Although Darrough Elementary is no longer an elementary school, the Serving in Love CERTIFIED tutors and mentors wil be available to help again this year. Our partnership with Anderson University is populating 22 School districts this year with mentors and tutors.
We are ready to start another year of our tutoring and mentoring outreach. Last year over 250 SIL tutors and mentors began the process and were assigned to area schools.
Morning Star certified mentors and tutors will still be available this school year, and we are encouraging our former Darrough tutors (Mentors should follow thier assigned children) to consider serving at the MSC Christian Children’s Acadamy, a preschool to 4th grade program at MSC. We have a community-based need there and can continue our support. Of course, we are now in 7 counties – in fact, if you live outside Kokomo-Center Schools, we probably have a program for your school.
Local churches can use our friends at Bridges to direct tutors in Kokomo-Center and in some area schools. And there are others who would like to send resources into our schools to offer mentoring and tutoring. Going into the schools with good intentions is admirable, but there is much about the process that you cannot anticipate or prepare for. Many of these efforts tend to run into problems or issues that prevent them from becoming permanent, reliable, an
d integrated with the school system. A few have overcome the issues, but none of the area programs are certified by the school systems. Through a series of community meetings, there is a way for your organization or group to become certified to mentor and tutor in the local schools.
Providers and School system administrators have agreed the the 
proper model to follow was the “Morning Star Model” – our program at Darrough Elementary through the Kokomo School System. It is a 6 year old program that has resulted in thousands of hours of tutoring and mentoring as we work with teachers and administrators. The model has been recognized by state and local entities (Governor, State Superintendent, Mayor, legislators, area churches, schools, parents, the list goes on) for the effectiveness and impact we have on the lives of everyone connected to Darrough…..but it is not about us.
SIL is an outreach of Morning Star Church with our program focused on our neighborhood school (Darrough), so we had no “community-wide” base from which to offer our program to the area. Also, we are very limited by our funding creed – we do not accept donations in most cases….we used to believe God would provide – after 6 years we KNOW God will provide. He has provided our every need. Our limited “seed” funds are donated and tithed to MSC and provded to us. Now we feel God is growing this model. It is a great model for one neighborhood, but as good stewards, we needed to plan for a larger calling.
So we needed an entity that could “seed” donations to a larger community program so we could create relationships between local groups and area schools using our training and experience assets. (See Community)
Through the efforts of our interns at Anderson University Serving In Love (SIL) is now faciltating our elementary school Mentoring and Tutoring Outreach . This provides SIL an immediate organization (Board, Management and the ability to receive support) and establishes the “Morning Star Model” as the recognized program for other faith-based organizations (FBO) to become involved in tutoring and mentoring in our local school systems.
We have trained 8 area FBO’s to facilitate training to deliver learning resulting in a portable certification recognized by national, state and local school entities as THE prerequsite for entering into a school to provide these services. We just learned we will have 5 more area churches for training this January. If your FBO would like to begin to tutor and mentor, there are still spaces available and upon successful completion, you WILL receive the certification ( and a Certificate suitable for framing) accreditated by and recognized by our School Systems.
It is not a simple process and you will need some help to begin an “in school” tutoring/mentoring program at your FBO. We have sessions with school officials about the way to integrate into the system, the legal and background requirements, the methods and standards, and a wealth of information about the way schools operate, facilitate and deliver required and optional programming. Our training lays out the path and simplifies the exectations for your FBO. They also provide information about programs that are “transparent” to outsiders (security, social, and special needs).
The simple fact is, many programs have failed because they were poorly prepared or failed to understand the requirements. We train and certify that your are ready.
Next we provide expert training from our Faith-Based experts. The FBO learning component allows you to understand your mission from a Faith-Based perspective. We deal with several issues that will inevitable come up and can cause issues. ”What to do when…..” “Can we pray?” “How to report a problem” “Can we approach the Family”. Without proper guidance and training, it is very difficult if not impossible to succeed. Your FBO will receive training that teaches you how to reflect your faith as you intervene into the lives of our children. Pastors, mentors, tutors, and program directors with years of successful experience will be on hand to help you become certified.
Sound interesting for your FBO, small group,or church? Contact SIL for more details and to enroll.
Right now we have requests from approximately 170 households to provide a Thanksgiving meal. This includes 27 homeless men and women. 
