Renowned artist returns to DXC to sign his work

There was a young man who came here to DXC, quite a number of years ago. He took part in activities – playing ping pong and doing crafts. He might have especially liked doing crafts. He had an artistic side to his nature as later events would show.

Last week, that young man – award winning Dayton artist James Pate -- now a renowned artist, returned to DXC to put his name on a painting he did to show his gratitude for those happy hours he spent here.

The mural, showing the Dayton skyline along with scenes of gardens, had no date on it and neither Mr. Pate nor our long-time staff members could remember just when he presented it to the center; we think it might have been 1996-97. But since the day it presented, it has been a focal point of DXC’s Common Room where it sat in a place of honor on the stage.

Mr. Pate had never signed this particular work, and, had it not been for the fond memories of a couple of staff member who remembered him, the importance of the painting might have been lost to all concerned. But Ms. Ruby and Ms. Goins did remember – with good thoughts – that young boy who had come here often and who had said thanks in the best way he knew how, so DXC Associate Executive Director Sarah Williams got in touch with Mr. Pate and asked him if he would come in to sign the painting.

It was important to have him do that, you see, because the painting is going to be donated next month to Montgomery County Public Health Department to be displayed in the lobby of the Reibold Building.

“We decided to do that for a couple of reasons,” said Sarah Williams, DXC Associate Executive Director. “For one thing, we don’t really have the ability or the expertise to care for the painting as it should be. But mostly, we felt that this work, that shows such a hopeful and sustainable future for Dayton, really needs to be in a place where more people can see it. It’s a beautiful work of art and art should be for everyone to enjoy.”

During his visit, Mr. Pate was able to enjoy a short reunion with Ms. Goins (Ms. Ruby had left for the day, unfortunately) and the two shared fond moments.

Mr. Pate grew up in Cincinnati, attending the School for the Creative and Performing Arts there, where he earned a scholarship for the Art Academy of Cincinnati. In 1997, at age 33, he moved to Dayton, where he has remained ever since.

He taught art at Col. White and has been an art consultant with Dayton Public Schools. Twice, he has been awarded Montgomery County Individual Artist Fellowship and the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. His works are shown museums around the country.

“We really feel very honored to have an original work of art by such a respected artist,” Sarah said after meeting him. “And to be part of bringing his work to a much wider audience is really exciting.”

Another way to make the neighborhood beautiful

We’ve been doing a lot of beautification events this summer and we’ve talked about nearly all of them here on the blog. But neighborhood beautification can mean a lot more than patrolling the streets picking up trash or planting flowers. It can also involve art.

A few months ago, we were contacted by Tracey Obenour who, along with her husband, paints murals on buildings. She wanted to do a mural on the building over on East 5^th Street building that would capture the spirit of the urban farm there and of urban farming in general. Of course, we were more than happy to agree.

The project was started in April, and the first week of August, we got an email from Tracey saying that the mural was about 90% finished and she wanted to know what we thought. We rushed right over and, as we drove into the lot, we had to smile.

Tracey’s mural certainly does capture the spirit and the essence of urban farming, and is beautiful to boot. It gives a whole, new, fresh look to a building that was serviceable but plain and, frankly, industrial. Now, it is cheerful and bright, and it will bring a touch of spring and summer even during the harshest of winter months.

While we were there, we took a look at the progress of the crops planted by volunteers this spring. Wow! Were we pleased! Tomato plants shoulder high, teeming with cheery and regular-sized fruit; beans that had grown, had been harvested by Ken and his volunteers; chives that were spreading over the ground, ready to reseed themselves; and even a couple of melons, tempting us in the summer heat.

Gardening has its pleasures, not the least of which is the witnessing of the growing and maturing process. To see a plant grow from a seedling to a mature, productive adult has the feel of a small, natural miracle and never fails to bring a smile.

Together with the great mural Tracey and her husband created, that small part of East 5^th Street is a whole lot better than it was at the beginning of the year.

And we’re very thankful to Tracey, Ken, and of course, all the volunteers who made that possible.

DXC hosts dedicated young interns from INROADS Intern Process who work in heat and humidity to make a better place for our students.

Neighborhoods don’t become littered and run down overnight. It takes a while. A discarded bottle here; a forgotten park there, houses abandoned one by one; it’s hardly noticeable until, “urban blight” has taken over.

Likewise, it takes more than a day or a weekend to restore a neighborhood to a state where the residents can feel proud they live there. It’s one lot at a time, one trash pile cleaned up, one less bottle in the gutter, and there are no short cuts. It takes people actually getting out into the neighborhood, bending over, picking up, cutting grass, weeds, even renegade trees, until, one empty lot, one block at a time.

That’s what’s been going on at Dayton Christian Center (DXC) over the summer. Over a period of four months, a number of deeply committed volunteers groups have dedicated they days to helping restore a neglected park, clean up trash, cut down high weeds, plant flowers, and spread mulch in the area of West Riverview and Ferguson Avenues to do their part to make a better world.

The chapter in this effort happened this past Saturday, July 23 when 19 young people came to DXC as part of the INROADS Intern Process and took part in three different projects.

