brian - storage.cloversites.com
TRANSCRIPT
Around the same time as Caleb’s arrival, Brian
and I gathered a small group of teens and volun-
teers to do some thinking together about how to
improve and expand our “R4” after-school pro-
gram. Our teen numbers had dropped over the
last year and we were stuck in a bit of a rut.
Youth shared their ideas for new workshops,
field trips, and academic enrichment areas that
they wanted in the program – a little more cool
and a little less school. We called it “R4 Re-
Boot” and we started incorporating some of the
ideas we came up with into our teen summer pro-
gram.
We had a great summer, with 15-20 teens each
day involved in our “Liquid” summer camp, as
well with our new “GreenHouse Academy” for
incoming 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. Teens were
learning sign language, slam poetry, guitar, jour-
naling, and going on weekly field trips including
local colleges. We had many youth get involved
with The GreenHouse for the first time through
our summer program. I began to wonder if any
of these youth would continue to come during the
Fall to R4.
In mid September we launched our new and im-
proved R4. In addition to homework time with
their college-age tutors, we’ve added academic
workshops every Tuesday like vocabulary build-
ing and working on common math struggles.
Thursday workshops focus on life skills and fun
activities. We now have over 20 youth attending
consistently and 15 volunteers impacting students
every Tuesday and Thursday! Thank you Jesus!
It has been a challenge to make some of these
changes, but a very fun adventure too!
Chito
Emily Mazzariello—Volunteer Coordinator and
Parent Liaison
One of the biggest challenges I faced as our volun-
teer coordinator has been recruiting, training, and
supporting enough volunteers to give that individu-
alized attention to our youth. This Fall, through new
partnerships at UC Davis and with the Service
Learning Department of CSU Sacramento, we have
a FLOOD of over 55 weekly volunteers serving in
our youth programs! Also, for the first time, we
have three interns from local colleges who are as-
sisting Deborah and Chito with program develop-
ment, set-up, long-term planning, leading icebreak-
ers and coordinating workshops.
As we create more ways to connect with and support
Study Buddies, they are beginning to grow in their
confidence and initiative. Many skilled volunteers
are also using their strengths to teach workshops for
all ages, mirroring the success of the summer work-
shops. Enrichment activities such as drawing, dance,
basketball, cooking, and science provide youth with
opportunities to be creative and achieve confidence
in learning while discovering new skills.
Relationships with parents are continuing to form
and grow deeper. Parents are taking more ownership
of the Parent Action Team after taking on greater
roles at events and collaborating to create a vision
for the year. This vision includes elected positions
and more resources for parents such as English
learning, computer education, or a nutrition class.
As we move forward with the team, we hope to see
even more parent leadership and discussions that
help empower and develop their strengths.
Emily
Emily, Brian, and Kacie with parent leaders from The
Greenhouse’s Parent Action Team in April.
R4 youth on a field trip to Old Town Sacramento
Happy Holidays to you and yours from the staff, board, and families of The GreenHouse!!
I am in my 9th month as the new Executive Director of The GreenHouse!
It has been a great season of learning, being stretched in my own faith
and leadership, and of forming new relationships with our amazing
youth, parents, donors, and community partners.
As we look back upon the year, I thought it would be best to have some
other “voices” from our organization share their reflections besides me,
in order to paint a more comprehensive picture of what an incredible
year this has been for The GreenHouse. God has provided for us in so
many different ways and it’s difficult for just one person to fully de-
scribe that abundance.
I’ve invited each of our staff to write up some of their thoughts on the past 12 months, as well
as the outgoing Chair of our Board of Directors chair, Shannon Sturgess. Shannon has served
with excellence as board member for over eight years and board chair for the last two years.
Mike Downey will be taking the helm from Shannon as board chair in January.
Thank you for your ongoing financial support, your prayers, your donations, and your love for
this amazing community and this special organization. Thank you also for your support of me
and my family during our transition into the broader GreenHouse family!
Please consider making a year-end donation to The GreenHouse as we seek to end this exciting
year of transition with zero deficit!
In Him,
Brian
Shannon Sturgess— 2011-2013 GreenHouse Board Chair
Happy Holidays to you and yours from the staff, board, and families of The
GreenHouse!!
We have so much to be thankful for as an organization and as a ministry over
this past year. We have seen God’s steady hand supporting us through the
transition to a new Executive Director this year, the completion of the com-
munity Clubhouse, and newly energized teen and elementary-age programs
that are serving 60-70 youth weekly!
