November Campus Update
The staff and kids had an absolute blast this last month, especially during our fall festivities during Spirit Week. Our Principal, Vickie Terhune, had a week of fun ready for everyone which included hat day, bad hair day, nerd day, hoodie day, and costumes. Most of the staff joined in and we had a lot of laughs as we all sat together in morning devo. Mrs. Terhune and Zip made great NERDS. The kids wore their favorite hoodies but Stephen got crafty and wore 5 while Erik used his to be invisible. And if you thought these kids had bad hair when they wake up each day, they looked WORSE on bad hair day. Really, TJ? A mask? J
Mr. Zandstra showed us all up with his mountain of hats for hat day. Jim Haferkamp, our Maintenance Assistant, even let me have a chance to run forensics by pretending to be the victim. (What a ham!) Mrs. Terhune changed up the rules for the pumpkin decorating contest. Instead of having each Home compete, she had each KID compete. It was a hard choice but Stephen won! The kids all earned prizes before trick or treating for candy through the school and the Admin building. Until next month, have a great holiday!!
October Campus Update
Beth Frump always liked to cheer from the mountaintops (or should I say sand dunes?) when summer came around. I, on the other hand, LOVE THE COLD WEATHER!! But, I want to make it very clear that when I pray for snow, I pray that the snow doesn’t land on your driveways. 🙂 (I feel that’s a fair trade.) Anyway, the weather out here in Valparaiso, Indiana is getting a little cooler as we are already into October and preparing for our Fall festivities.
This last month, we had a celebration honoring Glenn Robertson, our Maintenance Supervisor and gym teacher, since he decided to retire. We had a nice meal and cake for him while we read fake work orders that he had to get done before we allowed him to leave. We had many laughs before Glenn passed the wrench down to Don Jones, our housedad and maintenance assistant. The staff and kids shared fun stories about what they remembered most about Glenn. The kids mostly remember his tough gym classes. But even though all the stories were funny, there was a reverberating theme. Glenn was a positive asset to our ministry, a great male role model, and shared all he had with everyone. But, before he left, he promised to come back and cook the hams for Annual Day. 🙂
New residents Stephen, TJ, and a young lady we will call “Barbara” joined us over the past few weeks and are doing ok. They are slowly transitioning but need your prayers while they do so. All the kids have been focusing on their studies and are excited to go on a field trip that Principal Vickie Terhune is in the process of planning.
Even though we didn’t have Annual Day this year, the Bristol Road congregation in Michigan delivered a bag of new clothes for each of our residents and houseparent children. Nine-year-old houseparent child, Kyah Zandstra, tried on all of her new clothes, looked at her mom and said, “We are so blessed.”
We are blessed. And we thank all of you for continuing to pray for our kids, our staff, and this ministry. We hope you all have a beautiful month and we will keep you updated in the November Update.
Happy Fall, The Staff at Shults-Lewis
September Campus Update
Well, it finally happened. Our campus was breached by COVID. Being understaffed, it made it that much harder when staff started getting COVID. But, with God’s help, we pulled together as we usually do and made everything work. We used some of our office workers and a teacher, to take turns watching one of our boys for a few days in one of our closed Homes until houseparents were in the clear from COVID.
During all of that, our Board of Trustees and our Administrators made the decision to cancel Annual Day again this year. It was a hard decision but with the lack of staff and some of them getting COVID, we just couldn’t put an event this big together with so few people. We also had to consider our sojourners. Our sojourners consist of retired folks connected with the churches of Christ that travel the country in their RVs and volunteer their time to helping places like ours prepare for events or just help with general upkeep needs. We did not want to put them, our amazing vendors, or YOU in harm’s way.
During this trying time, we closed campus for 10 days for quarantine to ensure the safety of the staff and kids. Today is our first day back and, even though we are all wearing masks, it was so good to see our previously sick staff being able to attend meetings and just saying hello.
On a good note, we are placing another female resident today. We ask that you keep her and her family in your prayers as they make this transition.
Stay safe, stay healthy,
Lissa Baldwin, Development Director
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JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAITHFUL MEMBERS OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST
-School Secretary -Administrative Assistant -School Principal
-Director of Operations -Teacher -Social Services Staff
-Counselor/Therapist -Houseparents -Executive Director
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August Campus Update
July went by so fast! The staff and kids have been so busy that I’m not sure July even happened this year. Let me tell you what we’ve been doing.
Did we mention Kiana hates mannequins?
WE OPENED OUR BOYS’ HOME AND PLACED OUR FIRST BOY! Pray for Erik as he transitions to our program.
Staff have been speaking to churches in Indiana and Michigan to inform them of our great need for staff! The Baldwins and the Robertsons have been “sharing the load” by taking turns picking up commodities while Housedad, Don Jones, stepped over to the school to help teach.
Whew! It’s been a fast, busy month, but it’s been very productive and fun. Thank you for your continued prayers!
JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAITHFUL MEMBERS OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST
-School Secretary -Administrative Assistant -School Principal
-Director of Operations -Teacher -Social Services Staff
-Counselor/Therapist -Houseparents
July Campus Update
Shults-Lewis staff have been busy this summer. Our kids have been working hard on their goals as well as their schoolwork which has paid off. Some of our kids are transitioning to go home this summer. Please pray for them as they take these next steps. And please pray for the kids that are on our waiting list to come here. Since the Zandstras came back to be houseparents, we can now open our boys’ Home again!
The staff have been shuffling around to cover work until we get more staff. Housedad, Don Jones, stepped in to help teach until Mike Zandstra could get trained and take over as teacher. Angela Robertson, Executive Director, and her husband Glenn, Maintenance Supervisor have been taking turns with the Baldwin family to pick up commodities while Don is teaching. We want to thank all of our churches and our “special helpers” for gathering commodities for our kids and helping us load the van this summer.
But, we haven’t been the only ones who have been working hard this summer. We had 2 groups come out to campus and work to get our campus ready for Annual Day. We thank Naperville group from Illinois and Green Valley groups from Indiana, we had an awesome time with them!
JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAITHFUL MEMBERS OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST
-School Secretary -Administrative Assistant -School Principal
-Director of Operations -Teacher -Social Services Staff
-Counselor/Therapist -Houseparents
As always, please keep us in your prayers and thank you for all you do for this ministry!