Summer Day Camp Hands On Math Program

       This summer I had the privilege of completing my Girl Scout Gold Award under the direction of Lilli Curtis and Suzanne Dwight.  For my project I created a curriculum of math games and activities for the Summer Day Camp program.  I first had this idea when I worked with the Summer Visiting Youth Program during Community Ministries Week.  Throughout that week I noticed that there were multiple reading classes, which were increasing the students’ reading skills.  However, they were still struggling with basic math, but there was no math class.  When I approached Suzanne and Lilli with my project proposal they were excited and very willing to fit it into the new math classroom Lilli created. 

The major portion of my project was creating a curriculum of hands-on math games and a way to test how the games improved the children’s math skills throughout the summer.  The curriculum included a pretest, a post-test, and six math games for each grade - first through fourth.  For six weeks I volunteered each Monday and Wednesday in the computer classroom where I lead the first through fourth grade classes in the hands-on math games.  The games focused on basic math facts, time skills, and money skills.  While playing the games, the children also learned social skills including taking turns, communicating desires, and building friendships. 

The matching games were by far the children’s favorites.  The last day of day camp I let the students vote on their favorite game to determine what game they would play.  Each grade voted for one of the three matching games.  The kids also enjoyed the time relay race.  They were always full of energy, so they loved being able to run up and down the hall.  Combining physical activity with math questions created a more enjoyable learning environment. 

       The best part of my project was the interaction with the students.  I could not have asked for a better group of students. The children were open to new ideas and, new volunteers.  I had no idea what to expect the first week I volunteered.  The children were so welcoming and had the biggest smiles on their faces.  I also appreciate all the parents and church staff who came and supported the program the last two day during the open house.  This program would not be possible without their love and support. 

By:  Allison Brockette

A Volunteer's Point of View

Serving Our King

In Matthew 25:35-36, Jesus describes righteous service to our King:

I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

About a year and a half ago, I was studying that scripture during the holidays. I desperately wanted to know what that kind of service looked like in my life. Who did the Lord want me to feed?  Who did the Lord want me to clothe? During that study, I noticed a flyer hanging in my office break room. The Stewpot needed shoebox care packages for the homeless. "Start there," I heard the Spirit prompt me. 

After gathering shoeboxes from friends and family, and I headed to the Stewpot to drop them off. I recognized the Stewpot immediately. It was the scary building that I avoided. Why did so many homeless people gather there?  I didn't know, and I didn't plan to find out. I waited at the side door hoping someone would see me and take my shoeboxes. Someone did. Betty Heckman invited me in. I tried to just give her my shoeboxes, but she immediately started giving me a tour. She described the dental service, the medical service, the ID service, the voicemail service, and many other services. She introduced me to various Stewpot volunteers and employees. As we walked, I heard the Spirit's voice: "Look around! This is what it looks like. I live here."

I left the Stewpot with a clearer vision of my service to the King. I wanted to serve at the Stewpot, but what I could do? My answer came the next morning. I opened the Dallas Morning News and saw an article describing the Stewpot's representative payee program. Many homeless people are eligible for Social Security benefits, but Social Security often requires a disabled person to have a representative payee. The representative helps the disabled client manage their benefits. With the help of volunteers, the Stewpot acts as a representative payee for many clients. Volunteers meet with clients every week to discuss the client's budget and financial needs. Perfect, I thought. As an accountant and lawyer, that job suited me perfectly. A few months later, I met my first Stewpot client.

My favorite part of working at the Stewpot has been getting to know the clients. I've learned that it is difficult to help someone manage their money if you do not know them. My first client, for example, had recently emerged from a decade-long alcoholic haze. During that haze, he lost contact with his daughter. He had not spoken to her in years. He thought about her often and wanted to repair his relationship with her. Because I knew how important his daughter was, I encouraged my client to visit her.  We prepared a budget for the trip, and he visited. He returned from that trip with a new sense of joy. His daughter had graciously accepted him back into her life.

My time with payee-rep clients has taught me that the people lined up outside the Stewpot are not scary hoodlums that I should avoid. They are kings. Our King lives in them. He calls us to serve Him through them.

Stewpot Heart for the City Downtown Community Health Fair

On Saturday, July 14^th The Stewpot hosted its first Heart for the City Downtown Community Health Fair, which was generously sponsored by Baylor Medical Center of Dallas. The health fair was designed to target the underserved in the downtown area, including the homeless and the families involved in The Stewpot‘s Children and Youth programs. It proved to be a huge success with over 200 people in attendance. 

Baylor staff was on hand doing blood pressure checks and providing educational information on diabetes. A number of other agencies provided information on the services that they offer.  At The Stewpot’s own table, we had our AmeriCorps VISTA intern Kate on hand calculating each individual’s body mass index (BMI).

Community Health Fair participants had the opportunity to enter a prize drawing and everyone received a free t-shirt. We were also lucky to have Central Market donate 200 breakfast sacks, which we gave out as parting gifts. The lucky raffle winner received a sleeping bag, a sleeping mat, shaving kit and radio. 