One project was to clean up an illegal trash dump on one of the abandoned properties DXC has registered to care for. Another was recovering our playground with new safety mulch – we’re required by law to do that once a year – and the third project was redecorating the Teddy Bear Room.

Ignoring extreme temperatures – over 90 degrees – and equally high humidity, the young college students did the hard work of community beautification that others have started.

By the end of the day, every project was finished, and even though they were hot and tired, there was a smile on the face of each one of them. As they gathered for a group photo, they laughed about some of the day’s events, and spoke of how much they had enjoyed themselves. They even thanked us for letting them work so hard.

“We always cherish our volunteers,” Associate Executive Director Sarah Williams said afterwards, “but when you see young people like this spending the hottest part of the day mostly outdoors doing physical labor, and they are happy about it, it gives you a wonderful sense of hope. Of course we always thank our volunteers, and we really mean it – we’re always very grateful for whatever someone cares to give us. But sometimes, in cases like this, ‘thanks’ doesn’t seem like quite enough.”

This was DXC’s first partnership with the INROADS program, but very likely not the last.

“I really hope we can make this an annual event,” Williams said. “I know we’re extremely happy to have met everyone who came to help us out, and I hope it was an enjoyable day for them as well, so I hope we can keep on doing projects together.”

The INROADS Internship Process was created in 1970 by Frank C. Carr. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech. Carr, a corporate executive, left his well-paid, prestigious position to dedicate himself to quick and decisive action to increase diversity in the corporate management. Currently, the program has more than 270 Corporate Sponsors and nearly 2,000 college students taking part. It has more than 24,000 graduates and 36 offices in the US, Mexico and Canada.

In addition to offering young people a chance to develop the skills they need to advance in the corporate world, it also emphasizes the need to be involved in giving back to the community.

Preschool Graduation and Classroom Celebrations

A big congratulations to our PreK graduates of 2011!

What a nice turn out we had with family and friends of the children of the Dayton Christian Center on Friday, June 17th. Of course it always helps when the spotlight is on your kid and let us not forget cake.

The celebration began with a song from 3 of our School Age students, a welcome from Tasha Johnson, Executive Director, and then came the awards. Each classroom gave out awards to their students and in graduation fashion they walked, toddled, or crawled (some even were carried) across the stage to receive them.

We are so blessed to celebrate in moment like this with our families. Many of our students are here from very young ages and to see them "off to school" is pretty awesome and rewarding.

Reaping the Whirlwind (in a great way!)

One might be forgiven for thinking that a couple of very selective and tidy mini-tornadoes touched down in two neighborhoods of Dayton last week. Within a very short time, indeed, the two lots in question – 1352 W. Riverview Ave and 1820 East Fifth St – were transformed into beautiful, attractive sites worthy of Better Homes & Gardens.

But the work wasn’t done by the force of nature; it was done by the force of volunteers who gave up their day to come to DXC and clear undergrowth, plant flowers, tend the East Fifth Street Urban Farm and generally straighten up. Another group of volunteers, just as large and just as hardworking, worked inside our main offices on Riverview cleaning, helping our teachers in the classrooms and helping serve lunch to the students.

All in all, over a two-day period (Thursday and Friday) we had 46 truly great people lend their time and talents to DXC for the United Way of Greater Dayton’s Day Action. The volunteers came from local employers Delloite & Touche www.deloitte.com, Teradata www.teradata.com, MCM Electronics www.mcmelectronics.com, the Berry Network www.berrynetwork.com and Fifth/Third Bank www.53.com.

On Thursday, eight employees of Fifth/Third Bank spent the morning in our classrooms playing with the kids, doing crafts, helping with lessons and even taking a field trip with some of the students. Some of even stayed beyond their noon schedule to help serve lunch to the classrooms. There were a lot of smiles and laughs with both the students and the volunteers during the day.

The students got a second dose of fun when about a dozen members of Deloitte and Touche LLP came in to spend their Day of Action helping out in the classrooms. Again, there were games played, slime made, dancing and singing along with some personal attention to lessons given. Other workers, from Teradata, lent a hand washing toys and doing some cleaning chores inside.

At the same time, volunteers from Teradata, and MCM Electronics threw themselves into the dirt, pulling up weeds, planting new flowers and spreading mulch over the gardens at our offices in Riverview. They ripped through the scrub growth like a hurricane, not letting even a brief rain shower stop them. In a few short hours, what was a disheveled, unattractive slope was transformed into a beautiful, landscaped work of art.

Meanwhile, back at the urban farm (on East Fifth Street), Fifth/Third employees showed their talents transplanting tomatoes, spreading mulch, pulling weeds, and clearing encroaching growth away, ignoring the raindrops as their fellow volunteers over on Riverview. In addition, they did a ton of housework, clearing out accumulated trash from the old ESP building at the site and generally straightening the place up, all in four short hours.

There was even a second shift of seven volunteers from Teradata that came in the afternoon to provide the same landscaping services around the Administrative Offices next door to 1352.

