challenge Circle a couple times each week. I'm not sure if there's a way to word search "Challenge Circle" in my previous blogs, but if there is, I know I've expressed my love and excitement of the very existence of this outdoor camp activity.

One Saturday in May, a kid named Tyler came to the garden to help me help him execute his design for our garden fence. What started out as a fun "Design our garden fence" activity on a piece of paper to keep participants in our Garden Day from getting bored turned into a kid taking an idea and running with it. Interested in graphic design and just finishing his sophomore year in high school, Tyler sent me this in April:

In May, we painted this:

Not bad if I do say so myself. It's not completely finished yet, but every time I go to the garden, seeing the fence just makes the experience of the garden just a bit brighter and happier.

Speaking earlier of silver linings, I'll start off by saying it has been a stressful month health-wise. After traveling to North Carolina for a wedding weekend, Max came down with a fever. A routine Monday morning doctor's appointment eventually turned into a 6 night stay at the hospital. With strep and a blood infection, Max was not looking his best energetic, always happy, always goofy self. There were moments where it was unbearable to hear his raspy achy voice and lethargic demeanor. Missi stayed with him in the hospital and I stayed at home with my own leg infection, bad reactions to antibiotics, and painful attempts at walking. This picture of Max might be the most silverest of silvery linings, for this indicated the turning point in the hospital where he was able to stand, smile, and begin again to goof.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you'd like to help out the ministry in any way, here are some simple ways how:

-Pray, like actual pray to God for us.

-Donate for our Open Court (we could always use new basketballs, ball pumps, and new games)

-Follow 2nd Mile Ministries on facebook and instagram

-Follow block_brentwood on instagram to see my fumbled attempts at social media in real time for the BLOCK program.

-Give a donation at 2ndmilejax.com

-If you shop on amazon.com, shop at smile.amazon.com instead and choose 2nd Mile Ministries as your organization of choice. Amazon donates a percentage of your purchases to us.

Love y'all. Hope this will be a great summer for you! (Answers below)

Answers to the above quotes: 1C, 2A, 3D, 4B (he would say to the nurses if they stayed too long in his hospital room)

April - 3, 2, 1, Action!

This past week it got up to 99 degrees. I was just starting to get back into running again. Guess I have to stop and wait for the fall.

Just kidding.

BLOCK - In April, we had a guest speaker from the Mayo Clinic talk about tobacco and e-cigarettes to our students. Probably the most memorable thing from the talk was a picture of a table covered in school supplies. It turns out that there were multiple e-cigarettes shaped like school supplies in the photo, showing that they are marketing them to kids. A stat was given that 13% of high school students use e-cigarettes. For some reason I thought this was a high number, but when I asked one of our high schoolers, she thought it was too low. E-cig companies market them as "healthier" than regular cigarettes, show a diverse array of flavors, and obviously try to package them to look like pens (some even function as pens), flash drives, and pencil sharpeners. Scary stuff.

Action Day - One of my favorite parts of the ministry is when we actually go out and do something to show love for the neighborhood. I do often talk about our garden that is accessible to the community, but when we go out and pick up trash (often near corner stores, abandoned lots, and streets without many residents), it is a great feeling of visibly seeing positive change within a few hours of work. A couple weeks ago, we had about 25 people come out to help take action. A week leading up to Action Day, we handed out flyers to the neighbors to invite them to come help pick up trash for an hour on surrounding streets. Although we didn't get a huge response, there were multiple neighbors that came outside to clean up their yards. One group of volunteers did trash clean up, while another group headed to the garden to begin painting our new fence.

Quick flashback. At our garden day in March, I had papers with a picture of the blank fence along with markers for people to "Design our Fence" while they were taking a break from planting and weeding. I didn't really think anyone really took the time to do it. A couple weeks later, I get an email from one of their teachers with a design idea from a student that came to the garden day. He is interested in graphic design and put together the following picture. With a few tweeks, we are in the process of making this design happen.

Back to April. The base color of the fence got painted. Hopefully at the end of May, we'll have the final product. It will be so cool to see a student's vision come to life and us be able to facilitate that leadership. This is just a small picture of what we are about at 2nd Mile-helping people realize their own leadership abilities and be a support for that.

