Two Inspirational Hires for Garrett Heights Program
Daniel King-Robertson
The middle school boys raced from one side of the gym to the other as each team tried to shoot the ball through the hoop. 
But Daniel King-Robertson, the Acts4Youth parent/student advisor for Garrett Heights' boys program, seemed to have double their energy as he dribbled around the boys while shouting encouragements, intermittently tossing a football to one of the boys less involved in the game and checking on another boy who was required to sit out because he'd thrown a chair earlier.
 
Daniel, who was hired in August to run the elementary school boys program for 4th and 5th graders and the middle school program for 6th and 7th graders, says that all the boys in his program are amazing and he loves them. He believes expressing unconditional love and confidence in them, even when they do wrong, can make a difference over the long term.
 
Recently, Daniel taught  a lesson on being confident in who God created you to be. After the lesson, Daniel asked one boy, who was wearing a gang rag (colored bandana) on his head, "Why do you wear that?" The boy told him that he admired the gang's lifestyle. Daniel shared with him some of his own experience with gangs, and then told him, "You have a choice. Whatever you decide, you are still worthy. I will still love and respect you, but I think you should get rid of the gang rag." The boy stood there for a while and then took it off and threw it in the trash.
 
The following week, the boy told Daniel that he saw another boy wearing a gang rag and said, "I told him the same thing you told me, and he took it off."
 
Manuella Nguerekata
Manuella Nguerekata, who works part-time running the Acts4Youth elementary school program for 4th and 5th grade girls at Garrett Heights, is a senior at Morgan State, majoring in psychology.  Her hope for the program is that by the end of the year the girls have a sense of community and feel that they can call each other "sister" or "confidant."
 
Even though Manuella's program is just getting started, she's thinking about the girls and how she can best develop a relationship with each of them. Right now the girls all seem shy, so she's pondering how to best draw them out. She's giving extra thought to one girl in particular who doesn't talk at all except to family members. Knowing this girl has a voice, Manuella is considering various strategies to help her be heard, even if that is through art or just a nod of her head.
 
Like the other schools that participate in our program (Guilford and Walter P. Carter), Garrett Heights School serves youth through 8th grade, is relatively small with one class per grade, and more than 80% of the students are classified to receive free or reduced price meals.
It's clear that Manuella sees this as much more than a part-time job. At her first lunchtime meeting with four of the girls, she bought pizza with her own money because she wanted to make it special, something very different from their everyday lunch in the cafeteria. Next year when the program expands to include middle school girls and Manuella has graduated from Morgan, she would like to work full time with Acts4Youth.
 
At Acts4Youth's benefit dinner last spring, a couple months after the program for 4th and 5th grade boys  began at Garrett Heights, the school's principal, Omotayo Abiodun, said, "When a program like A4Y enters your building, you truly see the difference." Making a difference in a young person's life does not happen easily or quickly, but  Manuella and Daniel are ready to do what it takes to make that difference.
Kevin Good's Blog
 
Kevin Good, Acts4Youth Executive Director, has started a new blog about life in East Baltimore that will be posted on our website. See an excerpt below.

Just Another Day in Acts4Youth
 
"When dropping students off we saw three situations where frustration, disappointment, hurt, anger, and conflict led to violence. Two adults were arguing and a crowd of people were running to see what was about to go down. The 4th grade boy I was dropping off said he would be ready to dodge and duck if someone started shooting...."

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A New Van Thanks to Donations
 
Now that we are at Garrett Heights, we needed a second van. Thanks to the Skip Viragh Foundation that provided a matching grant, and other donors, we were able to purchase a new van! We are using the van six days a week to transport the kids from schools to host churches for evening programming and then back home to their families. We are also transport the kids to trips and service projects.
 
Shop Amazon!
Shop at smile.amazon.com and select Acts4Youth as your charity for .5% of purchases to be donated tous.

Amazon Smile is a simple and automatic way to support Acts4Youth while doing your online shopping. Visit http://smile.amazon.com and denote Acts4Youth as your charity of choice. When you do, a percentage of your order will be donated to Acts4Youth.
 
Acts4Youth also has a "Wish List" on Amazon where the program staff has listed snacks and game items that they would like to have for the kids.
"My favorite part of Acts4Youth is the spiritual discussions."

-- Paul, Garrett Heights Middle Schooler
Thank you for taking the time to catch up on our activities. 
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410.366.2278|  kgood@acts4youth.org | www.acts4youth.org
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