Better Late Than Never??

Oh no! I can’t believe my last post was in January. Just so you know, City Kidz Ottawa is still doing really well. Since this is not a paid position for me, however, I have been working a little more than usual and have not had a lot of time left over for blogging. Now, I’m on a much deserved vacation and actually have a few moments to give you an update. And that’s why I’m linking you to our newsletter/annual report which we published this spring and sent to all our partners. Please take the time to get up to date with all that we’re doing. It’s a lot and if you’ve been following from the beginning, you may even be pleased to see the growth.

It’s really amazing, though, because we started off with about 20 kids in 2010 and are now up to 80 children on our roster.  Here’s 60 of them taken on our last day before this year’s summer break. 

 

…And ONE for all!!

Still Going Strong

Back on the train again…. this time heading back to Ottawa from a very productive two days  in Niagara Falls with the City Kidz Leadership team.   The meetings started at 9:00 am sharp on Monday January 16 and continued rapidly through 16 team building tasks ending early the following day at 3pm.  In addition to the incredible insights which were presented by our hardworking Executive Director Todd Bender and the Executive Team, we ate and slept well at the Mount Carmel Retreat Centre and had a great game of Electronic Catch Phrase…. my new favourite game. 

This was my second attendance at the annual meeting and I am so glad that I was able to attend.  Since becoming Branch Coordinator for Ottawa, I am often learning on the job and have really appreciated the constant coaching and support from Todd as I started up and continue to run this branch.  These two days, however, gave me the time to soak in a plethora of teaching on team management. From tasks gleaned out of Patrick Lencioni’s book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, learning the difference between Core Values, Mission Statement and Vision Statement, right down to the intricacies of SMART goals,  I have come away feeling a little wiser and even more equipped than ever to lead the Ottawa team to new heights in 2012.  I feel blessed too, because the material taught at these training sessions would cost hundreds of dollars for the average person looking for a seminar on team leadership.  Yet, City Kidz does it for free, with the desire to see the ministry excel to its greatest potential through an army of properly equipped children’s ministers. And I maintain that’s one of the reasons why City Kidz is still standing after starting as long ago as 1992.  In addition to recognizing his pastoral role, Todd Bender also figured out early on, that in order to make a ministry sustainable over the long haul, one needs to apply good business sense and strategy for future growth.  Todd has always been proactive in equipping his team administratively, AS WELL AS pastorally.

But it was the last exercise that really drove things home for me and how I personally fit into the City Kidz team.  As you may or may not imagine, it hasn’t always been easy starting up a branch on my own in the big City of Ottawa.  In many ways in this modern world of ours, I have often felt like a pioneer out on the frontier battling the elements alone to build my new home.   Perhaps that’s a little drastic.  I do have one major supporter that has been with me through thick and thin from the beginning and in the last few months I have discovered an incredible team of volunteers and community members who are coming on board with the City Kidz vision.  So I am not completely alone.  In the end, however, the vision for a branch in this City was  mine and 95 percent of the administrative work and fundraising has been done by me.  What has kept me going  was the incredible  support and coaching I have been receiving from the City Kidz Hamilton (National) office.

So,  in the last exercise of our retreat, we were each asked to look around the room we had been spending our time in, and find an object that best reflected the impact that was made on us personally.  Each person went around the room and found significant objects that represented their feelings.  One chose a rock, another a picture of a mother and child, and yet another, three markers.  I chose a chair. 

You see for me, coming to Hamilton and meeting Donna West, our Regina Branch Coordinator, and all the other leaders from the Hamilton office, I felt very much a part of a bigger vision. Not just for Hamilton or any of the branch cities, but for the country.  As I sat in my chair, next to this amazing team of Christian leaders who love the Lord and are passionate about reaching 5000 children by the end of 2013,  I was constantly reminded that I am not just one individual trying to make a change, but a member of a unified force.  I am only one member of a team of people that want to bring change to this nation’s children and who are wholly committed to finding the best way to foster those changes in significant ways.    I am not alone.   And this is what I will be telling the Ottawa team when I return.  That we are all part of something very big that’s happening in Canada and not only can we feel proud, but we can feel supported in the cause as well.  We have a team of people from across Canada now that share the same vision and are there to cheer us on any time we ask.  And that’s why I chose the chair.  And that’s why I think City Kidz Ottawa is going to excel in 2012!

…And ONE for all!!

Lofty Plans

Today, I am travelling by Via Rail from Ottawa to Hamilton. It’s minus 20 degrees outside and the windows are frosting up creating a gauzy lens to view the snow covered countryside.  It is a beautiful and bright sunshiney day. The train is equipped with WiFi and has thus enabled me to take the time to write a City Kidz Ottawa update. 

I’m heading to Hamilton for an important meeting of City Kidz leaders from across Canada and am looking forward with excitement to reconnecting with the Hamilton crew and at the notion of finally meeting Donna West, Branch Coordinator for Regina.  Donna and I started the first two OFFICIAL branches of City Kidz at the same time and although I have spoken with her by Skype, I have never met her face to face. The purpose of this meeting will be to do some important vision mapping and goal setting for 2012. 

