Our winter season

 We have taken a break from the after school program for the holiday season. We asked all our volunteers to help support every child in our after school program by buying a christmas gift. This is about 35 students. In a matter of days, you guys all helped support every child involved in the GreenHouse. We had Christmas celebrations for each program. At Evergreen, we had a group of students come in and play Christmas games and help make gingerbread houses. Club 56 (Our bible study for 5th and 6th graders) put on a great play that told the story of Jesus' birth and sang a few Christmas carols. After all the celebration, the students opened their gifts from you( our awesome volunteers!). They were all surprised and left with smiles on their faces. It was a great day for the Evergreen students!

R4, opened their gifts on their last day of the after school program. All the teens were very surprised to get gifts from their study buddies. All of them were every excited to receive their gifts. They had a separate Christmas party that L.I.T. put on for Oasis (Our bible study for midlle and high school age students) later that week.


We had a very successful winter event on December 16th and 17th. This was the second year that we had Melvin's Hope Christmas Store for the families of River Garden Estate, Natomas Court, and American River Village in Natomas. We served 114 families in the course of two days! We had over 900 toys to sell to the families and included free gift wrapping. We had an enormous amount of support from numerous place to receive donated toys for our families. We had toys from barbies, transformers, basketballs to Ugg shoes and jewelry.  We also had three Christmas trees donated by Southwest Airlines and two gently used girl bikes as raffles for the event. We had a great support from our members of the Parent Action Team that weekend. We had 14 parents help set up, volunteer in the store, and tear down. What a blessing to have so many parents involved in the Melvin's Hope Christmas Store! They have been a dedicated group of individuals that have been meeting bi-weekly to discuss issues of the community that they want to see change, event planning and helping volunteer for the actual event! The Greenhouse could not be doing what we do without the support of our Parent Action Team! Parents put in 124 hours into Melvin's Hope Christmas Store! Thank you!

Right before we ended our programs for the year, our volunteer of the week was awarded to Felipe Calixto! He is one our youngest volunteers. He is a senior at Inderkum High School and has been volunteering through Evergreen at The GreenHouse since September 2011. He has been a great volunteer. He always comes on time and is great with the kids! He has been dedicated to The GreenHouse and has been great as a homework helper. We are sad to say, but Felipe moved farther from the GreenHouse and is not able to continue to volunteer for the remainder of the year. Thank you Felipe for all your hard work and we will miss you!

Volunteer of the Week!

We have a new Volunteer of the Week. Esmeralda Baza has been volunteering at The GreenHouse since the beginning of the school year. Read this interview to get to know Esmeralda:

1. How long have you been a part of or volunteering at The Greenhouse and with what program?
I have been a part of The Greenhouse since Sept 2011 in the R4 after school program.

2. Words to live by (personal quote or advice for living the good life)
It's not about what you feel. It's about what you need to do. Live to love.

3. In a nutshell, describe your  high school experience.
Horrible! I was alone with no help in homework or on a personal level.

4. What made you decide to volunteer at The Greenhouse Center?
I want to help others have a smoother ride through high school by helping them with homework or anything else.

5. When you're not volunteering, what do you do? What extracurricular activities are you involved in?
Jogging! Youth group from my church.

6. What do you love about your job?
Serving others

7. In three sentences or less, convince someone that The Greenhouse is a great place to volunteer.
The Greenhouse is a great place to volunteer because it has great staff that are very hands on with the programs. They care and make you feel like family. It's real easy to fall in love with the youth because of an encouraging staff.

8. What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger?
I am the one that controls my destiny!

Thanks for all that you do!

Fall happenings at The GreenHouse

The GreenHouse after school program has been going on for a little over two months now! We have 31 volunteers that come every week which gives us the opportunity to serve about 65 students in our 4 programs!
Our club 56 program has recently started. This serves 5th and 6th graders. They meet bi-weekly and discuss topics and the bible. We have a similar program for our teens called Oasis. They meet weekly and send time together going through the bible.

Evergreen, our elementary after school program, has been meeting every monday, wednesday, and friday for the past few months. We have 29 students enrolled in the program and a large waiting list of students who want to be involved in the program. We have many dedicated volunteers for the after school program who show up  every week and help the students with their homework. We could still use some volunteers on Mondays and Fridays. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer at Evergreen, please contact Deborah Elliott at deborah@thegreenhousecenter.org.

R4, the teen after school program, has been a small but dedicated group of students. We have about 7 teens that come on Tuesdays and Thursdays for homework help. We have some great volunteers who know specific subjects to help students with their math, history, and science homework. The are planning on having a few fieldtrips throughout the school year. Just last week, the teens were able to take a fieldtrip to William Jessup University in Rocklin. They had a great time seeing the college.

