|
Art and Nature speak volumes
|
|
|
|
|
Dear {{Recipient.FirstName}},
Happy Easter, and welcome to our spring 2024 quarterly letter, first of the new year!
The purpose is to share with you what we are doing with your help to know, love and serve street-dependent young people who have come to Austin. They come from all over our region and even from other states as they travel and find their way.
{{Sender.FirstName}} and the whole SYMin team
|
|
|
What's inside:
● A Client and Her Art!
● Our Beautiful New Location
● Ways to Connect!
● Day in the Life
● What Our Friends Say
● And One Last Thing!
|
|
|
|
|
Works in Progress:
Client and her art!
Magical moments
can happen as
street youths color
“Outside the Lines”
We've known for a long time that art groups can do wonders for our clients. Something magical happens when you combine moving hands, creative minds, proximity and time. We call our art group “Outside the Lines,” and we are frequently surprised by how impactful the work done there can be!
Clients enjoy Halloween, as do many Americans. It’s the second largest holiday in the USA, researchers say. We encourage our clients to have safe Halloween evenings by placing additional focus on Día de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, which is observed on Nov. 1 and 2. Last October, we showed our clients how to make ofrendas (home altars honoring deceased loved ones).
Among the participants was a client we had newly met. We often talk with clients about the people who have gone before them, who have influenced their lives, and whom they miss — the saints in their lives, living, already passed or imaginary.
Like parents of toddlers, we display all our clients’ artwork in a space that resembles a large refrigerator door. Eventually, that space has to be cleaned. We preserve most of the art digitally and eventually dispose of the originals.
|
|
|
Clients can take their art, of course, but many choose to leave it as a gift to us. Volunteers frame some of our art, and it decorates our walls more permanently. We included a lot of the art in our recent move.
Recently, that new client returned after being gone for a time and attended an art group meeting, where she recalled the ofrenda project and her art that was left unfinished. Amazingly, a staff member retrieved the incomplete project! It has not been lost or destroyed!
The client was so happy. It was very meaningful to her. She picked up where she had left off and nearly completed the project. As she worked, she told us what she had been doing while away, and we learned from the conversation that she has been growing and healing!
We love doing art groups in our new location, with its big windows, ample sunshine, newly organized space and more!
|
|
|
|
|
Our new location:
plenty of beauty
and room to play!
We have a new location. Someone has cared for this property over the long years, making sure there are fruit trees, shade trees and perennial flowers all around. No window view excludes flowering trees or bushes right now. The sunshine brings cheer to our group activities and our hangout times. We are so grateful for those who made the choices to nurture these plants. They may not be nearby to enjoy the benefits, but we are. Investing in the lives of homeless young adults is very similar perhaps.
|
|
|
We host Game Nights designed to provide healthy social fun without substances, abuse or fear. We often play board or card games.
Clients, volunteers and our team spend magical hours together where it's easy to forget anyone is homeless or in need of trauma recovery. Our new location has a sports court that offers new options.
This spring, our team decided to experiment and see how people would respond to playing basketball or football. It was amazing! Participants with various skill levels played basketball games, laughed and ran. Others picked up a football and tossed it around. This was impossible in our old location, but is so healthy for the mind, body and soul!
|
|
|
Finally, we made use of a prayer labyrinth on the property. Instead of simple stones outlining the walkways, they are defined by garden beds. Volunteers from the community and church have planted them for spring. One bed has mature winter veggies; the other beds have green spouts with plant labels.
Clients can walk off any overwhelming feelings in the maze. One afternoon, several of them walked together to try to identify the plants. Radishes are ready, so we pulled them, and clients were brave enough to taste something unfamiliar — and they loved them!
"I've never tasted a fresh radish out of the ground,” said one. “It's delicious!" We even took clippings of the onions, herbs, and kale indoors, and clients saute'd them in butter on an electric skillet and used them in omelettes!
Trust, skills, competence and confidence are potent medicine for what ails many traumatized young adults. Delivering it in a beautiful landscape guided by an amazing team makes it all the more effective!
