(Who knew there could be so many obstacles to writing a simple blog post?! With this post, there was some mental processing that needed to be done, a major GreenHouse event that took over all of my spare time, and then - just as I had nearly completed this quite
looong post - I accidentally deleted
the entire thing and had to re-write it! Let's just say I will never push control "z" multiple times in a row when typing into blogger. Sadly, it makes all of the words disappear. So at this point, this post has become a major labor of love. I hope you enjoy it.)
This first
story of "success" is about a young man, "B," who starting coming to The GreenHouse the summer before his freshman of high school. He soon became involved in Oasis (our Christian youth group), R4 (our teen after-school program) and Liquid (our teen summer program) and while he was usually pretty quiet at The GreenHouse, it was clear from the start that he was very well-liked by his peers.
B began his high school days at Grant High, but by the middle of tenth grade, he had missed quite a lot of school. According to B, "there was no one to wake me up." Without parental support, this fifteen-year-old did not have the internal fortitude to get himself up and ready for school, especially in the cold winter months. If everyone else in his family was still asleep in the mornings, why couldn't he be as well? So halfway through tenth grade, he requested to transfer to a home-school program, hoping that it might give him a better chance of graduating from high school. Really good decision on his part.
Once he started the home-school program, B began coming to R4 with more consistency. At R4 he had a quiet place to do his assignments - free from the distractions of his chaotic home life. What's more, he had access to all of the tools he needed to complete his work: computers, printers, highlighters, pens, and paper - all things that were not available in the tiny apartment that he shares with his mother, siblings, and niece.
During his senior year, something seemed to click inside B. He became more focused and was determined to finish strong. At R4 he diligently completed one set of assignments on Tuesdays and another set on Thursdays. He didn't care who was there or who was goofing off during homework time - he was there to work! And the hard work paid off. His grades started improving.
That same year, B served on our Leaders in Training team where he was elected "el Presidente" by his peers. As the team's President, B had many opportunities to develop his leadership skills and when it came time for the team to serve as a Youth Action Team, B was right there, leading the charge. With every new challenge and opportunity, we got to see more and more of B's limitless potential and incredible giftedness. At one point, our Youth Director said to me, "I don't think there's anything B can't do." And with each experience that he embraced, B's confidence grew.
Unfortunately, his senior year wasn't all smooth sailing. Part-way through the year, B had a run-in with law enforcement for doing something he shouldn't have and was sentenced to community service hours. When he asked us if he could serve them by volunteering at The GreenHouse, we agreed and decided to have him to serve as a "Study Buddy" (tutor) for our elementary after-school program.
(side note: We have found that court-mandated community service hours are an excellent opportunity to spent a good chunk of quality time with a teen when he or she is at a pivotal time in his/her life. Therefore we are very willing to let youth from the neighborhood serve their hours at The GreenHouse. Not all of them show up or complete their hours, but we always give them a chance).
It's hard to put into words what happened when B started serving as a Study Buddy with our elementary students. All I can say is, the kids responded to B in a way that I had
never seen before. Even the most challenging, squirmy little boys worked hard and behaved for B. Everyone
wanted to do well for B because everyone
knew B and everyone
loved B. It was beautiful to see!
We were so impressed with both B's performance as a Study Buddy and the reaction of the kids towards B that we wanted to figure out a way to keep him as involved as possible at The GreenHouse. In fact, we were so committed to having him on staff with us for the summer that our Board was willing to create a Summer Intern position for him. Fortunately, we found a program for low-income youth through Sacramento Employment and Training Agency where he could be paid and trained through them to work for us. What a deal (and a terrific program)!
So after graduating from high school this past June (hip, hip, hooray!), B spent his summer working part-time at The GreenHouse. As our Summer Intern, he ran Art workshops for our elementary students (he's an amazing artist) and was a small group leader for the rest of the day camp activities. B worked alongside Tim, Emily, Julie, Kelsey, and Sade - five amazing people who love the Lord and serve him with their whole lives. He also attended our weekly staff meetings which include devotionals and times of prayer for the community...life changing stuff for B to be a part of! Everyone on our staff loved having him around and had nothing but positive things to say about his work performance.
When I got back from DC, one of the first things I asked B was, "What was the best part about working here this summer?" He looked around at all the people sitting around the table at our staff meeting and said, "All of
them." I can't tell you how much that answer filled my heart with joy! For B to have been so impacted on a daily basis by the staff is such an amazing gift. B not only got to
hear the gospel, but he also got to
see it lived out all around him on a daily basis and he got to
participate in the work that God is doing in his neighborhood and in his own life.
When the SETA summer position ended, we began exploring ways to keep B on, either as an employee of The GreenHouse or as an employee of a program similar to the SETA one. We couldn't find any programs similar to the summer one, but God opened a door for us to hire B as an employee of The GreenHouse and just three weeks ago, we officially hired B as our Youth Action Team Coordinator!
This ten hour-per-week position is a win-win-win all around. By having a staff person in this capacity, we are now able to have our LIT team continue on as a Youth Action Team (something we had really wanted to do because it's a wonderful opportunity for our youth, but didn't think we'd be able to do this year because we just didn't have the manpower to manage and oversee the project). Plus, B is the perfect person for this job. As a former Youth Action Team member, he will be a highly effective liaison between the Youth Development Network, the staff of The GreenHouse, and the youth. And what really sealed the deal was the funding that we were given which will completely pay for this position. Win for the teens, win for The GreenHouse, and win for B.
I don't know how the next chapter in B's story will unfold. I just know that right now, his story a ray of Hope for us at The GreenHouse and we're so thankful for him. He encourages us and re-charges our batteries in ways that we need.
Would I have hired B five years ago? The sad thing is that I might not have. I might have let my preconceived notions of a "qualified/experienced employee" get in the way. But by His love and grace, God is transforming me! Thank you, God, for showing me the inherent value and dignity of each and every person. Thank you for making each one of us in Your image. Thank you for revealing B's giftedness to me and for reminding me that you can use each one of us - just as we are. Thank you for the honor and privilege of having B in my life - and hundreds of other youth like him. I am forever changed.
