3rd Grade field trip!

On friday, Emily and I took the 3rd graders on their field trip! We took them to Old Sacramento and had a fun and educational scavenger hunt! This was a great trip that the students loved. They learned about the pony express, hardware stories, trains, and the theatre from the past. They were particlarly interested in learning about the school house and how diffrerent school is now. We were also able to aboard the Delta King, a riverboat that is a hotel and resturant. The kids were very impressed by the size and were able to see the river up close. The students were able to go into a candy store and try some free candy samples. They loved going around the store and choosing their two pieces.  And of course, at the end of the day, the students got to choose between ice cream or a bag of candy! Here are some pictures of our awesome fieldtrip!!

Here they got to ride a simulation of what it would be like to be a part of the pony express!

Enjoying the fun trains at Old Sac!

 Here, they got to explore the one room school house.

 Enjoying thier much loved ice cream that they earned for finishing the scavenger hunt!

One students working hard to find all the answers to the scavenger hunt!


















Just as a reminder, we are having Study Buddy check ins all this week! See you this week!!

This week at the GreenHouse!

This week, Evergreen had their first fieldtrip of the year. We took our 2nd graders out to Mcdonald's. They got to have a happy meal, ice cream, and got to play on the play equipment. The 2nd graders had a blast and continued to say that this was "the BEST day ever". It was great to spend some quality time with the students because it was a much smaller group. Here are a few pictures of our fun trip!

Our Volunteer of the Week is Dave Young. Dave has been volunteering at the after school program since 2010. Before that, he volunteered at special events that The GreenHouse put on. Dave also was a mentor for two years for two boys. Thanks you Dave for all the time you have put into our students!

Volunteer of the Week!

This week's volunteer of the week is Victor Blanco! He came during the Evergreen Christmas party and helped make gingerbread houses with the kids. Since then, Victor has been volunteering at The GreenHouse multiple times a week while he has been on winter break at Sacramento State. We are so glad that you are impacting the kids at Evergreen and R4. Here's some information about Victor so you can get to know him a little better!

Volunteer of the Week Interview

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

Not very long actually, I just started in early January. I started volunteering there because of all the free time I had with school being in recess.

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

"The greatest sin of our time is not the few who have destroyed but the vast majority who sat idly by." MLK Jr.

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

Went to Butte College to get my college general education done then moved to Sacramento to attend CSUS and get a degree in Physical Therapy and changed that to Social Work

What made you decide to volunteer at The GreenHouse Center?

I understand many of the places these kids come from and the motivation and drive that they need. I needed that as a youth and so I wanted to bring it to them.

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

I go to CSUS to get my degree in Sociology and I hang out with my 4 roommates. Mainly I hang out with my awesome and beautiful girlfriend who many of you may know. (Deborah)

Describe what you do in just three words.

Sacrifice, Enlighten, Debate

What do you love about your job?

My job as a volunteer or at work? Well at work I love that it is so easy and that I have the opportunity to talk to so many people. As a volunteer I love helping the kids see their potential.

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

By volunteering at the Greenhouse you have a great opportunity to help out youth that may otherwise be marginalized and forgotten. You get to meet great kids and young adults that will be challenging but worth the effort, not only for you but for them as well.  The GreenHouse is a great place to volunteer because of the great things they do for the community and for the future voices of that community.

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

That the world is a dark and sometimes sad place but with God on your side all things are lit up and joyful. He never lets you go and will always be there in your darkest and saddest times.

Volunteer of the Week!

Our volunteer of the week was awarded to Pam Fuhrman! Pam has been volunteering at Evergreen since September 2011. Pam has continually blessed The Greenhouse with her talent of finding good deals. Pam is very generous with her time and resources! We are soo glad that you are a part of the deveopment of our students! Thank you for all your hard work.

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.