These organizations and the individuals who work for them are passionate about their calling and compassionate in their interactions with others, and their desire is to see the ones they are in contact with reach their full potential. To be better, to be healthy and to be whole.
Central Alberta Youth Unlimited (Stepping Stones)
In the past six months, Red Deer Stepping Stones has more than doubled in size and continues to grow. Your generosity has equipped Stepping Stones to offer a breakfast program, educated speakers, resource materials, life coaching and counselling support.
Bible study resources were purchased, and a large percentage of the women are also participating in a weekly Zoom study.
Funds have also allowed for a few larger events such as the Galentines Day (a Valentines women’s event discussing self-worth and how God sees us).
During the healthy eating segment, mothers were invited to work with a mentor to learn how to meal plan, budget and then grocery shop together.
Stepping Stones is in the process of creating a lending cupboard for Christian books on parenting as well as other essential items.
Launching a new program can feel slow and, at times, discouraging. Your partnership has done wonders.
Now we are racing to try and find enough volunteers to hold all these babies. We are beyond grateful. We see God working in mom’s lives every week and feel excited for all He is doing in Red Deer. The impact of your support is being felt on many levels. We praise God for this!
Youth Engagement
The Relaxation Room in Lindsay Thurber High School has taken on a new life since purchasing new bean bag chairs. These chairs might seem like a trivial thing, but they have allowed increased capacity, which changes the whole atmosphere of the place. About 34 youth fit in the room now, and more food options are available for the students. Sometimes, this is the only food they get all day because they don’t feel comfortable going to the office to receive some of the free lunches they can get from there. Along with the food, hot chocolate has been a huge barrier breaker for many Arabic-speaking youth.
We have also been able to help a handful of youth receive counselling with your funds. These youth come through the Relaxation Room, and as they share their stories, the staff are able to point them towards appropriate help.
One of the staff has been using the funds to buy strings for youth she is helping to teach guitar. She connects with them personally and plays worship songs with them as she teaches them. It’s a great connection point, and the kids light up as they play with a guitar that sounds so much better having fresh strings.
Maskwacis
Thanks to the partnership funds from CrossRoads, the Maskwacis team held a Youth Alpha Holy Spirit weekend getaway at a Central Alberta camp with 14 youth and five leaders. The funds from CrossRoads helped to provide meals, a speaker, the cost of the camp, transportation, and supplies. It was a very special weekend.
Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre
The Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre continues to offer reliable support, counsel and tangible places of refuge and growth to women facing unexpected pregnancies and their families.
The following story highlights the importance of having the Pregnancy Care Centre and The Aerie Maternity Home in our community:
A young mom came into the program with the goal of reuniting with her child. Her baby girl had been apprehended by Children’s Services (CS) due to the high level of domestic violence in the home and the risk to the baby.
This young mom has quite the story as she began running away from home when she was 16 years old. She is now almost 30. She spent quite a few years lost in addiction, her drugs of choice were crystal meth and cocaine. She gave birth to a child when she was still a teenager and that baby was given into adoption. This is one of her biggest regrets, although she knows that she did not have the skills to parent the child at that time. She was in and out of addiction, and at some point in her street life, she contracted HIV.
When this mom came into Aerie, she was very malnourished, extremely thin, and riddled with high anxiety and other disorders. One thing in her favour at that time was her commitment to be sober, remain sober, and take part in all programming offered so as to get her child back into her custody. We were able to offer her stability, parenting skills, love, safety, and acceptance. We worked with her, supporting and advocating for her. After doing a lot of work, following all recommendations set out by CS, this mom was able to take back full custody of her child after nine months. It was a slow process, whereas she had short supervised visits here at the Aerie, then slowly parenting time was increased. Now she has her child full-time with no involvement whatsoever from Children’s Services.
As she had run away at such a young age, her education was not completed. In spite of that, she put in all the effort to make sure she is stepping up, for herself and for her child. She is on AISH, due to multiple diagnoses, yet she is choosing to do her best to provide a better future and example to her child. She is now enrolled and working hard in a College Program and hopes to graduate in February of 2024 with a certificate in Business Administration.
Hope Mission
A growing ministry of Hope Mission is providing nutrition to children and families in our community experiencing food insecurity. They do this through school breakfast programs, after-school programs, frozen meal delivery to families and sometimes in-person family dinners. Over the past year, they have provided food to approximately 900 people monthly. This spring, they increased that number by 350 additional people monthly, bringing the total to 1250 a month. Hope Mission is also thrilled that their long-awaited dream of a family Centre will soon be coming about, with groundbreaking happening in early summer. This will provide a permanent home for Hope Mission staff and a commercial kitchen. It will be a place where children, youth, and families can participate in programs, learn new skills, develop healthy relationships and ultimately know they are loved.
Outreach Centre
Julietta’s Place is a safe, secure and affordable facility for women and children fleeing domestic violence, which is under the umbrella of our partner, Outreach. Here families are offered in-home case management; providing support, skills, and wrap-around resources to transition into living a life free from domestic violence. While sobering to know that there is a need for a place like Julietta’s, we are grateful for the opportunity to be able to support both the staff and clients.
The Dragonfly Centre provides age-appropriate therapy for children who have been affected by domestic violence, homelessness and suicide.
It is the goal of Dragonfly, through collaboration with partners, that children and youth who have experienced potentially traumatizing events or patterns of events have the opportunity to heal and develop healthy skills and behaviours.
Schools
I am very pleased to report that this ‘22/’23 school year opened doors again for serving within a few public schools. The opportunities have increased through food packages and clothing requests for students, to provide literacy support and help with breakfast programs in schools, and more people are stepping forward to serve in these ways.
“Please extend our gratitude to your team for their service to our families and community so faithfully. You truly have been His hands and feet in such a humble and heartfelt way. It has not only made an impact on our families but with our staff as well. Thank you” - Red Deer Public School Principal
Continued Support Needed
In talking to our partner agencies just recently, they have all indicated that mental health issues are very much on the rise amongst the populations they are involved with. Life is challenging to navigate for many people, and the services and supports our partners provide are a beacon of hope in a dark time and a source of encouragement to those who need to know that someone is in their corner.
Our partners value our support and need our prayers. They also need us to get involved through serving. Please visit their websites or pick up a postcard in the missions corner in the café to see how you can get involved. I can also be contacted and provide you with information so you can find a good fit for serving.
If you would like to offer your support in any way, be involved directly, or serve with CrossRoads in any of our local partnerships, please let us know through our Serve Application at crossroadschurch.ca/serve or by contacting Laurie at lauriew@crossroadschurch.ca