Overall this first time event turned out to be a great one!  A very special thanks to Baylor Medical Center of Dallas for sponsorship and making it all possible and to Central Market for providing free breakfast.  Also, a big thanks to all the agencies that took time to come out and participate:  MetroCare, Community Dental Care, Crossroads Community Services, North Texas Food Bank, Dallas Fire & Rescue, Genesis Women’s Shelter, Turtle Creek Recovery Center, AIDS Arms, Nexus Recovery and The Salvation Army. 

Combatting Hunger at The Stewpot

My name is Kate McDermott and I am working at the Stewpot this summer.  Melissa Shirley and I work for the Texas Hunger Initiative (THI), which took us on as AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associates and posted us here.  There are other AmeriCorps Summer VISTAs working for THI and posted throughout Texas.  The New York City Coalition Against Hunger worked to raise and match AmeriCorps applicants with anti-hunger service opportunities (like the ones provided by THI).  Altogether Melissa and I report to Suzanne Dwight, THI, and NYCCAH.  Clear as mud for us too! 

What are we actually working on? Well, a lot of things.  We are here because the Summer Day Camp’s lunch and snack program is a Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) site, and it receives money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture so that kids who qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches at school don’t go hungry when school is out for the summer.  There is a huge need for this, as one out of four children in Texas are reportedly hungry during the summer months.  THI focuses on getting volunteers like Melissa and I to provide support to SFSP sites because across the state (and especially in Dallas) there is a gross under-utilization of the USDA's SFSP funds.  Something like 13% of the USDA-granted funds were actually used in Texas last summer.  The Texas Department of Agriculture has identified the number one breakdown as poor participation among eligible kids.  Interestingly, our Summer Day Camp’s SFSP can’t immediately accommodate a major increase in participation.  We considered reaching out to other SFSP sites to see if they needed help advertising and recruiting participants.  But then we learned, through the THI Food Planning Association, that the major problem in Dallas is that there are too many SFSP sites competing for the same population of kids.  This sent us back to the drawing board.  Since we are only here for a summer, and the Stewpot already has access to food insecure populations, we decided that in addition to serving meals at our SFSP site and helping Brenda with production reports, we would work to combat hunger in different ways. 

One of those ways is to provide research support to the FPC Community Garden Steering Committee.  Melissa and I have attended meetings in which we learned about the group’s plans and goals for the garden.  It’s tentatively planned for the ground to break in spring of 2013. The garden will be open to downtown Dallas residents, FPC members, Stewpot clients, etc. (everyone).  The committee members identified inclusion, education, and environmental stewardship as the major pillars of the community garden. With that we’re helping to develop a mission statement and choose a name- so if you have any ideas, please email me: cgm33@cornell.edu.  

Another way we’d like to fight hunger is to bring the Cooking Matters program to the children and youth who attend Saturday School, and Junior and Venturing Crews.  Cooking Matters is a national nutrition curriculum taught through the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB).  Melissa and I have attended a class and it was awesome- volunteer chefs and registered dietitians come and speak to participants about nutrition, shopping, saving money, and obviously: cooking.  The chef gives an interactive cooking demonstration and serves the dish so that everyone gets motivated to take home their own recipe and free ingredients and make the dish themselves.  Yum.  Incorporating this program into the Child and Youth Program is still in the works.  Melissa and I are also working with the NTFB and City Walk to host a workshop about enrolling in and using WIC and SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps) at the Dallas Farmers Market (DFM).  We’d like the adults who attend our English as a Second Language classes to know about this food assistance program and to have the opportunity to enroll in it.  Enrollment specialists will stay here to help them and a representative of the SNAP at the Farmers Market program will speak about how to use SNAP at the big, beautiful, nearby DFM.  If anyone reading this has a suggestion for other anti-hunger projects, please email me: cgm33@cornell.edu.

Meet Mayra!

At 23 years old, I feel lucky to have already graduated from school and be working in a field that I love. I owe a great deal of that to The Stewpot. Back when I was in high school, I participated in one of the children and youth programs that The Stewpot offers. The Venturing Crew was a great experience, one that opened a lot of doors for me. At the end of my senior year, I applied for and was given the Community Ministries Scholarship. Having that support allowed me to pursue my education and earn my Associates and Bachelor’s degree. As if that was not enough, shortly after graduating when I was looking for a job, The Stewpot offers me yet another amazing opportunity.  The chance to work for them as an Assistant Volunteer Coordinator. I happily accepted and now I have a job that I truly love.  I know first-hand what The Stewpot does for people, and now I get to be a part of that and help others just like I was helped. I will forever be grateful for all the opportunities The Stewpot gave me.  

Like My Community

Vote for our partner agency, Family Gateway in Liberty Mutual Insurance's Like My Community Project contest!  The project is designed to honor the people and organizations that are doing the right thing all over Dallas-Fort Worth.  Family Gateway has been nominated for the chance to receive $30,000 in support of programs for homeless children and families.  You can vote for your favorite organization on the Liberty Mutual Dallas Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/itlnWI until August 20, or text LMDAL to 61698 for a second vote per day.    

What’s in it for The Stewpot, you ask?  The Stewpot has a minority interest partnership with Family Gateway to develop EVERgreen Family Residences, to be located at 1701 Canton (one block from Dallas City Hall).    The housing project would provide 130 units of permanent and short-term supportive housing for children of families in need of housing, serving a total of 325 residents.  The Stewpot will be part of the supportive services network for the families.  More information can be found at http://evergreenresidences.com/program-background/