As a result, we’ve got a pretty wonderful-looking place now and were able to meet a lot of really great people who we hope will be new friends and family members. No nonprofit organization can survive without volunteers, and it takes a lot of people spending a lot of very dedicated hours to keep DXC running. If it weren’t for enthusiastic, devoted people like the ones we had here last week, we simply wouldn’t be able to provide the services to the community that we do.

We never take our wonderful volunteers for granted. There just aren’t enough of the right words in the English language to express how much we appreciate everyone who spend the day with us Thursday and Friday, and what a huge difference they made for us. With that said, we offer what words we have:

Thank you all, from the bottoms of our hearts!

Day of Action at the Urban Farm - Media Story

Once again we welcomed multiple waves of volunteers for 2 days of service in conjunction with the United Way of Greater Dayton's Volunteer Connection. Here's just one of the 3 projects we hosted on Friday (6/10/11).

Workers trade printers for pitchforks: wdtn.com

We've had some special visitors this week

We’re always happy to have visitors, but the ones who came in this weekend were a little special.

This past Saturday (June 4) several members of Fairhaven Church took a volunteer bus tour and stopped by DXC to talk with Sarah about volunteer opportunities here at DXC.

We’ve been very proud to have a history with Fairhaven Church members dating back to 2008 when they first came in to help us clean up our building over on East Fifth Street. That started when some of them came in for a Rebuilding Dayton project here. Since then, they have been really dedicated and valuable supporters of DXC. They’ve taken on some pretty hefty projects for us including replacing the annex roof, repainting our current Administrative Offices next door, and even constructing new steps into the basement for safe access to our laundry and other facilities there.

The group, led by Rev. John Wilson, listened as Sarah told them of the programs we provide here and of the wide variety of opportunities to volunteer. One of the things that most impressed the members, and which was emphasized by both Sarah and Rev. Wilson, was that we at DXC believe that volunteering should be a satisfying and enjoyable experience for everyone. To make that a reality, Sarah has developed a program called “Choose Your Own Adventure.” In that program, we invite people who are interested in volunteering with us to come up with their own project. Then, Sarah and the staff do all they can to build a project that fits the needs and wants of the person or group who came up with the idea. We’ve had some amazingly great projects come from that program and we love to hear more ideas. This is something Rev. Wilson and Sarah emphasized and which seemed to strike a chord in the group.

Rev. Wilson had arranged several sites to be seen by his members that day so, sadly, we didn’t get a lot of time to spend with them, but we were very happy for what we did have. But we’re sure we’ll welcome them back whenever they wish to come.

Dayton Christian Center begins new era

Dayton Christian Center has entered a new era this week.

It was at a staff meeting then that Board of Directors Chairman Carl Marquette announced that Interim Executive Director Tasha Johnson had been hired to fill the position permanently. Tasha succeeds former Executive Director Bob Bishop who left DXC in November. Tasha took the interim position at that time.

Tasha is a 2006 graduate of Wright State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Organizational Leadership Johnson has been an Early Childhood professional for more than 10 years. Shortly after giving birth to her first child she continued her life long love of learning in pursuit of her Associates of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education. Prior to working with children Johnson was a French linguist in the Army stationed in Germany. Before returning to the United States Tasha completed her AS in ECE with the College of Southern Maryland. Upon being stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and settling in a house in Huber Heights, Ohio, Tasha began to work in the Preschool field.

It was while she was stationed in Germany that Tasha met her husband, Brian. They have three children together, Christina, Kendra and Carissa.

During her tenure at DXC, Tasha has taken part in a Lights On Afterschool event in collaboration with many other service providers in the Montgomery County area. The event was attended by over 600 children, parents and after school professionals. She also initiated the Center’s participation in the Step Up To Quality program, Ohio's voluntary quality rating system for ODJFS licensed child care programs. The Center currently rated at one star and Tasha hopes to gain a second one this year.

The Board decided at the April 28 meeting of the Board to hire Tasha but it was not announced immediately to allow time to get the staff together for an official proclamation. The event was celebrated on Monday, May 11 with cake and ice cream for everyone who attended.

We wish Tasha the best of luck and look forward to seeing what she has in store for DXC in the future.

Sunny Days, Chasing the (Rain) Clouds Away

Father, We Thank Thee
For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee,
For the tender grass so fresh and sweet,
Father, we thank Thee,
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank thee,
For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee,
For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee,
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For the beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee,
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Weekends like this just don't come around very often!

As weeks go, last week was exceptional.

First, it was Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) on Friday and we had 18 very dedicated and enthusiastic students from Spring Valley Academy choose to spend their morning with us cleaning up the neighborhood and interacting with the residents, showing that today’s youth is interested in more than texting, tweeting and video games.

These young people we’re afraid to get their hands dirty. While part of them worked their way the full length of Ferguson Ave – about half a mile in length – picking up trash and even carrying large items from one end of the street to the other so they could be picked up by the city, another group helped out here at DXC, cleaning up the grounds so that we could look our best, too. Then, the full group traveled down Riverview Ave, where we’re located, ranging at least as far as they had on Ferguson. At one point, a resident came out onto his porch and stood applauding the students as they passed by his house, gathering trash. They exchanged greetings and the man thanked them for doing such a good job and everyone parted feeling a little better about what they were doing. By the time they were finished, not a single scrap of paper, not a discarded bottle or can, not a forgotten toy was left. They even found some – shall we say – very personal items which they carefully picked up and deposited in the proper receptacles.