We thank you for your belief in our little ministry. Thank you for providing the support, encouragement, prayers, food and funding to make it possible. We are grateful for you and for each of the clients who dare to venture to our location, not sure what they will find, and for being adventurous enough to try new things and grow to trust our team, in healing, growth and a future!
|
|
|
CONNECT.SYMin.org
We've updated our Connect.SYMin.org website so you can navigate quickly to areas we call Learn More, Big Helps, Serve, Reuse and Give. Here are some examples from four of those categories. They're 'HOT" right now!
Donate Items for Re-use!
|
|
|
Portable solar chargers
Because many of our clients are street-dependent, options for them to charge their devices are limited. The solar portable chargers are convenient because they are solar powered but small and don’t take up much space in their bags.
|
Reusable plastic bags
We use these for our various food bags that we distribute to clients. These include camping bags that contain easy-to-handle foods suitable for those living on the streets, and outreach bags that are given to those we meet at various sites in Austin and in San Marcos.
|
Men’s pants — all sizes!
We are especially in need of pants in small and medium sizes. We stock both long and short pants. The demand is sufficiently large that we find these are among the items that are most difficult to keep in stock in our Sunshine Store.
|
|
|
Breakfast casseroles
We'll send you 20 of our tri-fold brochures, which you place at your church, school, library or business. Send us a photo of them! If this is your volunteer cup of tea, use the "email owner" link to engage with our team.
|
Donate Food:
Sandwiches for clients
Volunteers purchase and build them, and we use them on our outreaches and during our groups and activities on site. Trauma-informed care suggests that food should always be accessible, so we try hard to provide it consistently.
|
Camping food bags
Provide 12 bags filled with easy-open, non-perishable food items. We'll give you the full list, but it's things you can obtain through a local grocery store. Clients can pick these up every three days from us.
|
|
|
Brochure placement
We'll send you 20 of our tri-fold brochures, which you place at your church, school, library or business. Send us a photo of them! If this is your volunteer cup of tea, use the "email owner" link to engage with our team.
|
Be a Big Help!
Help with prayer
One of the strongest things we do for clients is ask team members to pray for the specific needs that they have shared. Prayer warriors get one assignment every three weeks in round-robin style.
|
Curate an art exhibit
Select art from our Learning Center, then locate a business (bank, dental, medical) able to incorporate a wall of it with some SYMin signage. Raise funds for frames. Create the signage and arrange for the display.
|
|
|
3 outreach bags$15
We do outreach in at least five sessions every week. We distribute small bags of food or give people in need (regardless of age)bus passes so they can feed themselves in different ways. We give about 60 bags per week.
|
Make a Donation!
bread for sandwiches $24
We go through a lot of sandwiches because our kitchen doesn't allow preparation of hot meals. We need about 18 loaves of bread per week but get only about six through donations. The rest are delivered to save staff time and stretch dollars.
|
Month's art supply $100
We hold 3 hours of art therapy group weekly with clients. We need funds monthly for special art supplies to keep sessions engaging and interesting. So much good healing happens while hands are busy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sat 2-17 — Thank you to the youth group from Covenant Presbyterian Church that helped us renovate a room in a house on our property and interacted with our clients.
|
Tue 3-5 -- Clients gathered for Heart to Heart Virtual Peer Support Group.
|
|
|
Fri 2-16 -- The SYMin outreach team served clients at our San Marcos location.
|
Fri 3-8 -- Our clients always let their playful sides show during Friday Fun Day.
|
|
|
Mon 3-11 -- Three clients inspect what’s available at our Sunshine Store.
|
Thu 3-14 -- Clients sing, dance, read their own poetry, rap and reveal other surprises at our weekly Talent Night.
|
|
|
“What a terrific organization!”
Susan and Dan Bright
“Street Youth Ministry blesses
so many young people
and their families!
I am so happy to help out
this amazing organization!!”
Lauri Bunch
|
|
|
And One Last Thing ...
SYMin mascot Rosie gets a St. Patrick's Day hug from a happy client!
|
|
|
Street Youth Ministry
Our mailing address:
7421 Burnet Rd #264
Austin, TX 78757
Our location:
2008 Justin Lane
Austin TX 78757
Our website:
SYMin.org
Contact Info:
info@StreetYouthMinistry.org
Help Line:
512 553 3796
We’d be sad to see you go, but if you want to unsubscribe, here is the link:
UNSUBSCRIBE
Please don’t mark us as spam.
|
|
|
