Giving to Others

This past week Buddies explored the virtues of kindness and thankfulness. Buckingham girls used online tools to donate dog food with freekibble.com - a program started by a middle school girl right here in Bend.

Middle school Buddies prepared Italian pasta casseroles which were given to the Shepherd's House homeless shelter. Acts of charity helps us to honor God by being kind to the needy.(Prov. 14:31).

Grace Baptist girls celebrated the importance of being thankful in their everyday lives. I bet most of us could use an extra reminder about that principle!

January 18 - Focusing on Charity and Kindness at Buckingham

Lisa will be leading this week focusing on the virtue of charitable kindess. Teen Buddies will discuss the importance of treating others the way they would like to be treated which is not to be selfish, sarcastic or rude. Buddies are encouraged to be charitable towards others to make them feel loved and cared for.

We will be focusing on use of the Internet to send support emails to our Troops throughout the world. We are so grateful for all that our men and women give and want to let them know. And we will be exploring opportunities to extend charity to others in need including animals using web sites including www.freekibble.com and www.freerice.com!

Welcome to our new Big Buddy Shay from Summit High. Thanks for being a part of our ministry to Buckingham girls!

January 11-12 - You Go Girls!

Buckingham elementary kids learned about the importance of respect this week as part of our You Go Girls series. From respecting others to repecting themselves, Big Buddies Lindsey and Katie helped the 4th and 5th graders to explore a variety of sitations where they could respond with either disrespect or respect.. .and guess which the kids liked more??? Nice job ladies and Happy Birthday Lindsey! You Go Girls!!!

On Wednesday after homework time and super healthy fruit and vege snacks - our middle school Buddies explored the concept of encouragment.. not only how to funtion as encouragers but also what each needed to experience encouragment. We worked on our Buddies motto taken from the book of John.. "love others as I have loved you"... our key to ultimate encouragement.

We ended the day after a fun round of skits demonstrating encouraging behaviors (with lots of laughter) followed by a crazy game of Taboo.

We have more room in our middle school program for both mentors and middle school girls so PLEASE let us know if you want to join us by writing to afterschoolbuddies@gmail.com.

We are waiting for an update from the Grace Baptist program to share their news of the week. Check tomorrow for an update! Char

Plans for Jan 11 & 12 - Buckingham & Middle School Group

I have decided to start using this blog to post plans for the upcoming weeks of two of our Buddies programs. That way others that are considering becoming a part of ASB will see what we do and hopefully be inspired to jump on board to help touch the lives of younger girls in our community.

This week at Buckingham, after homework time Lindsey and Katie will share activities centering around respect. This is certainly a virtue that everyone needs to focus on even more than ever .. it's so easy to blast through life and not even realize how disrespectful we are behaving... to others and even to ourselves.

We read in the New Testament in 1st Peter to "show proper respect to everyone". Have you been treated with disrespect by others before? How does it make you feel? Do you think that you might be able to fine tune your interactions with others in your family, your school or your work to help show more respect? What does it mean to respect yourself? How do you think God views people that function with respect? These are all questions we should consider before meeting at Buckingham this week.

MIDDLE SCHOOL
Our middle school group of new 6th grade Buddies and returning 7th and 8th graders will learn the importance of encouraging others. As we continue to focus on "You Go Girl!" we are reminded in the book of Thessalonians to "encourage one another and build each other up". Isn't that the truth.. who doesn't need that in their day to day lives? John Maxwell, a well known author, said "Encouragement is the oxygen of the soul". I like that - we most definately need oxygen to breathe.. and I can sure use a dose of encouragement daily.. how about you?

Middle schoolers will continue to build on their new relationships with the young woman in leadership by playing team games including Taboo and Guesstures. Be ready to be challenged and to encourage those on your team and in our group. Team captains Haley and Kate will be joined by our other leaders to help middle schoolers understand how much it means to God when they encourage each other and build each other up!

Buddies off to a Great Start in 2011

The first week of January found lots of elementary, middle school girls, teens and women gathering at our three locations to celebrate life and "You Go Girl!" with After School Buddies. We learned that to Go - we will be Giving of Ourselves in all kinds of ways.

Programs focused on friendship and learning about each other as Big Buddies were paired up with Little Buddies for the first time in 2011. We have almost a full program at Buckingham with 11 Little Buddies and 10 Big Buddies starting off the season. Grace Baptist's group (serving girls from 6!!! elementary schools - outstanding!!!) started with 8 elementary girls and 6 teens.

Middle school opened with 11 6th-8th graders with more to come next week. We had a great group of adults and teens to work with them as well.

Having said that.. we still need MORE of you teens and young adult women to search their hearts and see if God is calling you to make a wonderful difference in the lives of these young girls. Think about what life was like when you were in middle school or almost there.. don't you think that you can do something to share the love of Christ with these girls to help them weather the storms that blow around them day after day? Check in with Char at afterschoolbuddies@gmail.com to see how you can join in this amazing program! You won't be sorry!