Stories

:) i feel like i'm finally getting some progress

my email to my archdiocese finally went out! blah, it took so glad but I'm grateful that's done, and taken care of. also tomorrow i set up for a convention i'm working for SBoC this weekend so hopefully everything goes well. Please keep me in your prayers! Hope everybody progress is going great!

- Melissa

Second Harvest Food Bank

I talked to the local director at our local food bank about Souper Bowl of Caring, she told me that they normally get A LOT of money from it but in the last few years participation has dropped off, so from what i understand, she offered me their free postage, to send out letters to every church in savannah :) exciting right! I hope what i understand and what she said are the same thing, because that would be awesome. I miss all of you!

Love,
AnnMarie Wakely.

Connections

Let's see..I keep reading all these blogs of y'all having amazing starts! I'm still working on it...
I've written for my church newsletter and I've contacted a lot of people in the Presbytery but right now it's just a game of waiting I guess. But I can't get discouraged yet!
I love all the ideas people have and I hope you don't mind if I might "borrow" some of them lol

I decided to write this short blog before I leave for Colorado.. I'll be keeping up with my emails and the Youth…

A Souper Day in Denver!!

It's amazing what three people can do with their heads together in a dark Pei Wei restaraunt. I just met with my Christian Education director and associate pastor. We developed a FANTASTIC plan for my church!! So: we are going to have a triple play! We have a plan to have a giant, all church, service blitz, the week before the Souper Bowl. Then, that same night, we are going to be having a fundraiser. See, throughout the year, we will be having every group in the church, from the 4 year olds…

Oprah...

And I figured out a way to get us on Oprah...

Its kind of complicated and we have to wait for the right time, maybe my buddy God will help us out with this timing thing. Anyways, she has this section on her website where its like, "Be on the show" and she does like specials and you can enter your story, like say if you have a REALLY messy house, and soon she is doing this special on messiest house in america, then if your house was REALLY messy, maybe messier than all the other peoples then…

WAHOO.

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing fantastic! Anyways, as soon as I got back on Sunday I sat down and wrote an article for my church's newsletter about my experience with SBoC and sent it to the editor at our church, Hoping she could include it by the next newspaper cycle (every week) so not really a big deal if she didn't, but anyways, she did. Then last Thursday I got an e-mail from a pastor at a church in another city in Georgia, apparently his church receives our newsletter because…

NBA Draft

Stand firm in the Faith. Be men of courage. Be Strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13

Ughh how could I be courageous and strong at a time like this? It's the night before the draft and I'm sitting there, just waiting for a phone call, perhaps an nba team taking interest in my abiliites. My career lies in the hands of any team lucky enough to pick me. I decide to call up a buddy of mine, James Carras, a fellow baller entering this years draft and also a fellow National Youth Advisory Member (NYAB). I…

Briana 1, Hunger 0

Well... this week I presented to my pastor. I asked if we could start SBoC and if the project could be headed up by our youth group. After a grueling 10 minutes he said YES!!! I'm super happy although at the time I was sooooo nervous. This year I know that we are going to make a difference! Our guiding scripture is 1 Timothy 4:12 "No one should despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." Yes this is the same one…

TOTALLY made a chant and said to a group of church goers! o yea!!!!

Ok so i went to a church conference this past week and i was on program to talk about Souperbowl of Caring and of course i did with the utmost respect and happiness.....and yea! i made a cheer and by the end i had every saying it all day. so i think i have a couple of churches that are def interested now!

My NYAB experience

So far my experience with NYAB...
Okay, well i have now found a new hatred to flying on airplanes, but beside that i feel extremely blessed to be given this opportunity to help other people, i mean we all have tons of ways to help in our community but it's uplifting to know that we can have a more larger impact on the United States through Souper Bowl of Caring and the NYAB. It sort of great to know that we can all come together, as diverse and different as we are for a cause that's much…

there is no way to thank you guys enough.

To Tracy, Caroline, Jamie, Sheree and all SBoC staff- there is not enough we can say to accurately express how thankful we all are for all that you do for us, for NYAB, for SBoC, and for just dedicating so much of your time to helping others. You guys are beyond amazing and have helped transform so many lives and for that we are so so so grateful :)
To Brad: thanks so much for coming to Eastminster to speak with us. Even though I've heard you talk many many times before, each time it is still…

Weekend Wrap-Up

If each year's NYAB has a personality, this year's is the type you take home to mom. It only took about an hour of awkward ice breakers for us to become comfortable with one another, and by the time we went to bed Thursday night I knew I could easily stay up chatting with these new friends (which is, coincidentally, what happened). When a group bands together to achieve a common goal, a beautiful bond occurs. I think Matt Dry said it best when he stated "We're a family now." The group of…

sunshine, we all see the same sky :)

"And, wherever possible granddaughters of other opposing countries would exchange visits, and we would have better understanding all over the world."
Samantha, the eleven year old girl whose speech about her thoughts of the future was in you guys' binders, then goes on to say "I wish for world peace and understanding".
Eleven years old. I can't even imagine thinking about the things Samantha writes about when I was eleven, let alone creating the International Granddaughter Exchange. But…

October seems so far away...