The chief objective for Ottawa in 2012 will be the kids and how we can impact them more in 2012. We already are up to 46 children on our roster.This means that we are home visiting almost 50 children bi-weekly throughout the year and bussing approximately 35 children (not all children choose to attend every session) to the bi-weekly Playhouse program which runs in the spring and fall.  Our hope this year will be to expand our territory and bring even more children in.  Now that we have moved our location to the City Church basement, which has donated this space for free, we can potentially fit 200 children into that space.  Perhaps we won’t reach 200 children this year, but perhaps another 30 children added to our roster to bring our numbers to 80?  My hope is that by the end of 2013  we will have the workers and enough money in the bank, to be reaching at least 200 children.  Impossible?  Nope.

We, in Ottawa, have a lot of big plans for our branch, and much of that will be discussed at the meetings that start Monday.  I can’t wait to hear what’s on the horizon for Hamilton and Regina, as well.

Here’s a couple of pictures from our Christmas Party last season. School bags and mitts and hats were donated by local groups and City Kidz Hamilton contributed stockings to be given to all the children. 

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…And ONE for all!

It’s been busy!!

Despite the fact that I haven’t written anything over the summer, there’s been a lot going on. 

We had a wrap up barbecue for our great volunteers and I had a chance to get to know them on a more personal level.  We’re so busy all season, there’s very little time to just sit and shoot the breeze and the barbecue offered me a great opportunity to do just that. 

I was also engaged in some very good training by Skype provided by Todd Bender and team as we prepare to move out of the provisional branch stage to an independent branch.  It was in these meetings that I had a chance to connect with children’s ministers in Halifax, Welland, Hamilton and Regina.  All of them participating in a City Kidz type of ministry.  Ahh the age of technology where people can gather in one place from all across the country!  It was nice meeting other like-minded people who live scattered across Canada. 

We also had a volunteer training day in August, at which time I was privileged to pour as much into our passionate and eager volunteers as they could muster.  They learned about what it means to be a volunteer at City Kidz and had a crash course in how to talk to kids, the meaning of resilience from a City Kidz perspective and how to deal with all kinds of kids behaviorally.  They now “get” what City Kidz is all about and why they’re doing what they do.  They’re even more anxious now to make a difference in Ottawa.  I am so proud of my team!

And just when you think that’s quite a bit, City Kidz is growing so quickly that we’ve officially moved to another location with a bigger hall.  The good folks at City Church in Vanier, have kindly offered their hall free of charge to City Kidz Ottawa.   Despite the similarity in our names, City Kidz  is still an independent ministry, hoping to gather churches from all denominations to join in the fun, and all people within the greater Ottawa community who love children, as well.    Our new digs are pretty special!  Not only do we have more room, in which we can potentially fit 300 kids into, we now have two washrooms, a kitchen, and an installed lights and sound system.  We’re in heaven!!  Thanks Rob and Heather at City Church, and your congregation too!  The new Playhouse address is 221 Baribeau Street, around the corner on Ethel Street, Door C.

In addition to holding down jobs, we’ve also been carrying on with home visits and staying connected with the kids over the summer. Just because the program is over, we’re not! Relationship building is what City Kidz is all about and this never takes a break! Phew! I’m getting tired reading that!  But there’s more….

Now we’re into start up mode.  The curriculum has been picked and distributed around my team, the supplies have been purchased, the photocopying is done and the prizes are ready to go.  City Kidz Ottawa begins its fall season Saturday September 17th and the countdown is on.  The kids in the neighbourhood were so excited to hear this during home visits last night.   When I got out of my car, I was immediately swarmed by these children eager to know when we would be picking them up again! They were very happy to know it was this Saturday!! And SO AM I!!

…And ONE for all!!!

We Can Do This Together

Today was the last day of City Kidz Ottawa's spring session.  It was wonderful, complete with cake and a photographer to get a group shot as a keepsake for everyone to remember our first City Kidz season in Ottawa. We had the most kids today.  It seems that word's getting out and with the good weather, everyone is bringing friends and the bus was full today.   A little disconcerting as we try to figure out and remember what friend goes with who and where we're supposed to drop them off again, but it's a problem that Shawn and I and all of the City Kidz Ottawa staff have been longing for and even praying about.  

It's a good thing too!  While out doing our home visits last week we heard from one of the parents that there had been a pool party hosted by a local 18 year old.  The party was in the City Kidz neighbourhood and those invited ranged in age from 10 to 18.  There were drugs and alcohol at this party and apparently a few arrests.  Thankfully, none of our City Kidz kids were participants and we hope that we have gotten through to them enough to make the right decision not to attend such a thing. But it's a bit of a wake up call to the parents in the area as they realize that a viable war has been waged against their children. Maybe that's why we had so many kids on the bus today.  