That’s dedication!

There was a great moment at the beginning of the day when Global Youth Service Day Committee Member Cathy Guerrant, from nearby Catholic Social Services, and Dayton City Commissioner Nan Whaley stopped by for a visit. Both Ms. Guerrant and Commissioner Whaley have been great advocates of youth volunteer programs and have done a lot to encourage and support both programs and the local organizations, such as DXC, who host them.

Along with DXC Associate Executive Director Sarah Williams, Commissioner Whaley and Ms. Guerrant welcomed the students and thanked them for their work. This meant a lot to the young people, and meant even more when all three adults accompanied them outside to give them even more encouragement.

All this, by the way, was captured by local news media WDTN, Channel 2, who sent reporter Jordan Burgess out to get it on film and interview some of the students.

Students volunteer for Global Youth Service Day: wdtn.com

It was really special to see not only that young people would spend their morning doing work that many older, supposedly more responsible people tend to ignore. Maybe it’s the youth of our country that can set the example for us!

We really want to thank them, Spring Valley Academy, Ms. Guerrant and Commissioner Whaley, and WDTN for their support on GYSD. Because of it, our neighborhood is a better, cleaner and more prideful area.

But the good things didn’t stop there.
On Saturday, Sarah and Phil Greene, our AmeriCorps Program Manager were partnered with the Dayton/Montgomery County Public Health department at the Levin Health Fair, “Celebrating Health and Life.” This annual event, put on by the Levin Family Foundation, is one of the biggest, most important health-oriented events anywhere in this part of Ohio. It draws literally thousands of people and hundreds of health-related vendors from all over the Dayton area.

Sarah and Phil had the DXC display set up along with Public Health in a very high-traffic area. In fact, neither of them had much chance to catch their breath over the five hours of the event as people stopped by to pick up information and listen to Sarah and Phil talk about the 5-2-1-NA program.

That’s part of the GetUP Montgomery County program run by the Health Department – the reason we were partnered for the event.

That program seeks to address the epidemic of childhood obesity but changing our lifestyles and those of our kids. It advocates a daily regime of five servings of fruits and vegetables, having less than two hours “screen time” (video games, computers, television or cell phone), getting at least one hour of physical activity and having no or almost no sugary drinks, especially carbonated sugary drinks.

Here at DXC, though, we’ve taken it a bit farther. We’re also involved in teaching people how to take more control over their diet by growing their own food in backyard gardens or even containers. To that end, we’ve formed some pretty interesting partnership that we’ll be talking about later.

While at the Health Fair, Sarah and Phil also promoted DXC’s “In God’s Hands” child care facility and, was there ever a lot of interest!

“In God’s Hands” is a Title 20 child care program and, especially with the economic climate in Dayton right now, it is sorely needed. Sarah and Phil handed out so many pamphlets and brochures that they ran out, so we’re expecting to grow quite a bit over the next few weeks. We’ll keep you posted there too.

Finally, to close out the big week with a bit of fun, we hosted a community Easter Egg Hunt. AmeriCorps Member Cardella Scroggins put this event together as a way to give a bit to the community and let some kids discover the joy of the Easter season. From what we hear, nearly 100 people showed up and there was fun, laughter, and the thrill of discovered goodies had by all.

This is the first hunt we’ve had here at DXC but it more than likely won’t be the last.

Dayton Christian Center cleans up

Once again this year, we’ll team up with the United Way’s Volunteer Connection Center to host a group of young volunteers on Global Youth Service Day (GYSD). This year’s project will be on Friday, April 15 and will be the fifth year we’ve done it. We’ve never been prouder or happier to be part of it.

This year’s project will be the same as last years, since it was a big success. We’ll be walking through the neighborhood picking up trash and small pieces of junk and generally cleaning up. We’re proud to be here in West Dayton and we’d like to show that pride while giving our young people the opportunity to how important and how satisfying community service really is.

Since our mission statement is “Enriching and Empowering Lives, One Choice at a Time,” we feel it’s important to take pride in the neighborhood. After all, civic pride is the foundation of a more livable, safer, and happier community life, and we want to do our part to create that environment.

But just as importantly, the young people who come to spend their day with us on GYSD not only learn about service and volunteering, they also give us the motivation and inspiration to step up our efforts. We’ve worked quite a lot with young people this year and we have yet to be disappointed by the amount of work and effort they bring with them. And the best part is they have fun doing it – and that’s fun for us.

Global Youth Service Day came about in 1988 as a program created by Youth Service America and the Campus Outreach Opportunity League. From a single day on a single campus, the program has grown to include more than 1,500 projects all over the country. In 2000, the program was renamed the Global youth Service Day to reflect the fact that it now spans national borders and embraces youth volunteerism in many other countries as well.

