Calling all Heroes

The last time we were here, I told you about the pizza parties we had the privilege to share with some amazing young people with lots of dreams.  With the Back to School Party slowly fading into the past we want to help these kids remember their dreams and help them start reaching for them.  We at OCJ Kids accomplish that thru our volunteers and Life Coaches that meet with the young people on a regular basis.

I am in the process of reading a book called "Orphans of the Living" by Jennifer Toth.  This is a hard book to read as you walk with kids as they walk thru the foster care system.  Seeing the affects of abuse they have suffered and how easy it is to stop dreaming and just live to survive.  Then I think about the girls I work with every week and it makes me wonder what happened to them to bring them to were they are at now in their lives.  Whatever the reason for them being where they are, it is my mission in life to help them find their dreams and be a tool to help them achieve those dreams. 

But I am one person, and I am glad to say that OCJ Kids has a group of volunteers that are going into the homes on a regular basis, helping foster kids reach for their dreams.  One area where we need more committed volunteers is in our Life Coaches.  We have a small handful of caring adults who have been trained and have been connected with a young person. these Life Coaches are committed to these young people to help them walk thru the transition of aging out of the foster care system into independent living.  These are my true HEROES!!

OCJ Kids is currently looking for more Heroes, Life Coaches.  We have young people aging out of the foster care system on a daily basis, most of them with out the support structure they need to succeed.  Will you be a hero for one of these young adults?  Will you be a mentor to some kids who are hurting?

I am looking for 2 men, who will be a mentor to 2 young men who desperately need a strong male role model in their lives.  Is that you? 

To help you get started OCJ Kids has a 101 Volunteer Orientation coming up on Oct 29th at our offices from 9am to 1pm.  We also have a 102 Life Coach Training on Oct 29th from 3pm to 5pm at the same location.

If you are interested please RSVP to shevaun@ocjkids.org and we will get you registered.

Thank you to all of my Heroes out there, you are greatly appreciated.  Keep up the great work!!

Until next time,

Shevaun

Fostering Connections Blog is Back!

It is good to be back with you again.  Wonderful things have been happening with OCJ Kids over this past year. We have formed new partnerships with more businesses and churches.  With these new connections we have been able to do that much more for the the foster children who live in mini orphanges we are connected with.  So far this year we have impacted over 1300 foster children!!!  And the year is not over yet! 
Our most recent event was our 6th Annual Tools 4 Success Back to School Party.  It was an amazing day with over 300 kids in attendance.  During the event the kids created amazing Dream Boards and were inspired by two wonderful guest speakers Amen Iseghohi and Alejandra Paredes.  After the event was over the kids received a new backpack and school supplies to help get their school year off on the right track.  I was overwhelmed by the new volunteers we had this year.  We had over 90 volunteers for the entire day!!
Each one impacting the lives of the over 300 kids present at the event and most likely were impacted by the kids themselves.

Also this summer, we started a great partnership with Western Destinations to provide a Cowboy Camp for 250 foster kids!  Everyone who had the opportunity to attend the overnight camp, still talk about their experience to this day.  Between the ranglers and the horses, these kids had an opportunity they will never forget.  We can't wait for next summer so we can do it again!

With our volunteer base growing we are able to reach more of these young people in the mini orphanages where they live.   To help them prepare for the little and big things that life throws in their way.  More and more homes are being connected with volunteers and mentors, but there is still more homes that need to be connected.  I had the opportunity to visit a home the other day to drop off a book I had for a 2 year old little boy.  As I was leaving, one of his house mates asked if I could have lunch with him on the following Monday at school, because it was his birthday.   I am not sure what his story is, but this young man age 9 or 10 asking a complete stranger to join him for lunch for his birthday, broke my heart.  I had to tell him that would not be possible at this time.  The small needs of these kids are great and most can be met with a training and an hour or two a month. 
Will you join us?  Check out our website http://www.ocjkids.org/ or contact me at shevaun@ocjkids.org to see how you can get conencted.

I have a question for you who are reading this, what do you want to read when you visit this blog?  Let me know.  Thanks for reading!

Carving Pumpkins

Another exciting evening with the girls this past Monday!  I love holidays and making the most of them.
So over the past few weeks we have been getting ready for Halloween.  Last week we decorated masks, so the girls could were them on the 31st if they wanted, seeing that after the age of 13 they do not have the availablitiy to get a costume while they are in a group home.
This past Monday we carved pumpkins.  What an ooie gooie mess that was but a great time getting our hands dirty carving pumpkins.  While the seeds were baking we were carving.  Scary scenes, funny faces, one sided, oh wait some are two faced :-)  But the overall experience was enjoyable. 
Don't they look great?!

Do you have a favorite holiday tradition for Thanksgiving you would like to share?  How about Christmas? I would love to hear some and possibly use them with the girls.

Decisions

There is a lot of different things going on in my head about a young lady, who I will call Beth, who lives at a teen mom group home that I visit on Mondays.

Beth is soon to turn 18 and she has some decisions to make. What does she want to do? Where does she want to live? Does she want to stay at the home she is now? Deep down she wants to finish her education and at the same time move back in with her mom and get her child back. What she doesn't realize that, if she takes advantage of the programs available to her, she might have a better chance making it in the world around her.

Right now the system has failed her. She is 17 and is struggling with reading and writing. Where do they have her in school, in a life skills class and job training. She is not receiving help with her reading and writing skills, which is one of the things she needs. She has a ways to go and needs a lot of help that I believe she will not get at home. she will one of those statistics that prove we are so needed.

I struggle with what needs to happen next. I can help with her reading and spelling skills on a limited basis. I can try and help her see long term consequences to her choices today. It is times like these that I wish I was able to get a hold of her when she first arrived in the system. It is because of young people like this that we are involved. this is why we do what we do!

Beth is one out of 10,000 foster kids here in Arizona. All needing attention, all needing some one who will care and try to make changes. Will you be one to help bring change?