We also had our annual "Thankful Hearts Food Drive". We were able to serve 42 families with a Thanksgiving meal with the help of:

Sacramento Mutual Housing Association

Tendercare Preschool
Creative Kids Preschool
Comstock Morgage

StudentsFirst

Bridge of Life Church
Sanctuary Church
Fog Willow Farms
FoodCo
Walmart

Coming up on December 16th and 17th, we will be having our Melvin's Hope Christmas Store. We are collecting toys for children ages 0-18. If you would like to donate a gift to The Greenhouse, please contact Deborah Elliott at deborah@thegreenhousecenter.org.

Some great things are happening at The GreenHouse. We are trully blessed.

We have a new Volunteer of the Week.....

Our new Volunteer of the Week is Ashley Kammerer! This is Ashley's second year helping out with Evergreen after school program. She is a faithful volunteer at The GreenHouse. Ashley has also helped out at Adventure Zone for the last two summers. She has helped give rides to students on field trips like Raging Waters, Sky High, and Spirit in the Arts. For the past two Harvest Carnivals, Ashley has also manned the facepainting table. She has great artistic ability and the kids love having their faces painted! The kids have sported all kinds of art work on their faces from butterflies to flowers. Ashley, we are so excited to have you continue to work with The GreenHouse. It's so great to see volunteers come back and really get to know the kids in a personal way. You are awesome!

Volunteer of the Week!

Our first Volunteer of the Week, of this school year, is Susan Beck! This is her first time volunteering for the Evergreen after school program. Susan is always helpful during Evergreen. On numerous occasions, she has stayed late to help clean up after Evergreen is over. You are always friendly and enthusiastic with the students. We appreciate the extra effort you put into the program. Keep up the good work!

Volunteer of the Week begins in November!

Welcome Volunteers! The After School Program has been going on for 4 weeks already! Thank you for being patient and flexiable as we figured out how to implement the best possible program for our students. The success of our programs rely heavily on our wonderful volunteers. Thank you! We appreciate your dedication to the students of this community. We would appreciate it if you had ideas, concerns, or comments about the program, to let us know! We all want to make the program the best that it can be to serve the students in the best way possible.

This blog will be a place where we can celebrate our wonderful volunteers who have gone over and beyond their roles as a study buddy or mentor. Each week, starting in November, we will honor one volunteer by picking them as the Volunteer of the Week. Thanks again for your hardwork and dedication to the students!

We also will be having a raffle for the volunteers. Everytime you sign in on the volunteer sign in sheet, you will get a raffle ticket put into a box. When the program ends in December, for winter break, we will pull out three winners. The prizes are two wine country bicycle rentals for 2 and a ride, wine, and dine bike tour in napa valley! So, everyday you come in, make sure you sign in!

Two outstanding volunteers!

There are many volunteers that come through our doors here at The GreenHouse. But, these two have made a permanent impact on our students and staff. Judy Carlson and Zain Matloob have been selected as our Volunteers of the Week for April 11th and the 18th! Judy Carlson has been with The GreenHouse for so long that she is a part of the family. When she volunteers with our Evergreen elementary program, she has been known to make them smile, become interactive, and feel loved. Seeing her with our students I can see how much the love and adore her.

Zain Matloob is one of our new volunteers, but has demonstrated her commitment to working with students as she has been consistent in her efforts to work with them. At first, Zain was quite and still getting use to working in this particular environment. However, it appeared that over night Zain became this enthused, energetic and playful volunteer for our Evergreen program. Like Judy, Zain's presences has been impactful in the lives of our students. It just has been a blessing to have so many wonderful volunteers here at The GreenHouse.

To get to know Judy a little better read my interview with this lovely woman.

How long have you been a part of or volunteering at The GreenHouse and with what programs?

I have been a part of the GreenHouse for about 8 years. The first 4 years as a volunteer in the summer for a week. I started volunteering weekly about 4 years ago. In addition, my husband and I have contributed financially with one time gifts and have participated in Melvin's Hope at Christmas time.

Words to live by (personal quote or advice for living the good life)

Love NEVER fails! Choose the path of love, turn and run from evil.

In a nutshell, describe your career path since high school.

After college and marriage, I choose to stay home with my sons until they entered school. I worked part-time until 20 years ago. At that time, I started as a paraprofessional at

James McKee Elementary School working in the Learning Center teaching reading to first through sixth graders.

What made you decide to volunteer at The GreenHouse Center?

I decided to volunteer at the GreenHouse because I saw an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the children in the community around the church I attended in Natomas.

Describe a day in your life as a volunteer at The GreenHouse.

Challenging, but rewarding when you see growth in the children’s lives. (Academically and emotionally)

When you’re not volunteering, what do you do? What extracurricular activities are you involved in?

I love to read, travel with my husband, garden, and refinish furniture.

Describe what you do in just three words.

Teach, serve, and mentor

In three sentences or less, convince someone that The GreenHouse is a great place to volunteer.

The GreenHouse gives volunteers a chance to change the world one child at a time. Children need as many places in their lives where they are loves and feel safe.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger?

It’s not about what you accomplish in life, but it’s really about who you had the privilege to love.