Praise & Prayer Requests April 21
Activities Update and Praise
This Saturday’s youth activities were filled with learning and fun–even the college volunteers left out-of-breath. As Tory’on walked in to the Passport youth program he said, “Are we having church today?” When I asked him what he meant by that, he said, “You know, where we sit around and you tell us about God?” I assured him we’d be “having church” today.
In the Tech Center upstairs, Sean led a group of young men in another session of the Hip Hop 101 class as part of the Voice and Choice program. The music was so loud, that the Passport kids said they should rename the course “Hip Hop for the Hard of Hearing”. (Of course they all tried to sneak in later.) When the Hip Hop class walked through the Main Hall the Passport kids and college volunteers were running, frozen, or hiding. I mentioned to the rappers that they should keep moving or they might “get tagged”. One of them ducked and crouched down. His partner laughed and told me that could mean ”beware because someone has a weapon”. One of the best volunteers this Saturday was a teenage girl who came to IMPACT as a kid. She related well with the kids and had a great time. It was also good to see her connect with the college students.
Twelve young adults graduated from the Financial Literacy course lead by the Catholic Charities group. The graduates seemed to grasp the course material very well. Several expressed an interest in contuning through the complete Life Transformation Challenge.
The Golf Outing is Friday May 4. We have 4 major sponsors and a dozen hole sponsors. Several new teams registered and almost all the regular attenders are registered!
The garden is off to a good start. Last year we harvested tons of great vegetables and made friends in the process.
Prayer
Please pray for our second full class of LTC students for 2012. We’re set to begin May 14. Lots of folks have expressed interest. We’re making room for 50 students!
Pray for a great day of golfing and fellowship on May 4.
Pray for Rachael, our new volunteer–there may be not-so-positive influences in her life.
Pray for good responses to grant submissions and requests sent to foundations.
THANKS For your support, encouragement, and prayers. God is working and it’s a blessing to watch. Greg Allen Executive Director IMPACT Ministries 720 SE 8th St. Evansville, IN 47713
Read MoreUpdate from Greg
One of the graduates from Hip Hop 101 has is distributing copies of his “official bootleg” CD that he created at the IMPACT studio. To say he’s excited about it is an understatement, and he is quick to give thanks to Sean and IMPACT. The rapper has also been attending the LTC classes and bringing friends and family with him.
It’s great to see the folks in the neighborhood view IMPACT as a “community resource center”. Several church teams schedule our gym for practices when we’re not using it and kids are usually on the outdoor courts late in the evening. Every once in a while someone stops in to borrow a basketball to play outside—their diligence in returning the basketball is encouraging.
Read MoreNeighbor to Neighbor Graduation
Neighbor to Neighbor graduation is Thursday April 19 at 10:30 am.
The N2N was created by and is taught by Catholic Charities in response to the overwhelming requests for financial assistance they receive. The program focuses on increasing income and regulating expenses. It has been a great overall vehicle for helping folks move out of poverty and served as a starting point for the Life Transformation Challenge. Seventeen folks are scheduled to graduate on Thursday.
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Golf Outing is May 4
Join us for a morning of golf to help raise funds to support IMPACT’s mission.
Click Here to learn more or to sign up.
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March Community Connect
Come learn how you can be a part of what’s happening at IMPACT Ministries. We’ll talk about our programs, and how you can volunteer and support our mission.
Community Connect Night
Tuesday, March 6
6:15 PM
IMPACT Ministries
Association Fears
Yesterday while waiting to see someone, I was sitting in my car (which looks like a police cruiser) in a nearly-vacant parking lot next to the ”Cut Rate Liquor” market. A group of 20-somethings walked up from behind the car. One of the guys kept looking back at me–I’m sure I looked out of place. I keep my gaze upon him, just being curious how he would process my presence.
Then his face lit up and he said, “Greg?” It was a young man I knew from the gym. I remember bribing him with food to come to the pilot courses of our Life Skills classes several years ago. He did well in the class and was one of the few participants with a job.
I got out of the car–wearing khakis, a buttoned-down shirt, dark sunglasses, and a store-bought hair cut. He shook my hand with his right hand and gave me a hug (if that what you call it when guys bump shoulders) and he continued to hold up his pants with his left hand.
We talked for a less than a minute and he never made eye-contact after I got out of the car. He was constantly looking around; he made three complete 360 turns just in those seconds. He said he’d come by to see me sometime then he jogged off to catch up with his friends.
As I got back in the car I could see the folks he was glancing around at. There was a group in the liquor store parking lot, a few on the corner, and a handful of people just walking by. They seemed fine to me. But to him, they were folks that might wonder why he was friends with the not-so-clever white guy on stake-out in the unmarked cruiser.
I wasn’t at all offended by the incident. (Actually, I didn’t really understand it until I mentioned it to another guy from the gym yesterday afternoon. I told him who I saw, but that he didn’t talk much. My gym friend said, “He was wrong to sell you out like that…but man, you can’t expect guys to talk to you if they’re hanging on that corner.”)
The good news is: the guy will likely come see me soon. He knows IMPACT is a safe place and there are people here who care. He’ll certainly take advantage of the gym and probably hook up with Sean again in the recording studio. He did mention he was looking for a job, so he’ll probably ask me to connect him with our resources for that.
All in all, it was a fruitful 50 seconds. (And I never did meet up with the guy I was waiting to see.)
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