The young volunteers will cover as much of the neighborhood as possible, and, if time permits, will be taken by DXC’s van to points farther away. If the weather is bad, though, they’ll be paired with our own teaching staff to take part in crafts and lessons with our students.

We’ll be posting an update on how the project goes and how much we were able to get done. We’ll take plenty of pictures to share, too.

Welcome 2011 Tax Season

Another year has closed out and that brings us to our preparations of filing our taxes. That means for the Dayton Christian Center a busy time of getting ready to host the 6th year of the VITA (Voluntary Income Tax Assistance) Program in partnership with the City of Dayton and CAP. VITA is an IRS initiative designed to promote and support free tax preparation service for the underserved, low income populations. These include the elderly, disabled, limited-English-speaking, non-urban, and Native American taxpayers.

We will have our resident expert Alan back for the 3rd year (as well as welcoming a new individual) preparing taxes. Phil Greene is our site administrator this year and will be working very closely with our clients and volunteers as well as our office support to ensure things run smoothly. So far we will be preparing taxes by appointment beginning February 14. If you would like to have yours done, please contact the center (937-275-7174) to schedule an appointment.

There will also be a kick-off "Super Saturday" event on February 5 at the Montgomery County Job Center where taxpayers will be paired with trained volunteers who will complete and file tax returns on the spot. The EITC and CTC have returned millions of dollars to thousands of working families and individuals in the Dayton area. The Dayton EITC Coalition, a group of community volunteers, is chaired by City Commissioner Dean Lovelace, with support from KeyBank. For more information on that event, click here or call United Way's HelpLink at 913-2000

Again, C-J students show the spirit of the season

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men . . .

Maybe more than any other time of year, the Christmas Season is a time for family and friends; of drawing closer together and sharing love and good times together. But not everyone is able to enjoy those things that many of us take for granted. There are so many adults and children who, living in nursing homes, hospitals or retirement communities watch from a distance while others trade gifts and hugs and laughter. All the time, they can only remember times when they, too, were part of those things.

A couple of weeks ago, the first group of Chaminade-Julienne Honor students came in to help us put together gift boxes for our family Christmas Party that takes place this Saturday. This past weekend, the second wave visited us to wrap the gifts and to make cheerful holiday cards that we will take out to shut-ins at local nursing homes, hospitals and retirement communities.

The young people threw themselves into their work with fervor – and as much good cheer as we’ve seen here in quite a while. There was laughter and good-natured joking, but most of all, you could hear statements about how they felt about what they were doing. They all felt that the simple act of folding a piece of paper, sketching out a little picture and writing a few words on it could bring a little light, a little happiness into lives that otherwise are empty.

The group last year made cards as well, but they were intended only for the gift boxes for our families. After we had wrapped the last gift, we found that we had quite a few cards left over, many of them very artistic and creative. It seemed a shame to just throw out the hard work of these young people, so we came up with the idea of visiting nursing homes and asking to visit those who normally did not get many visitors. During our visit, we would mention to the person that the card we were giving them came from a high school student at C-J. Without exception, this fact brought a smile to the faces of the people we were so privileged to meet.

So, this year, we decided to make it part of the overall project, and it appears that the students enjoyed it just as much as we do.

Perhaps the truest mark of the character of these students is that, on both weekends, when it came time to leave, they thanked us for letting them come in and spend their Saturday morning here, instead of sleeping or hanging out with their friends.

It’s the time of year for blessings to be counted. This year, because of these students, we’ll be able to add many more to our list.

Thanks, C-J! You are the best!

One more reason to be thankful this year

Every once in a while, something happens that gives a renewal of belief.

Anyone who works in the non-profit, charitable sector understands that there are many hurdles and many disappointments to be dealt with and sometimes it can get pretty discouraging. When it comes to asking people to volunteer their time and talents, it can be particularly challenging. After all, everyone is so busy these days and with money as tight as it is with most people, we’re all working harder than we really want to, anyway.

Then, consider teenagers.

Any parent knows how hard it is to get a teen to do anything around the house and pitch in to get things done.

So, when 19 teenagers get up early enough to get to DXC by 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning to spend half a day doing good work for people they have never met, it’s really something very special.

That’s what happened last Saturday (Nov. 20) when the Honor Society students from Chaminade-Julienne donated their time and work to help us prepare the gift boxes that go out to our families at Christmas.

Each year, we put together gift boxes from donated articles so that our families are sure to have something for the holiday. Each box, given to the kids by Santa, who makes a special visit just for them, contains clothing, a toy or game or two, and, for the older kids, school supplies. Parents get gift bags with household items and some little luxuries thrown as much as we can. All of these items come from our generous donors from all over the country, and we are always very grateful for that generosity. And, even though the economic climate has, as with everywhere, resulted in fewer donations coming in this year, the C-J students did their best to make sure every child will have a good Christmas.

While some of the students put together the boxes – sorting through our cramped Christmas Room where we keep the clothing items, picking out just the right items for kids (“OH! Look at this! Isn’t it cute!”?) and getting them all to fit into a box – others put their creative talents to good use in making beautiful personalized Christmas cards to go in each box. About midway through the day, they two groups switched jobs so that everyone had a hand in the whole process.

