On Monday evening, the teens girls from Impact Group (teen Bible study) enjoyed a gift exchange and Christmas goodies at Caleb & Stephanie's house.

Then, on Wednesday evening, around 50 children came to the final Kids Klub of 2011. With holiday break in full swing, we missed seeing several of our regular attenders, but we were able to connect with some of them afterwards to drop off their Christmas gifts.
Several volunteers acted out the Christmas story for the children.
After the play, it was down to the basement for grilled hot dogs and other snacks.

Each year, a large church in the Valley puts on a Christmas show that is quite a production. There are numerous performances of the show, and some of the "standards" each year are the flying angels (trapeze artists), live animals (including camels), and snow falling on the stage -- plus much, much more that causes children's eyes to widen!

The Team FUN junior-high'ers attended one performance, and then we also took a group of younger children to a performance. Here are some photos of that evening, as the group waited for the show to start.

We are still able to purchase low-cost snacks through St. Mary's Food Bank, so the children enjoyed some treats while they waited.
On Friday evening, teens gathered for the final Teen Night of December, with some encouraging words from Caleb about not letting distractions get in the way of focusing on Christ.
There were a few contests in which teens could compete to earn prizes. Ever try to drink orange soda from a baby bottle? On Sunday evening, Aim Right staff, volunteers, and some guests gathered for the annual Aim Right Christmas dinner/party.
Lots of wonderful food!

The evening had a Christmas carol theme. Caleb came dressed as the Santa of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.
A.J. & Jewel came dressed as O Christmas Tree, and Jewel won the prize for being the most creative!Ding Dong Merrily on High, O Christmas Tree, the mommy of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and The Little Drummer Boy.
A creative bunch wrote a revision of The Twelve Days of Christmas to reflect "what Aim Right gave to me," and had a jolly good time presenting their humorous rendition. Some of the funnier lines were "two messed-up cars"and "five bags of expired chips," reflecting the fact that the intern vehicles have often been in the repair shop the past few months, and that sometimes the items we get from the food bank aren't so fresh anymore!

Points = Prizes!

In September, we began logging "points" for each child that attends Kids Klub. Children received points for attendance, as well as saying Bible memory verses and participating in various theme nights, such as Crazy Hair or Mismatch Day. The children pictured below earned the most points and were awarded with special prizes. Special thanks to Ro & Lourdes for purchasing the prizes; the ones pictured below are only a few of the rewards that were given away yesterday evening.

Third grader Randy was the 4th place winner of a brand-new bicycle (pictured with Ro).

In 3rd place was Randy's sister Pati, who also received a sweet new set of wheels.

Second place winner--the top girl--was fifth grader Victoria. She received a digital camera.

Fifth grader Isaac earned 1st place and was awarded a Wii. After the awards were given out, a 1st grader proudly informed me that "the one who got the Wii is my friend." He seemed to be envisioning a lot of fun times in the future at Isaac's house!

Reading: It Matters

A few weeks ago Darrell came to me with a slip of paper on which he'd jotted some notes from a recent meeting he'd attended. He was wondering if I would look online for statistics and research about the reading levels of 3rd graders and how that relates to high school dropout rates.

Right now, I haven't gotten much further than a lengthy report published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2010. It's titled "Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters," and it was recently referenced in a 2011 article in The Huffington Post. Below are some excerpts from the report that I found interesting--as well as disheartening--since the children we primarily serve are low-income and black or Hispanic. Neither group fared well in the report's findings.

• Millions of American children get to 4th grade without learning to read proficiently. And that puts them on the dropout track.
  


• In 2007, nearly 6.2 million young people were high school dropouts.
  


• Every student who does not complete high school costs our society an estimated $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes, and productivity.
  


• High school dropouts are also moe likely than those who graduate to be arrested or have a child while still a teenager.
  


• The shortfall in reading proficiency is especially pronounced among low-income children: of the 4th graders who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test in 2009, fully 83% of children from low-income families -- and 85% of low-income students who attend high-poverty schools -- failed to reach the "proficient" level.
  


• The share of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students who score below proficient on the NAEP reading test is catastrophically high (89%, 87%, and 85%, respectively) and much larger than the share of low-income white or Asian/Pacific Islander students (76% and 70%).
  


• Three-quarters of students who are poor readers in 3rd grade will remain poor readers in high school, according to researchers at Yale University.
  


• By the time children from low-income families enter kindergarten, they are typically 12-14 months below national norms in language and pre-reading skills.
  


• By age 3, children from wealthier families typically had heard 30 million more words than children from low-income families.
  


• In 2009, 75% of 4th graders in Arizona scored below the proficient reading level.



• In 2009, 63% of white 4th graders in Arizona scored below the proficient reading level, as compared to 80% of black 4th graders and 86% of Hispanic 4th graders.

Children who are poor readers grow up to be teenagers who are poor readers who become adults who are poor readers. And how can one who can barely read dig into God's Word? Christian Book Distributors suggests appropriate reading levels for these popular translations of the Bible:

• King James Version - 12th grade
  


• ESV - 10th grade
  


• NIV - 7th-8th grade



• NKJV - 7th grade
  


• NLT - 6th grade
  

A reader below 4th grade level would struggle with any of those translations. Is that perhaps why it seems there are more and more "easier" (and perhaps "looser"?) translations and paraphrases being introduced today -- and not just for children, but for adult audiences? There are great spiritual ramifications when the majority of a country's citizens are incapable of reading well enough to study the Bible for themselves.

Several past presidents recognized the importance of Bible study. Consider these quotes:

• A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. - Theodore Roosevelt
  


• I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, better husbands...the Bible makes the best people in the world. - Thomas Jefferson
  


• Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face. - Ronald Reagan

Sanctum 12.05.11

December's worship service with the Sanctum Band included hot drinks, snacks, and Christmas carols, along with encouraging words about God's love from Bob Oxley, Sanctum leader.

Acquire the Fire

This past weekend, a group of 24 teens and young adults from Aim Right attended the Acquire the Fire youth conference in Phoenix. The theme was "Normal's Not Enough--What Jesus did on the cross wasn't normal...neither are His followers!"

Please be in prayer for youth as they live out the truth they heard over the impactful weekend!

Christmas Party 12.03.11

Even a grey, chilly day couldn't dampen the spirits of the children we took to a community Christmas party on Saturday. The party is an annual event sponsored by Phoenix businessman and philanthropist Jimmy Walker, and Aim Right was able to invite 10 children to the party.

Some of the highlights for the children were the snow pile, carriage rides, carnival foods, and the friendly costumed characters. Perhaps the best part of all, though, was that each child received a brand-new bicycle as a surprise gift to take home -- along with a bag of food and a frozen turkey to share with their families.