Gearing up for summer

Teenagers From Across the Nation Attend Weeklong “Reality Camps’’ at Stewpot

Middle-class students from as far away as Arkansas are scheduled to get a dose of urban reality this summer as they commit for one-week stints working as camp counselors with homeless and at-risk children.  The Stewpot is pleased to announce the following groups have enrolled for the mission week this summer 2012: Westside Baptist Church - Lewisville, First Presbyterian Church - Harrison AR, Cochran Chapel United Methodist Church - Tulsa OK, Chinese Bible Church - Richardson, First Presbyterian Church - Dallas, First Presbyterian Church - Allen, First Presbyterian Church - Duncanville, and First Presbyterian Church - Waco. 

Each week, a new crew of high school students arrives with adult sponsors, often from a church youth group. They sleep at First Presbyterian Church of Dallas and follow an established curriculum geared to help them think and learn about the experience.

The Stewpot’s Summer Visiting Youth program , scheduled to begin June 10 has multiple benefits: Teens serve as mentors to young, inner-city campers while also gaining a deeper understanding of urban problems, such as homelessness and poverty.

The program gives the teenagers a unique “urban wilderness’’ experience while also providing critical staff support at the eight-week summer camp run by The Stewpot, which is First Presbyterian Church’s community ministries program.

“Although we originally launched the summer camp to benefit children who live in homeless shelters and the City Park neighborhood, we later realized that we had a chance to provide middle class kids with something meaningful, too,’’ said the Rev. Bruce Buchanan, First Presbyterian’s associate pastor.

In this case, it’s a chance for suburban teens to spend a week in downtown Dallas, serving a cafeteria-style lunch to homeless adults at The Stewpot and working with kids that live in or near downtown shelters.

At night, the visiting youth volunteer at Dallas agencies that serve domestic violence victims, senior citizens and other at-risk groups. Once a week, they are invited to swimming parties at church members’ homes to relax and talk about what they have seen.

The “Summer Visiting Youth” program bolsters the Stewpot’s year-round efforts to support school age homeless and at-risk youth.

During the school year, the Stewpot operates a Saturday School for children who attend Dallas’ City Park Elementary School, which serves kids who live in homeless shelters, or in the low-income neighborhood south of downtown.

The young students get a nourishing meal, as well as access to games, a gymnasium, a computer lab, arts and crafts and reading help. The program is offered during all school breaks, as well as on Saturdays. During the summer, the same children are eligible to attend an eight-week summer camp.

For older students, the Stewpot operates a Venturing Crew of structured activities for eight summer weeks. Students are offered field trips, ROPES courses, camp outs and visits to college campuses. The  program is designed to offer positive alternatives to teenagers exposed to gangs and drugs.  Those who complete the program and go to college are eligible for Community Ministries Scholarships of $1,000 per semester. Currently 45 students are on scholarship.  



The last week (July 29-August 3) of the Summer Visiting Youth program is available. If you are interested in more information, please email Suzanne Dwight. 

Saturday School

On a typical Saturday morning you will find Byrd Hall and the 3rd floor children’s area alive with activity. 110 children from City Park Elementary and other surrounding areas come to FPC to eat breakfast and lunch and to participate in a variety of educational and fun activities. The children enthusiastically participate in learning musical genres, making a volcano in science class, learning how to play chess, and reading a new story in library. The children describe Saturday School as “Fun!” and “Cool!” while volunteer groups from around the city have called the program “Engaging, organized” as well as commenting on the “interactive and loving environment” that has been created for the children. The student’s delightful and well mannered behavior has even garnered sponsorship offers from a few local bowling leagues!


Leading the group of staff and volunteers on Saturdays is the new Assistant Director of Children and Youth, Lilli Curtis. Lilli has worked with Saturday School for 6 years on a part time basis. Four of the staff are current community ministries scholarship recipients and are now able to be great role models to the younger children. Many of the volunteers are participants in the Venturing Crew on Wednesday nights and are giving their time back to the programs.

For more information on volunteering with Saturday School contact Lilli Curtis at 214-746-2785 x326 or lillic@thestewpot.org.

Volunteers Needed

Fall is just around the corner and the Children and Youth Programs are already busy planning for the school year programs. We have several volunteer opportunities that we are looking to fill!

Venturing Crew and Junior Crew - Tutors are needed to help middle and high school students with homework. The Venturing Crew (high school age) will have tutoring the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Wednesdays from 6:30-7:00 for students that need additional help in one or more subjects. Junior Crew (middle school age) will also be doing tutoring on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wednesdays. Volunteers can commit to one, two or three Wednesdays a month. Math (Algebra, Calculus, Geometry), English, and Science expertise is especially needed. Volunteers can join the group for the entire evening from 6:30-8:30 where the programs have speakers and workshops, recreation and team building activities and community service projects or volunteers can just stay for the tutoring time from 6:30-7:00.

The programs are also looking for speakers that can talk about their career, college preparation, life skills, or another topic that would be beneficial for teens.

Saturday School - Volunteers are needed to help with the elementary program. Volunteers would help from 8:30-1:00 on Saturday mornings during the school year by helping serve breakfast and lunch and also acting as a shepherd to lead a group of students as they rotate through classes such as computers, art, recreation, movement and music, Bible stories, science, and library. Volunteers can be individuals or small groups.

English as a Second Language (ESL) - Volunteers do practice conversations with students about daily activities and help teachers in working one on one with students on their assignments.

For the children and youth program a background check is required for all volunteers over age 18.

For more information contact Suzanne Dwight at 214-746-2785 ext. 2378 or suzanned@thestewpot.org

Summertime with the Children & Youth Program

The Stewpot’s Children and Youth Program are off to a great start since we kicked off on June 13! Summer Crew has been doing some exciting activities. They took a field trip to Half Price Books to pick out a book to read for the summer and they will be doing activities based on their book. They are also doing an architect project led by Oscar, one of the Summer Crew staff that has an architect degree. The Summer Crew is doing a computer class each Wednesday where they are doing various projects including designing their own website. They have been on field trips to Nickelrama, the movies and roller-skating.

The program that has been traditionally called Summer Day Camp has changed names to Summer Kid’s Club. They are studying different continents in their “World Tour 2011”. They have already toured North America and South America and will be going to the other continents throughout the summer. They also participated in the Shake-It-Up Café VCS curriculum by incorporating the theme into their normal day camp activities. They are rotating through classes such as reading, computers, art, recreation, small games, music, drama, and library time. The camp has also been on field trips to roller skating, bowling, and the Frontiers of Flight Museum.

Our first Summer Visiting Youth group was from Lake Jackson, Texas. They visited English Language Ministry (ELM), Vogel Alcove, Grace Presbyterian Village, acted as Junior Counselors for the day camp, led a Bible study at The Stewpot and served dinner at The Bridge. It was a full but great week.

The second week some of the Summer Crew members served as the volunteer group for the day camp. Many of them have been part of the program for many years and are now able to give back. We had a great time at the pool party sharing about their experiences in the children and youth programs.
We have been enjoying the new computers which include 15 desktops and 30 laptops and a projector that were donated by an anonymous donor for the children and youth programs. They have opened up new opportunities for us to incorporate technology into the children and youth programs and expand the number of students that are able to use computers at one time. All of the children and youth love them and they have already been used a lot!

A fun day out at the skating rink.

Working hard on the computers recently donated.