Throughout the day, every single one of them was polite and they never stopped working, showing a maturity that really was admirable in people so young.

And, when the day was over, each and every one of them thanked us for letting them come and volunteer!

If that’s not enough to give you the Holiday Spirit, there’s more: we will be blessed again on Dec. 5 when a second group of C-J Honor Students come in to wrap the gifts and help us get them ready for the party on Dec. 11.

Sitting down to Thanksgiving Dinner this week, one of the blessings we can be thankful for are these wonderful young people who make it all worth it.

Where would we be without you?

Once again we have the happy task of reporting on some pretty great people who spent their free time here at DXC helping us help others. This time, the good news is doubled, though, since we had two groups in over two consecutive days.

Last Friday (October 22), we had three wonderful ladies from GE Capital come in to spend time with our students during the United Way’s Stay and Play Day. Diana Ayala-Thornhill, Stephanie Henderson, and Deannia Northcutt came in on their own time to spend a morning in our classrooms. The played with the students, helped the teachers and took part if crafts and games, all to the excitement of the kids and staff, alike.

The Stay and Play Day is a project of the Join Hands Miami Valley program at United Way. Volunteers come into child care sites, such as DXC, and take part in the classroom activities.

(For more information on the Join Hands Miami Valley program, go to http://www.liveuniteddayton.org/difference_day.php -- it’s a great way to get involved!)

The next day, eight students from the University of Dayton’s Center for Social Concern gave up their Saturday to come here and get dirty. These young people were among the hardest working and most cheerful volunteers we have had and pitched right in with even the toughest job. They sorted and put away donations, organized the Christmas, Supply, and Resource rooms, cleared everything out of the storage shed and put it back so we can actually move around in there now, gave the front doors a new coat of paint, along with repainting a wall in the Sesame Street Room, and even wiped down Mr. Thompson’s classroom chairs and tables. Dan Juozitis, Anna Kornowski, Kathe Saffire, Kelly Hanlon, Kathie Ma, Tom Marx, Brendan Lacey, and Michael McNamara prove that young people today are, indeed, involved and anxious to put their efforts to work making a better world.

In these times of hard economy, volunteering is more difficult for people who want to give their time to worthy causes. Many people have had to take second, and even third, jobs. Even those who have one job are working harder and are trying to stretch their paychecks farther than every before. That makes it harder to find time – and money – to drive back and forth to a site, and to find the energy to put into a volunteer activity.

At the same time, and for the same reason, having volunteers is not just important for non-profit organizations, it’s crucial. There’s not so much money available for NPOs now, no matter what the source, and things that normally might have had purchased services now rely on dedicated volunteers for completion. Things like janitorial jobs, filing, ground keeping, and a whole lot more, don’t stop needing attention because of a recession.

That’s why, when we have caring, concerned people who take time out of their weeks and spend their leisure time helping us out, we really want to make sure they know how much we appreciate it.

Saying “Thanks” is a simple thing to do, but meaning it – really meaning it – can make it more valuable. We wish we could give every one of our volunteers and donors wonderful gifts, but, in lieu of that, we want you all to know we are very grateful for everything you do.

And, yes, we really mean it.

Where have all the flowers gone?

It was a little late in the year, but we decided to go ahead and make use of the $200 grant from Montgomery County to improve the looks of our offices on Riverview Ave. Betsy had worked very hard to get that grant for us before she left, and we all felt that we could all do with a few flowers around the place. So Phil took the paperwork over to the North Dayton Garden Center where the people there enthusiastically helped him pick out just the right varieties to give our home a cheery, comfortable look. North Dayton Garden Center, located on Brandt Pike here in Dayton, by the way, is a family owned business and has been for 47 years. Anyway, Phil pulled into the driveway with the van loaded with plants. There were something like 60 pansies and 20 sedum plants and two mums. The dads stayed at the Garden center

The next day, Phil set to work preparing the area we had set aside for the garden. This involved stripping the grass from part of the area and then loosening the soil so it could be worked. He was sweaty and smelly afterward and no one really wanted to be around him for very long.

It took a couple more days before the weather allowed him to actually begin the actual planting, and, once started, it took almost a full day. This time Phil turned out sweaty, smelly and dirty and no one wanted to be around him then, either.

Everything was coming up roses – or rather, pansies – when disaster struck!

In all of the 89 years DXC has been a part of the Dayton Community, never was such a heinous crime committed! Over night – over night, mind you – DXC was viciously vandalized!



While we can’t be entirely sure, we strongly suspect the notorious and dreaded Varmint Gang – led by their ruthless Boss, Stoney “Smokes” Raccoon. An image captured on our closed circuit security camera (see below) would seem to back that up, although the faces are hidden. But it appears that not only Smokes, but his lieutenant, Bunny Hopp, and gang enforcer “Big Harry” Deal were the culprits.



This group of career criminals – well known for their sneak attacks on defenseless vegetation – swooped down on the freshly planted

As you can see, nearly every single blossom in the garden was cruelly ripped off and . . . well, heaven knows what horrible thing befell them.