 

Whatever the reason, we're glad to help in any way we can. We're here to join forces.  Even though the Playhouse is done for the summer, have no worries, we're going to maintain our home visits and stay in touch with the kids to keep the relationships we've already forged going.  And when September comes we'll be stronger than ever, with even more kids on the roster.  Together we will fight for the children of Ottawa.

...And ONE for all!!

Eyes

To City Kidz followers: This piece was written by a writer friend of mine who has a wonderful way with words.  When I read it, I felt that it so strongly reflects the heart of what City Kidz is, that I had to share it with all of you!  I hope you’re as blessed reading this as I was!

One time when I was living in Ottawa, I was coming home from work one night. Obviously, Ottawa being the city that it is, we had our share of homelessness and thus we were interrogated every once in awhile for some coinage. As a girl who grew up in a small town, at first I found it awkward and as time went on, I found it oddly comforting. There is something about a stranger going out of their way to reach out to you even if it is completely motivated by need.

As I was going home this one night, I had an encounter with a woman I will never ever forget.

She was asking me for a bus ticket. I, the avid transit user I was did not carry bus tickets, only a bus pass so I looked at her and mentioned I was sorry but I did not have any. Suddenly, she looked at me with her large brown eyes and the following words come out of her mouth..

"Thank you. Thank you for looking me in the eyes. No one ever looks me in the eyes."

I can still hear those words as if they happened just moments ago. I remember when I finally did get on the bus that night and eventually made it to my home in not the safest neighbourhood there is, my own eyes found the courage to let go of their tears.

Sometimes it is so easy to look at people anywhere but in their eyes. It is when you look someone in the eye that you remember that you are both human beings, with stories and with dreams, who feel the angst of emotion and the courage to be able to love. It is when you look someone in the eyes, that you actually see yourself and that you see the very little that separates you from them. Looking someone in the eye is communicating the unspoken words of, "I see you. I validate you. You can talk to me and I will really hear you. You are worthy of this."

It is in looking away, that we forget who we are.

I find that it is the eyes of Christ that are one of the most captivating and compelling things about Him. Scripture says He has eyes of fire, and it also says that there is no shadow of His turning. He never takes His eyes off of you. My friends, He never looks away.

As Christ is, so we are. This is our mission and I want this to be my life prayer.

To look every man, every woman, every child in the eye, no matter if they're a leper or if they're an all-star athlete, if they are living in the slums or in the palace, if they are a baby dying of AIDS or if they are the king of a mighty nation. No matter who you are let me look in the eyes, so I can tell you without saying a word...

"You are worth it."

~Ashley Beaudin

…And ONE for all!!

The Little Bus That Could

It’s hard for me to believe that it was just last May, 2010, that I met with Todd Bender, City Kidz Founder and Director and proposed the idea of starting a branch of City Kidz in Ottawa.  I had been thinking about it for a few months and first met Todd the previous October on a City Kidz bus when I had made a deliberate trip to Hamilton to take a tour through the program. 

Since then I’ve gone through quite the process to make this dream a reality in Ottawa.  I mapped the city to determine our target community, found a venue to hold the Saturday Playhouse, recruited a couple of very dedicated volunteers, recruited 20 children, started the program in October 2010 (only 5 months later), recruited MORE volunteers, ran the playhouse and conducted home visits bi-weekly until December, planned and held a Fundraiser Dinner in November where almost 75 people attended,  broke for the Christmas break, visited Hamilton for a Vision Mapping and Goal session, returned with a new vision to expand to 60 children by year end, took 20 City Kidz to the canal for a skate in February, recruited MORE kids for the spring startup on March 12th now filling our roster to 37, engaged in several visits with stakeholders across the city to create awareness, have gained one corporate donor, purchased one digital projector and have found a very generous church in Vanier who has loaned lights and sound equipment.  The spring startup of City Kidz Ottawa was March 12th and since then three playhouses have been held, with bi-weekly home visits and we plan to continue like this until June 18th.  Are you tired reading that list??  I’m not!! I’m EXCITED!! Hopefully, if all goes well, by September, 2011 I will have met the goal of 60 children, have at least 25 volunteers on our roster, and be running weekly, with weekly home visits year round.

When I think of the establishment of this branch an image of the “Little Engine that Could” comes to mind.  In my case, though, it should be more appropriately entitled, “The Little Bus That Could!”   This story fits because like the little engine’s task of pulling it’s heavy load, my dream to start the The City Kidz Ottawa branch was impossible to do alone.  But, with a couple of other little buses, such as City Kidz Hamilton and Peace Tower Church here in Ottawa, and a handful of dedicated volunteers, I made it over the hill and onto the other side with a long string of accomplishments pulled behind.

I suppose you could say it was a bold move on my part to begin a branch, but like the little steam engines working together, we sang, “I think I can – I think I can – I think I can”  and now looking back over the year, I’m over the hill and on the other side, and I’m going merrily on my way singing, “I thought I could" – I thought I could – I thought I could” and WE did!

….And ONE For All!!