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” - Philippians 4:6
In a year marked by changes, God has continued to
provide again and again. Indeed, God has worked
many miracles this year and here is testimony to
some of those miracles:
Our long-time Founder of The GreenHouse Kacie Strat-
ton stepped down in March as Executive Director. After
months of prayer and seeking God’s heart, God pro-
vided us with a fantastic new Executive Director in
Brian Heller De Leon. Brian has already made an im-
pact on the community in ways we could not have fore-
seen, but that God always knew. He brings deep set of
skills in youth and parent leadership development, and is
a great strategic thinker for the next stage of the organi-
zation (and is bilingual too!)
Kacie has continued to bless The GreenHouse by embracing a new role as a volunteer consultant to the
staff and board of The GreenHouse, and recently helped with a major intervention effort with a Green-
House family that was struggling. Kacie and Brian have struck up a new partnership that weaves to-
gether their gifts to benefit The GreenHouse.
The Clubhouse renovation was completed over the summer and we passed our final round of City in-
spections with flying colors just last month. Over the last 5 years we have prayed and prayed as a Board
of Directors about a permanent space for our programs, and although the negotiations to lease the Club-
house were difficult at times, God was faithful and the project is finished!
God provided many helping hands, from families from the neighborhood to an abundance of volunteers
from local churches such as River Life Covenant and Sanctuary Covenant. God also provided resources
through generous donors, including the awesome matching gift from the Halls, and the donated materi-
als and skilled workers from NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry), particularly from
Morse Remodeling and Nar’s Fine Carpentry.
We celebrated another successful Kids at Heart, this year at the beautiful Grand Hall of the Clunie Cen-
ter at McKinley Park. Over 170 people were able to celebrate God’s faithfulness and provision as we
raised a record-breaking amount in support of The Green-
House. We will never forget the enthusiastic hip-hop danc-
ing of kids from The GreenHouse and the wonderful rendi-
tion of Shakespeare’s Hamlet by some of our teens who par-
ticipated in our Summer Academy program. We also were
able to honor so many volunteers, partners, youth, parents,
and donors who mean so much to The GreenHouse.
This was a full year for The GreenHouse—a year full of
love, grace, hope and faithfulness. We pray a prayer of
thankfulness for all God has done and look forward to the
miracles of 2014.
Shannon GreenHouse kids enjoying the new kitchen space at
the Clubhouse!
Greenhouse parents, teens, board members, and support-
ers get to know each other during our Multi-Cultural
Thanksgiving Celebration in November. Deborah Elliot—Director of Elementary Age
Programs
As I look back on the last year, I realize how much
has really happened at The GreenHouse. I could try
to write down every single blessing and still would
not have enough space.
This year, I have seen some of my GreenHouse
dreams come true. First, we moved into our new
Clubhouse! The renovated Clubhouse facility has
already made a huge difference in the atmosphere
at our Evergreen elementary program. It gives stu-
dents more quiet space for concentrating their
homework and while working with their tutors.
With over 30 students in the program, it was get-
ting a little cramped in our previous building! I
have especially seen some of struggling students
really thrive with more space to themselves.
We’ve launched a new effort to create “junior lead-
ers” with our 5th and 6th graders. At Club 56, our
faith-based mentoring program, we have 16 youth
from the surrounding neighborhood who regularly
attend! We talk about what the Bible has to say
about leadership, friendship, and about questions
and issues that they choose each month. It is amaz-
ing to have so many young students want to be
leaders in their community and who are eager to
learn about God. It’s really exciting to me to see
changes in some of the students already in the
choices they’re making and in their relationships.
For the first time this year, we have been able to
create a 2:1 student-to-tutor ratio with our volun-
teers. Smaller groups therefore give students even
more time for homework help and connections
with an adult that cares about them. This has been
something that was heavy on my heart and I’m
happy to see the positive impact of these smaller
ratios.
Finally, we’ve been able to expand the number and
variety of workshops that we offer to students on
our “Fun Fridays”. Volunteer workshop leaders are
teaching students skills like gardening, drawing,
violin, baking, basketball, football, gymnastics,
dance, and countless other options. These work-
shops give our students opportunities to try things
that they would not normally be exposed to. My
hope is that every one of our students will find new
set of skills and gifts that they didn't know they
had, and that their horizons will be broadened with
these new opportunities.
This has been a year of our students finding a
deeper sense of belonging at The GreenHouse, of
students stepping up into new leadership roles, and
lots and lots of laughter and fun! There is so much
to feel blessed about!
Deborah
Chito Rosado—Director of Youth Programs
This year has been a great adventure for us as a
family and for the youth ministry and teen aca-
demic programs at The GreenHouse. Our baby
boy, Caleb Cruz Rosado, was born in May. Norma
and I are having a great time learning the ropes as
new parents!
Deborah (second from right) on a field trip with our
sixth graders over the summer.
Chito leading the teens during our “Liquid”
Summer Program