All that was left were the eight plants that decorate our sign out front and the sedum. The Police suppose the street light out front deterred the vandals from completing their nefarious deed.

The police, of course, interviewed the gang member – shown below – and, as expected, they denied all knowledge of the crime.



“Youse ain’t got nuttin’ on me, coppers,” Raccoon said between puffs.

Hopp chimed in as well:

“Dis is a bum rap. I don’t even like no pansies!”

Deals refused to say anything without his lawyer being present.

We have uncovered mug shots of the gang (below) and if you see them in your neighborhood, please shoo them away immediately.

We say goodbye to some old friends and hello to some new ones

It’s been a while since we posted anything here and, first of all, we’re sorry. There have been a few changes and we’ve been doing some reorganizing.

First of all, Betsy, our Volunteer and Community Outreach Coordinator, has moved on to a new position with Hospice of Dayton where she’s very involved in working with the volunteers there and, from what we hear, doing a great job of it.

Drew, who was instrumental in forging new partnerships and connections with other groups, has also moved on. Drew is working with CityFolk through his association with the Fitz Center for Leadership in the Community and did great work on this year’s CityFolk Festival.

While we were sorry to say farewell to these family members, we’re happy to see them moving up and still doing great work.

At present, Sarah has been working with volunteers while Phil has been learning program management. He’s been given the responsibility of managing our new project associated with the GetUP Montgomery County program. Part of that county program is the 5-2-1-N/A health and fitness program. It promotes eating five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, getting less than two hours of inactive leisure time and one hour of physical activity every day, and cutting down to no, or almost no sugary drinks such as soda pop and drink mixes.

We’ve integrated the idea into every meal we serve here at DXC and are encouraging our staff and families to do the same at home. As part of this, Phil has developed a weekly newsletter that gives tips on how to make exercise fun and easy and how to eat well without spending a lot of money. There’s also a kids page that makes learning healthy habits fun. Phil is currently in the process of learning how to convert the newsletter into an email edition so we can get it out to more people. Anyone who would like to subscribe to it can get in touch with him at pgreene@daytonchristiancenter.org He’d be more than glad to put you on the list.

As we say goodbye to some of our family, we say hello to new member. Floyd Thompson comes to us with more than 15 years experience in education. He’s worked as a teacher in the Head Start Program, life skills, high school, adult education and Business College. He’s also had supervisory experience as a Head Start Administrator, and as a 504 Coordinator.

Floyd is the father of two children; Jamie and Antwan and attended both Wilberforce University and Wright State, majoring in Communications and Psychology. He is the proud recipient of the AmeriCorps National Service Award and we are very glad to have him join our family.

Floyd’s arrival is in conjunction with some other changes in the In God’s Hands Child Care. Our Ms. Goines has moved to working with preschool children along with Ms. D and

SWAT Team descends on DXC!

A SWAT team descended on DXC a couple of weeks ago, but it had nothing to do with a hostage situation or police.

Nearly 50 young volunteers from the American Baptist Women Ministry’s National conference in Columbus came to DXC to spend a Day of Service with us.

The conference’s slogan this year was “Strong Women Acting Together” or SWAT, for short, and except for the lack of weapons and the emergency circumstances, they certainly seemed to have the organization and dedication of their more militant counterparts.

The young women ranged in ages from early to mid-teens and were accompanied by their adult supervisors. They came from all over the country and there were even two sisters from Puerto Rico who spoke little or no English.

Having to abide by State Law, we divided them into two groups; one group, of girls 15 and older, stayed here at the main building and worked in the classrooms with the children and teachers under the coordination of Cardella. The other group went with me to the East Fifth Street site to volunteer their efforts on the Feed Dayton Urban Farm project we’re partnered with.

The group that stayed here at the main office, played and talked with the children here, helped teachers with their lessons, and gave the kids some much needed one-on-one mentoring. Some others helped out by cleaning and painting where needed, and making the place more presentable.

Everyone enjoyed doing craft projects and reading to the kids – and the kids loved it too. The learning was a two-way thing, though, because all the young girls in the group said they had enjoyed learning about our kids and what goes on in the classrooms.

At first, the smell of the compost and the thought of working in the dirt over on Fifth Street was not very appealing to the girls, but, as they listened to Ken Carman, Director of Feed Dayton and one of the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable people I know on urban farming, you could see them getting more excited about it. Soon, we had small groups of young women harvesting kale and banana peppers for the local food pantry, others kneeling in the rows pulling weeds, and still others filling buckets with compost and carrying them to their friends to be spread on the crops.

It was not a cool day and was overcast – rain eventually did cause us to cut the project short by just a few minutes – so there was a certain quantity of perspiration involved. Still, they never complained. She pitched in and did whatever was asked of them. Every once in a while, you’d here someone playing off their slogan, saying “Strong Women Digging in Dirt!” or “Strong Women Spreading Rotting Leaves!” The longer we went, the more creative and funny the slogans became.