Every couple years or so, we get a huge supply of free mulch for the grounds of the garden. This particular batch had pine needles scattered throughout and it has made the garden smell so good. There was so much mulch that we are still slowly scattering it in the remaining parts of the garden.

Things coming up - We will have an in person summer day camp this summer! This will be our first exclusively in person program since March 2020. We are keeping it to a 20 kids maximum to allow for proper social distancing, but please pray for the health and safety of the camp, for the right kids and families to participate, as well as a fun time for the kids. It feels like forever since we've been in our sweet spot of ministry.

I'm also looking forward to the prospect of doing something different in the summer in regards to BLOCK. I'm still planning what to do and how to do it, but I'm hoping for something more casual, something more in person, and something more fun. Please pray that God would reveal what this is, how he wants to show his love to this neighborhood, and pray for my own strength and endurance in the process.

Enjoy some before and after pictures from Action Day!

Adding some more color to the garden

Big ol' pile o' mulch

Hunting for trash

Trash bagged. Road sign and tire finds.

Sweet sweet smell of pine

 

March - Spring has arrived!

twofifty:two After School Program: This is year number 10 of this program! Over the years, we've had 39 boys and 43 girls in this program, 82 all together. With anywhere between 11 and 19 students each year, this program met every school day and we've gotten to know kids best during this stage of their lives. I've been compiling names, grades, and duration in 2nd Mile for many years. Our 2nd grade-5th grade program has seen 11 of the 82 students stay for all four years of the program (a great feat when considering how much people are transient and move away in our neighborhood. This year looks a little different, but the heart is still very much the same. Going completely virtual, this program's 15 students has 14 newcomers from various places in the city. They talk about emotional and mental health as well as doing fun and interactive activities over zoom. I've joined the calls a couple times and those kids have a blast doing impromtu show-and-tells and getting their chance to talk and answer questions.  Praise God for technology. We pray that we will be back in person in the fall, but for now, God has been sustaining this program through multi-year grants and generous donations.

BLOCK: Here at 2nd Mile, we started with elementary school, intentionally growing with those specific students to then create a middle school program, Connect, to continue those relationships and that growth. Eventually, those students would become high schoolers and another program would be started. I feel as though the middle and high school programs have had the least consistency in 2nd Mile's life. Contributing factors of this were probably having three leadership changes in about two years, as well as the program only being once or twice a week due to conflicting program schedules and limited meeting space. Currently, I lead BLOCK virtually where a small number of students get on weekly and we have had a great time and have gotten used to the format and each other. Please pray that more students would show up, that if/when we go to in-person in the fall that we'd be able to reconnect with students that have fallen through the cracks. We've had 130 middle school students in our programs over the 8 years of having programming for them. We've had 56 high school students in our programs over the 5 years of having programming for them.

BLOCK also has an instagram now, which I hesitantly agreed to manage. If you have instagram and know your way around it, please, PLEASE reach out to me because I am out of my depth. The handle is block_brentwood if you'd like to follow.

As We Gather: This relatively new program was created last fall to allow people over 55 years old to connect online, learn technology basics, socialize, learn about God, and do different activities. These 9wk long sessions are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings and the program is going to begin it's third 9wk run in April. Please pray that As We Gather would continue to grow in consistency and numbers so more and more seniors in this neighborhood can be served and loved in new ways. There have been over 20 people signed up already for this program.

Tapestry Talks: One of the things I've missed most about this past March has been mission teams. We usually get anywhere from one to four mission teams from colleges and churches across the country during their spring breaks and they help serve our neighborhoods, schools, neighboring organizations, as well as learn about God's heart for justice. Thanks to covid, we got cancelations from groups in 2020 and many of our previous connections showed hesitancy in traveling in big groups for their spring breaks. Enter Tapesty Talks. With all that has been happening in the news in regards to racial injustice recently (even though this problem has been around a lot longer than many want to believe or acknowledge), Tapestry Talks aims to not only be a prerequisite class for college students before they come on a mission trip, but for all people that want to learn more about racial reconciliation, God's heart for justice, and their own biases and leanings on issues. The first round of classes had a mixture of white and black people, a women's Bible study from Madison, WI, and members of the black community in Jacksonville. From what I've heard, it was a successful first 6wk course.  Please pray that this course would soften hearts to be more understanding of other peoples' experiences, would humble people's preconceptions, and would bring glory to God most of all. God's heart for us to "love our neighbors" and even "love our enemies" couldn't be more crucial in these times of stress, anxieties, and uncertainty. If you are interested in participating in this now 8wk long course (one virtual class per week) while it's still free, visit  www.2ndmilejax.com/tapestry-talks.

