New Sites I just became aware of today

Move the Mountain www.movethemountain.org
Bridges out of Poverty www.ahaprocess.com
Circles of Hope also found at www.movethemountain.org
Harvey County Horticulture and Master Gardeners and City of Newton, KS partner to gather to create a community garden
Plant a Row for The Hungry found at www.gardenwriters.org
Since just having come to Newton three weeks ago I had to go to the internet for some information and some recommended by a city official

Contacts I have made and now need to follow up

Linda Bazerjian
Director of External Affairs
Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness
44 Cooper Square, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10003
LBazerjian@icphusa.org
T: 212.358.8086 x 1204 | F: 212.358.8090

Subscribed to NIEER online Newsletter retrieved from http://nieer.org/resources/newsletter/

Sherry Hutton and Donna Burns, Fun@playbasedlearning.com.au
Statistics information for state of Victoria, AU
http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/news/2953-poverty-in-victoria-reaches-alarming-level

Dorothy Gibson
Organization and Field Services
American Federation of Teachers
555 New Jersey Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20001
(206) 778-2703 (cell)
dgibson@aft.org
www.aft.org
I will be speaking on the phone with Dorothy this weekend.

Three contacts for the city of Newton, Kansas
Erin McDaniel
Public information officer
City of Newton
201 E. Sixth
Newton, KS 67114
Phone: (316) 284-6055
This is the information I received about the city of Newton, Kansas 67114
Percentage of residents living in poverty in 2009: 9.7%
(10.0% for White Non-Hispanic residents, 27.8% for Black residents, 6.1% for Hispanic or Latino residents, 0.0% for American Indian residents, 7.1% for other race residents, 2.4% for two or more races residents)

Need to receive this information
Statistics for School Lunch Program for the USD 373, Newton, KS area
Lunch Program, email mzinn@newton.k12.ks.us
Mandi Zinn, Director of Food Service
Resource recommended by Miss McDaniel

Myrna Krehbiel from Peace Connections. You can contact her at 316-284-0000 or info@peaceconnections.org. She leads the Bridges Out of Poverty program.

fun@playbasedlearning.com.au Sherry has written that she would be willing to correspond and answer any questions I have. She is a early childhood professional in Australia

Dorothy Gibson, Organization and Field Services, American Federation of Teachers, www.aft.org I will be interviewing Dorothy one day next week.

SAVE THE CHILDREN http://www.facebook.com/savethechildren?sk=wall
Be an advocate for children
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6151677/k.7FB4/Be_an_Advocate_for_Children.htm

Connections for current trends and issues

Sherry Hutton and Donna Burns, a blog search connection
fun@playbasedlearning.com.au

American Federation of Teachers, Dorothy Gibson, dgibson@aft.org

No connections with World Forum Foundation, eight e-mails sent and all came back from mail administrator as error

From a blog connection
http://lawhighteeducation.com
http://american-education.org
http://early-childhood-education-online.org

A program facilitator in Canada
http://www.strongstart.blogspot.com

An educator in Canada
http://common-senseinearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/

An educator in Australia
http://malesinearlychildhood.blogspot.com/

Another educator from Australia
http://auntannieschildcare.blogspot.com/

The last four websites were donated by a friend.

SAVE THE CHILDREN SITES TO REVIEW THE WORK THEY ARE DOING:

http://results.savethechildren.org/Article/2011/Q3/Letter-From-the-President?msource=pcecures0911
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.7084413/k.26F5/Oprah_Winfrey_Matau_Primary_School_Project.htm?msource=pcecures0911
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.7084483/k.8F5A/Literacy_Boost.htm?msource=pcecures0911
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6153015/k.E633/Education.htm?msource=pcecures0911
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6153013/k.9328/Program_Areas.htm?msource=pcecures0911
http://www.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6150371/ Save the Children in Guinea is especially close to my heart as Guinea is where I worked as a teacher.

Zero to Three: Zero to Three's Fact sheet

http://bcove.me/fmgcut78

Week 6

My Supports

Support, to me means being there when needed to hold me up, to be available and ready to be a part of my world. The challenge that might be coming for me: searching for another school to teach in.  My son wants me to move closer to him and his wife.  That would mean moving, I have lived in this house for 22 years, finding another place to live, finding a new job, etc., etc. 

My support comes from my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and my relationship with God the Father.    When stressors come, and I have had several in the last few weeks, I know my Father knows and will hold me and strengthen me for the tasks that need to be done and to calm my spirit. 

Because of my faith, I have had so many opportunities to serve people and travel.  My faith took me to West Africa, Australia, Old Mexico, to Canada and all across the USA in service.  I had never been to Africa, but hopped on a plane in 2002 and flew to a “destination unknown” at least to me.  God knew what was ahead for me but I had no clue.  If I had known, I might have given it much more thought than I did. 

When I was in school at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, I had two professors that kept trying to discourage me saying I was too old and that I could not learn another language.  At the end of the class, they had to give me an A.  I spend more time praying about that class than I did studying.   Then God sent me to another difficult school, the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi for French Language Immersion to learn to speak French in 13 months.  He is my support, my driving force that keeps me going. My faith means everything to me.

I do have another significant support in my youngest son and his wife.  When I get discouraged, I call William and he always says, “Do not worry about it MOM we will work it out”.  He has been the crutch that I have leaned on since the divorce in ‘91.  My daughter is supportive most of the time but she lives so far away that it is hard for her to relate to what I am going through.  My church family is supportive and caring.  My minister answers my e-mails when I have questions and is very encouraging. 

Every day of my life, I know that God is with me to support me in my teaching, my driving to work, my studies and my life.  We had for a while a little girl in class who was very defiant and violent at times.  She kicked every teacher at one time or another.  When I would get frustrated and not know what to do next, I would tell the other teachers I had to go to the bathroom.  I would sit in there and pray, “God calm my spirit” and “calm B’s spirit” and then I would be ready to go back to the classroom and proceed with the day. 

I work with a great team of teachers:  my co-teacher is a great supporter.  He listens, he talks, and he will advise when needed.  He is a friend and a good example for the children.  He has a dry sense of humor which I enjoy.  We make a good team.  He is young but very mature for his age.  He treats me as an equal even though there is forty years difference in our ages. Both he and my son are supportive of my finishing my Master’s Degree.  There are times I have gotten discouraged and wonder if I made the right decision to pursue this journey, both of them say, ”Of course, keep going.”

I cannot even imagine what my life would be like if I did not have Jesus as my best friend and sustainer.  I have been asked if I was ready to go back overseas to work.  I always say, “If God calls, I will answer, but He is not calling me”.  With the health issues I have a long-term mission assignment would not be advisable.  But I have said I would go on short-term trips and be ready to serve. To go to the mission field again would mean raising funds, hours and hours of speaking before crowds of people pointing out the importance of the mission.  It would mean closing my house again and preparing my sister or my friends to care for my stateside expenses while I was gone. This is a huge task, I do not think I am ready for this again.  I do not mean to preach but that is where my life is and where my support comes from.