We came back to the Main Office for lunch and then the young ladies helped out around here for a couple of hours before boarding the charter bus to return to Columbus. There were a few good natured comments about it being an “interesting” ride home as far as the aroma in the bus, and a contest to see who could be the first to call for a shower when they got back.

But in looking at the comment surveys after they had gone, it was very interesting to read that, almost universally, there was one complaint: “I wish we’d had more time so I could have done more.”

Maybe there is some hope for the next generation, after all.

Thanks, ladies – everything you did is greatly and truly appreciated.

We're getting noticed in high places!

We've had a few very busy days in the past week, and that's good.

The DXC/Feed Dayton Urban Farming Initiative has really taken off and we're attracting a lot of attention in high places with it.

Last Thursday, Ohio State Representative Peggy Lehner (R-37th District) paid us a visit and spent about two hours talking with us and Ken Carman, the director of Feed Dayton. And Treva Jenkins, Outreach Director for them.

Then, on Friday, Gary Abernathy, the District Representative for U.S. Senator George Voinovich (R-Oh) came to town to see us.

Finally, but certainly not least, Dayton City Commissioner Nan Whaley (D) stopped by to see what's going on.

In the mix were reporters from the Dayton Daily News and WDTN – Channel 2 News.

Ken is so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about developing urban farms to feed the hungry and homeless that it it's hard not to get excited about it just talking to him. All of our visitors – reporters included – left firm believers in our project and they all openly asked what they could do to advance the cause.

What Feed Dayton and DXC are trying to do goes beyond just feeding those here in Dayton who are in need. Make no mistake, that alone would be enough to demand respect. But we see much greater things in store.

For one thing, Feed Dayton and we want to make it easy for people at all levels to grow at least some of their own food. Study after study show that we can save money by having food grown nearby, but also that, the fresher the food, the more nutritious it is. Couple that with making a city like Dayton more self-sufficient and you have a win-win-win situation for everyone!

But wait! There's More!

The program itself is self-sufficient. Ken has been so resourceful that its now producing food and has cost him less than $20.

That's right – less than $20.

How he's done it is to use the resources around the city that are normally discarded or wasted; things like getting neighborhood residents to “donate” their fallen leaves and grass clippings; arranging with local tree trimmers to bring their wood chips to the farm and dump them for free, rather than playing to do it at a landfill; and bringing in manure from the county fairgrounds to use in his compost, saving the county some money by not having it hauled away commercially.

Using donated rain barrels, he catches the castoff water from the roof of our building for watering purposes rather than using city water.

When harvest times comes, he'll be in touch with neighborhood residents who will come over to help out in exchange for keeping 20% of everything they harvest.
So, who wouldn't get excited about a program like this?

All of this, we think, is a great model to use for other communities to do the same thing, so Ken and we spent a lot of time talking to both Rep. Lehner and Mr. Abernathy about how we can “export” the model to do good things in more places. Ohio needs to lead the way in innovation and forward thinking and this is a great place to start, both our guests agreed.

Who knows? It may just be that cities all over the country might one day be doing what we're doing here – all because we believed.

Come Out and Celebrate Spring with Us!

Spring has finally come, it seems, and we're all just as happy here as everyone else. In fact, we wanted to celebrate the early days of Spring with a our friends and friends-to-be, so we came up with a day set aside just for that. We're calling it Family Fun Day and we see it as a chance for people to get out and enjoy a (hopefully) warm Spring day and also have a chance to learn a few things about health, safety, and wellness.

In fact, it has taken off and flown much higher than we expected. Last week, United Health Solutions (who oversees the AmeriCorps program here in Dayton) contacted us and asked to make Family Fun Day its official AmeriCorps Week project! Of course, we agreed right away and as a result, we're getting a lot of very good people attending to help us out.

Even before AmeriCorps came on board, we had some pretty good partners in this: The Dayton Fire Department is going to have a truck and some firefighters there to let the kids get a look at what being a firefighter is all about, and to give tips on how to make y9our home safer from fire.

Also, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is going to have child ID kits and other information, plus McGruff the Crime Dog is going to be wandering about having fun with the kids.

The American Red Cross of Dayton, Dayton Children's Medical Center, the Children's Hunger Alliance, and United Way and the Power Mobile are all going to be in there too.

But don't get the idea that it's going to be all business! We've got some great games and activities planned and giveaways too!

There's going to be a balloon toss and balloon stomp , face painting, and a ducky pool – see a theme developing here (wear clothes you don't mind getting wet!)?

Free bike helmets are going to be given away for kids 12 and under on a first-come-first-served basis, and there's more: King's Island has given us two free tickets to give away; Cassano's has coupons for free pizza, and Subway sandwiches has coupons for free subs. Plus, the Dayton Dragons is giving us gift bags with free Dragons hats and shirts, and a few free tickets to see a game!

All of this is going to take place at the Dayton Leadership Academy, 1416 W. Riverview Ave in Dayton and we really want to thank them for offering their facilities so we can hold the Fun Day rain or shine.

So come on out and share a day with us. It's going to run from 10 a.m. To 5 p.m. And it's going to be a whole lot of fun!

See you there.