I went into this year's first meeting thinking "ok, maybe it'll be as good as last year this time around," but wow, was I wrong or what?! Don't get me wrong, I still love last years NYAB, but there's just something different about this one. Everyone is so dedicated and fun and I'm really looking forward to serving with all of you this time around. This new idea of the National Student Alliance is amazing, and even though it's new, I'm really glad that I chose to be on this committee. This…

NYAB is AMAZING

Wow!!! I have never felt this way about a group of people that i just met a few days ago. i recently was talking to my mom and started crying and asking her why people in Olean couldn't be just like everyone there. I love you all. We came together so well and i never want to leave Columbia. On Thursday at the Buffalo Airport I cried because I was so nervous flying but i had to be pumped to met everyone. After getting lost in the Charlotte Airport I soon found Tracy and started a trip of a…

Amazing

Hey ya'll i'm glad that everybody got back safely! This weekend was an AMAZING expirence and I have to thank Tracy, Jamie, Caroline, Sheree, and all the other staff members at SBoC for forming such an amazing group of young people. From the awkard hug/hand shakes to Bea walking into the automatic doors at the hotel I knew that I was going to have a great time. The only thing is that I didn't have great time I had an amazingly awesome time! Dancing in the room with Bea and Becky, to the…

NYAB what a group... =D

Hi everybody, I miss all of you guys, this weekend was so much fun!!! I never thought it would be possible to place 17 students from all different states and have them connect so well. I guess I proved myself wrong (that's a good thing btw). I guess our first "bonding" moment all hinged around a certain waiter and some of the greatest imitation work I have seen. As the time went on, we began to discover each others' personalities, that was so... interesting. My roommates and I trying to figure…

Contacting School Districts and Denomination Offices

Hey guys,

It was great to have you all here this weekend! I hope you are all back home and rested after such a great time here in Columbia. You guys all have lots of great resources to get you started with recruiting schools and churches and we can't wait to see what all you guys do over the next couple of months!

I did want to remind you all to let Sheree or I know BEFORE you make contact with any school districts or church denomination offices. We have communication going out all…

Oh What Memories

Hello Hello Hello! It's only been about two days since we've all seen eachother and what a change it has been! I arrived in Dallas around 5:30 and I'm pretty sure it was an extra long flight because we had to fly around a storm haha. But of course, my flight doesn't even compare to the length of Melissa's.
I know many of us talked about this during our few days together, but I just found it amazing how quickly we all meshed. We had so much to do and plan and work towards, but we always…

Reflections from Afar

Wow. That's kind of what I was thinking after y'all left me in the airport. I couldn't believe how fast the time had gone, and how much had happened in what seemed to be thirty seconds. As my plane landed in South Carolina five days ago, I was nervous-- I told my mom that I could feel my heart in my throat, like it was going to climb up the cavernous sides of my throat and leap out suicidally on the tile floor of the airport. (Haha talk about too much information, right?) But as soon as I…

NYAB Summer Adventures

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had great flights home, mine was great, I fell asleep for the whole trip. I already miss everyone :( I am so excited for this year! As you know if you are a member of the media and marketing committee, OPRAH WILL ENDORSE SBoC. I've heard she is pretty hard to get in contact with, but we will figure something out :)

On a funnier note, I probably haven't laughed that hard in a century. At dinner with david and sergio (Its hott, sss..sss.sss) but even better is…

Fun Fun Fun! @ NYAB MEETING

Hey guys and gals! Just started unpacking today and when I did my water gun and orange fan I got from Frankie's fell out. Ahh the memories! From running in the rain after go-carts to betting with Briana and Becky lol....sooo much fun! Thank you all for this wonderful, blessed experince. Most importantly, thank you to Tracy, Caroline, Jamie, and Sheree for giving me this amazing oppurtunity and helping plan all the fu ninvolved with NYAB.

Can't wait to see everybody again!
Cat

Home from meeting and first blog post...

Hey everybody! My flight got in around 4:15 yesterday and I came home and CRASHED! =] But I'm super excited to be getting started and actually did go to youth group last night, where I had tons to share with my youth pastor. We did a lot of brainstorming about things we can do in our community, and we came up with a great idea to get all four of my county high schools involved. My grandmother, who picked me up from the airport, already wants me to come speak to her church, which has a 2,200…

saying goodbye to start new hellos

what an incredible to years on the board. Literally, it affects my life everyday. Even today we talked about what we are being called to do and I was one of the few kids in my youth group that could answer that question. I think my time on the souper bowl models what the creation of the souper bowl was like. It started as something small but then turned into something huge. Did I ever think I would get onto the board the first time I applied? Heck no! I still remember when I got the…