Run-A-Thon

Summer for Lifeline is almost here!! Our kids only have two and a half weeks left of school and then we leap into summer activities. If you are anything like me (Jenna), the minute I looked at our calendar, I stress out haha. But it is full of opportunities to make and develop deeper personal relationships with our elementary kids. Lifeline's weekly activities will include going to the neighborhood pool twice a week, having open gym, River Run BBQ's, and having an open clubhouse for kids to come hangout. Then in June, fifth and sixth graders have the opportunity to go to a week-long church camp, learn about Jesus, and be outdoors in His creation. That same week, our third and fourth graders can attend a VBS put on by the church Caleb and I attend, Sugar Grove. Caleb and I will also be taking kids camping in tents and sleeping bags 3 or 4 times this summer.  Almost none of them have ever gone camping so that should be a lot of fun.

On May 26th, we at Lifeline are having a Run-A-Thon. The Run-A-Thon is something that Lifeline has done for many years. It is an opportunity to raise awareness for what we are doing as well as get the community and our kids to get more involved in raising money for Lifeline. The runners (local runners) as well as Lifeline supporters and kids try to get as many people to pledge money as possible for them to complete a 5, 10, or 15K run. The goal behind the Run-A-Thon is to raise enough funds to pay for all our summer activies. We need funds in order to take kids camping, to go to the pool, to feed them lunch, etc.Caleb and I are excited for our first Run-A-Thon. It's no Bloomsday but it will be fun to run a race with our elementary kids. I will probably go with the kids who want to take a slower pace and Caleb wants to run with all the kids that want to run.

We are asking for prayers for this event, that it will go smoothly, we can get a lot of Lifeline kids involved, and also that we can raise enough money to pay for our summer events! Also if you decide you would like to make a pledge for the Stantons as we run the race we would love that. (We are getting killed by other staff members in pledges right now!!) You can help support us at Lifeline with a one-time gift so that we can keep doing our summer activities. All you have to do is send an e-mail to either of us with your address, phone number and the amount you would like to pledge: $10, $15, $20 or more. We only need the pledge now, and would be collecting the tax-deductible pledges by mail after the race.

Thanks so much! God Bless!!

Caleb - caleb@yfcministries.com
Jenna- jenna.l.stanton@gmail.com

End of the School Year

Some of our 3rd and 4th graders.

Some of our 5th and 6th graders.

There are only three weeks left before the end of the school year! So we are wrapping things up in our club program and are gearing up for summer! It is exciting to see all the progress that has been made this year. Both in our personal lives and in the lives of our kids here at Lifeline. For the last few weeks Jenna and I have started to take two kids to church with us. Kaniesha, one of Jenna's 8th grade girls, and Tyshawn, one of my 6th grade boys. Tyshawn is a kid that has been coming to clubs all year. At the beginning of the year he was one of the hardest kids to get under control. He is a very energetic kid that loves to have fun, but because of that he has a hard time listening and following directions. Every time we would try and get the kids to put away all the basketballs he would continue to shoot and shoot. I would have to steal the ball from him to get him to stop shooting!!! It was very frustrating. But through the year I have been talking to him about leadership and what it takes to be a leader. It has been great to see him step up into that role these last few months. I have recruited him to help me put away all the basketballs and now he is the kid that steals the basketball from the other kids who do not listen.

Our Lifeline soccer season comes to a close with our playoff tournament this weekend. We had a rough start to the season, losing our first four games but we have bounced back and won our last two games of the season. Even though I have never coached soccer before, it has been a blast. Jenna and I have both really enjoyed getting to know our players. It is a very different culture to the team. Where the basketball team was primarily African American, our soccer team is primarily Hispanic and most of them are in Jr High. One of my former basketball players, Junior, brought his sister Angela onto the team. It has been a great opportunity to get even closer with his family and we even got invited to a quinceañera.

You can pray for us as we gear up for the summer. Pray we will not lose contact with kids during the summer, many move or go to live with or visit relatives in Chicago or South Bend. Pray for our support raising we do a lot of support raising events in the summer. We have our Run-a-Thon coming up May 26th. And our golf fundraiser on June 18th.  God Bless, we miss love and miss you all!!