In other news: We had a garden day last Saturday and it was super exciting! Students from a neighboring high school came out as well as some staff and other volunteers. Four high schoolers, four staff, three other adults, and seven youngens planted vegetable seeds such as sweet tomatoes, peas, jalapenos, yellow tomatoes, and eggplant. We also planted herbs like basil and rosemary (which smells amazing). Finally, for the first time in our garden, we planted some flowers such as sunflowers, morning glory, cypress vines, lavender, and cosmos drawf cuties (look 'em up). We weeded, built cement block benches, watered, and dreamed about future garden days.

We also finally installed both our new basketball goals. The old ones had broken backboards. I have high hopes for a three-point contest and a skills challenge in the summer which will immediately preface a late night outdoor viewing of Space Jam 2! But we'll see what happens.

Me teaching about companion planting and perennials vs. annuals

Companion planting sweat peas and basil

Hopefully these will all grow

Big thanks to Johan and Michael (and other Michael as well)

 

February in pictures

Ever since Summer Day Camp 2020, a lot of ministry and prep has looked like the following two pictures--divvying up individualized supplies for each participant, put them in a box, and then either delivery the boxes or have them picked up. Then, participants collectively get on a zoom call, and we do an activity together. Our two:fiftytwo After School Program is currently doing it, and I'm doing this as well with our BLOCK Middle and High School program.

 

To be very transparent about ministry during the pandemic, some roadblocks we've hit have been:

1.) Us being able to get into the schools (for volunteering or connections and communication with teachers)

2.) Students having internet access at home, or a device that would allow them to be on zoom.

3.) A large enough indoor space and the means to allow for a program to be run safely in person. 

However, roadblocks, quite literally, allow for new detours and roads to reach our destination. Some new avenues that the pandemic have allowed for us are: 

1.) Extending our reach to students outside of our immediate neighborhood who wouldn't have been able to come to our programs in person due to distance. 

2.) Being able to find grants that specifically help non-profits continue their work and be innovative with outreach.

3.) Time for future-planning, dreaming, and vision in our programs for when the pandemic dissipates.

Taking over BLOCK in January, I've taken to zoom meetings with a certain level of enjoyment. Being interactive and making up activities has been enjoyable so far and the students that come have seemingly enjoyed the time and keep coming back with enthusiasm. I've felt a great sense of freedom for planning and executing lessons. Every opportunity I can, I get the students' input on things they want to do and learn. For February, they gave suggestions for movies for an outdoor movie night, and of the four choices, the final vote was The Croods 2: A New Age. Our movie night in December had about 35 people at it, and this time there were about 50. We were still social distanced, but since it was a little warmer out (sorry rest of the country), we replaced hot chocolate with flavored lemonade. Popcorn with all the fixins was still a huge hit, as kids put anything from marshmallows to hot cheetos (and often both) in their popcorn. I can't wait for the next one.

And finally, the last big part of February for me, Max turned four years old?!? He is growing up so fast and he definitely makes parenting actually fun and enjoyable. We are making slow progress with eating and potty training, but it is progress. Thank you for continued prayers. There's a whole lot more that 2nd Mile is doing besides what I'm doing with BLOCK and hopefully I'll be able to make a longer blog the next time and include everything that's going on...it's a lot.

 

Watching vs. Doing

I love music. I love listening to music, all kinds. But listening to classical music, especially string quartets is possibly the most enjoyable for me. I not only listen to these other musicians making the music, but I can see and feel what it would be like to play that music myself. When I play the music myself, I enter the world of that song along with all others who have played it in the past. Music has been a place to express myself emotionally and mentally.

I love sports. I love playing sports, all kinds. But watching basketball and disc golf is my favorite by far. I can share in the experience and love of the sport because of the way I feel while actually playing those sports.

There's something about doing rather than watching that has hit me for the past year of covid. I've consumed a lot of media, youtube, sports, tv shows, and movies. I've gained an appreciation for people who do gardening, people who run, people who take care of their physical health, and even writers who come up with some very good tv shows. However, I feel a whole lot better when I am the one making things happen, when I stir the pond (I feel like that's an expression?). 

