The Kids We Can Best Help
“Do you have sports teams?” asked a boy who recently visited the New Song campus, having been brought for a tour by his adoptive grandmother.
What’s learned through sports and other recreational activities can help us fulfill the core of our mission, which is to equip kids for life. Over time, as God works through our loving houseparents, teachers, and others who serve the Lord Jesus on our scenic Brown County campus, we trust the kids in our care will be prepared for life!
We praise God for the boy mentioned above, as well as several other kids who we’ve been contacted about since the spring. Over the past three months, we’ve been reaching out to folks who can refer at-risk families and kids to New Song—teachers, homeless shelter staff, churches, food pantry workers, jail chaplains, social workers, and many others.
We think that this steady outreach of building long-lasting relationships with referral sources will be key to our ability to receive kids in the future. So while we don’t yet have any kids living on campus, we pray that as God blesses our outreach efforts, the homes of our two houseparent couples will soon be filled with kids.
The children and youth that New Song serves generally fall into one of two categories:
1. Fatherless kids whose moms are struggling with unstable housing, poverty, addictions, incarceration, or other challenging issues—moms who want better for their kids than they are able to provide; or
2. Kids living with grandparents who feel they are no longer able to give their grandchildren the type of upbringing the kids need in order to thrive.
Below is a list of criteria that we provide to those who can refer families and kids to New Song. The children we can best help:
- Are age 6-16 (at time of enrollment)
- Have unstable housing or live in an impoverished neighborhood
- Lack the steady presence of a father in the home
- Are facing difficult life circumstances
- Lack the opportunities for successful growth and development
- Have mild emotional or educational challenges
- Are likely to benefit from individualized educational instruction
- Are able to learn in a traditional classroom setting and live in a family-like environment
Please pray for the parents and grandparents whose kids need our help. Pray that they would have the courage to take the difficult step of enrolling their children at New Song so that the kids will have the opportunity for a bright future in Christ!