Our Family at DES

SIL is a part of the DES Family

We were invited to help with the Darrough Elementary School (DES) Open House again this year.  On August 12th, with the blessing of 30 volunteers we prodvided supplies for Teachers’ Rooms, Children, and all the elements for a family party.  We had large yard toys for  bouncing, climbing, and sliding……all the food and fixins you could want.  There was a time for Moms and Dads to meet teachers, (we saw administrators and school board members) mentors, tutors and to have some fun before school begins.

We are so proud of what everyone in the Kokomo metropolitan area calls “The Morning Star Model”.  It’s really about Families….and communities.  We are members of the DES family.  We laugh, play, study and grow together.  Sometimes we even cry together….because we are a community of families.  Our “Morning Star Model” is being imitated throughout the Kokomo system…..but there is really only one such program in the system, and that one is at DES.  We have trained SE outreaches to use the model in dozens of school systems and several school corporations outside Kokomo.  It’s a  focused program featuring trained tutors and mentors who dissolve into the fabric of the DES system.  We support them with programs that involve parents, provide for needs, and deliver love and caring.  In addition to mentoring and tutoring, the SIL team will deliver Thanksgiving dinners, connect resources with needs, offer free health care, financial counseling and a host of programs targeted at building families inside the DES community.  We have special days for teachers to show our appreciation and to pamper them and we will host an art festival for the children next spring. 

 Our “Morning Star Model” is about being there to “Show God’s Love In A Practical Way” every time and every way we are needed.  It’s thousands of prayers, hours of modeling God’s love, and being there. We are the light many of these kids see in a world that is often too dark.   It makes us special because we are family. 

This model is just a different way of doing things- to give away what God has provided and to show God’s love in a practical way…..when you think about it, it’s not a model, it’s an expression of what is best in all of us.  And when we do the right thing it’s a great big miracle that comes wrapped in thousands of blessings. 

Change of Seasons …same Reasons

We have capped off another summer programming season and are ready to turn our attention to the school year and our tutoring and mentoring programs.  We finished the concert series without a single rainout or missed date.  These were the largest crowds we have ever seen at the series and the numbers are overwhelming.  Over 15,000 drinks and 20,000 servings of popcorn in the 11 weeks. 

We could not have done without our friends at Coke who support and encourage us every step of the way.

We also have a great group of  volunteers who show up to “Show God’s Love in a Practical Way”  We won’t begin to mention names, but you know who you are and besides, “it’s not about us.”  So thank you to everyone.  This is a wonderful outreach and there are people who have commented and taken action because of the work done.  Ask any of our servants….there are some great stories about live that we touched.

So now we begin the school season with a party for our neighbors at Darrough Chapel Elementary School (DES).  Once again this year we have provided every student with supplies for the entire year and we are working with DES to have a wonderful  Open House this Tuesday (August 12th).  We will have drinks, hot dogs, yard toys (a giant slide is one of them) and lots of fun. 

We are recruiting tutors and mentors for our program (copied all over the state) at Darrough so that we can continue to reach and meet the needs of our families and children at DES. 

This year is a very important one as the School  Board will be moving the general population from DES in future years, so we really have a chance to show God’s Love in a Practical way.  For the past 5 years, we have tutored and mentored over 100 children, delivered over 200 turkeys at thanksgiving, provided thousands of notebooks, pencils, erasers and other supplies, provide a annual day of caring for the DES staff……and become a  part of the DES family, the same way we have become part of  the Park Band family.  SIL and Morning Star are accepted as important members of the DES family because we never missed an appointment to tutor, always kept our promises, and have contributed to the success that is Darrough School. 

We also had an enormous success this summer with our outreach tutoring programs in Noblesville and Sharpsville, where two interns from Anderson University tutored over 100 students in Noblesville and our BSU intern with her staff tutored nearly 50 kids for 8 weeks using the “Morning Star Model.”  The program will be back next year because the interns secured resources and programming to make it a permanent of our sister churches in the area.

We also started our “Drive In”  movie series this summer.  Later this year we will be doing a Drive In in conjunction with Kokomo Urban Outreach.  It is a ball!!  A real old-fashioned drive in without even having a drive in….more details later.

We also did our “Wonderful Wednesdays” community outreach providing dental, health, legal and financial counseling to over 200 people at various locations this summer. 

What a year!!  and there is much more to come.  See you at DES Tuesday.