I remember a game growing up called Steal the Bacon. There were two teams lines up at opposite ends of the gym/court/field. Each person had a number assigned to them. The judge called out "Three!" or some other number, and that particular number from each team ran to the center and tried to bring back the football or bowling pin from the middle without getting tagged by your opponent. This knowledge that your number could be called at any time kept me on my toes, brought the adrenaline of becoming a doer, not a watcher, partaking in the game and possibly making something happen for our team.

In leading BLOCK for the first time, I didn't want to create a bunch of watchers in the middle and high school students. I feel that their entire day is made up of watching. Watch your teachers and listen, come home and watch tv. Although zoom meetings are pretty much watching a phone or computer screen, I've been convicted to make it more interactive and allow the students to partake more, knowing that at any time I could ask them a question, or want their opinion on a topic, or ask them to share about their lives, or ask them to balance a book on their head.

Since January 12th, I feel that BLOCK has been more interactive and less of them coming to watch and see how I am going to teach them, entertain them, etc. Sure I can share about my own life, and yes, there is something to be said of wisdom, but I gotta be able to let the students try to do things, let them make their own mistakes, and be there for the times they are going through new things in life. So far, we've gotten to know some awesome students (emphasis on some, because attendance is currently low), but I'm optimistic and feel momentum for an improving program is close at hand.

If you are reading this, I'm going to be direct and state the obvious....you are reading a blog. If I were to encourage you to be a doer, here is something very practical and not very time-consuming that will be beneficial to you, to me, and to us.

What you can do right now:

-Pray that God will use zoom to extend our reach to more students than we could have ever predicted or expected in our own limited minds.

-Pray for our country. If you lean politically one way more than the other, pray for the other side, not like the Pharisee in Luke 18:11 ("God, I thank you that I am not like other people.") but like the tax collector in Luke 18:13 ("God, have mercy on me, a sinner.")

-Follow or "Like" us on Facebook, 2nd Mile Ministries.

Thank you to those who have used smile.amazon.com and designated us your charity of choice when ordering things on Amazon. I think we made like four times as much last month than in the previous month.

Goodbye 2020

I've never run a marathon before, but I'd imagine the water stations throughout the race are a much welcomed gift for the runners as they either rehydrate or pour it on themselves to cool them down for the remainder of the race. I feel as though 2020 and beyond, for many, has been like running a marathon, but with no training whatsoever. We all desperately want the race to be over, but alas, it goes on for who knows how long.

Being able to spend a week to relax and be with family during Christmas week was a desperately needed water station for me.

Now back to the race. 

In a couple weeks, the middle and high school BLOCK program will begin meeting virtually on zoom. It has been repeatedly mentioned that the students that have been coming just want to meet up and hang out like they used to and not be on zoom, and I feel those desires myself. Doing ministry virtually has been like running with legs tied together. We've had great moments at camp, and even some amazing Bible studies since going virtual, but of course we hope and plan for the days when we can safely meet back together. On December 12th, we were able to meet up in person with families and others in the community and put on an outdoor family movie night. We watched Jingle Jangle (a Christmas musical on Netflix in case you're interested)! We had about 35 people show up throughout the night ranging from 3 years old to people in their 60s. Spread out in lawn chairs on our basketball court, families enjoyed hot chocolate, coffee, and popcorn with their movie. I'm excited to do this type of event again in the future!

My hope and vision for leading BLOCK virtually would be that we'd be able to reconnect with students that have been in our programs previously and that'd they would be the foundation for what BLOCK is. As students who've known each other for years regularly come, I pray and hope this creates a sense of belonging as many students and families have been isolated from each other for months. Please pray for the right students to show up. I can often feel the pressure to perform well in many aspects of life, and I don't want my identity to be bound to worldly success in ministry. I trust that God will use the next months to grow me, to humble me, and to use me as the marathon continues.

I'm reminded of Hebrews 12:1-2 which says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." The sin that clings to me often is pride, self-pity, resentment, and judgment. Lord, I throw this all aside for your name's sake. Let 2021 be a year we look back on with gratitude.

Question: How do we run this race that is set before us with endurance?

Answer: By looking to Jesus, who endured the cross for us, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God!