EECM

In this issue

Focus On: YOUTH

Since its inception, EECM has maintained a strong commitment to the young people in our community. Today, we offer a wealth of programs designed to support and nurture the at-risk youth in surrounding neighborhoods. But we also seek to encourage and support youth leaders from throughout Pittsburgh who want to make a positive impact on their communities.

This issue of the EECM News focuses on youth: how young people benefit from our services, and how we benefit from the passion and dedication of our youth.

Tutor Roundtable

Stacy, Dave, and Margaret are tutors with EECM’s ExtraOrdinary Tutoring (ET) program, which matches volunteer tutors with students in grades K-12. Tutors and students meet for one hour each week. These three agreed talk a bit about their tutoring experiences. Stacy works at the Carnegie Museum of Art, and has a background in teaching. She tutors a seventh grader in all subjects, although they focus on math. Margaret does substance abuse research with the VA and tutors a sixth grade girl. This is their second year together. Dave is a software engineer and is currently tutoring two students – a high school girl and a fourth grade boy.

EECM: How long have you been tutoring and how did you find out about EECM?

Stacy: I’m new to the tutoring program. I started in November after finding EECM online. I used to tutor before I moved to Pittsburgh, and I was eager to start up again.

Dave: Well, I guess you could say I’m a veteran tutor. I’ve been with ET on and off for the last 10 years. I mostly tutor math and science, but I’ll do other things if needed.

Margaret: This is my third year tutoring with EECM. I actually found out about EECM by chance when I was going to college in Ohio. When I moved to Pittsburgh, I looked you up!

EECM: Why did you choose to get involved with tutoring?

Margaret: I was sort of jaded about school until I got to college – then I really started enjoying it. I’m hoping that I can help my student get excited about school.

Dave: I wanted to give back a little to the community. Volunteering really makes you feel good.

EECM: What do you enjoy most about tutoring?

Dave: I like building relationships. I tutored one student for all four years of high school and kept in touch with her through college. I think the relationship you create is every bit as important as the academic support you provide.

Stacy: I agree. I think that it’s when you’re talking about non-school stuff that the strongest connections are made.

Margaret: Definitely. For me, I also enjoyed the opportunity to form cross-cultural relationships. It has been great forming this friendship with a girl of another race, and also with her family.

EECM: So are you going to keep tutoring in the future?

All three: Absolutely!

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The EECM Classroom

EECM’s Hunger Program staff fondly refer to them as the “bag packers.” Every Thursday, about half a dozen middle school students from the Falk Laboratory School arrive at the Food Pantry to help pack bags of food. They carefully fill paper grocery sacks with staples like spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, and peanut butter, making sure that each bag receives an equal amount, and enthusiastically debating the most effective packing strategies.

It may not sound like glamorous work, but it’s important. Clients at the Pantry receive two ready-packed bags full of food including pasta and sauce, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, and cans of fruit and vegetables. On an average day, the Pantry might serve 20 families. On a busy day (like around the holidays), that number can easily soar into the seventies. If the bags aren’t packed and ready to go, things can get chaotic quickly!

Luckily, the dedicated students of Falk School help us prepare for our Food Pantry clients. Over the past two years, Falk has been developing and implementing a volunteer service component in their middle school curriculum. This year, all 8th graders were required to participate in the EECM project. They divided the students into groups that came in rotation so that each student had multiple volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Next year, the school plans to extend their volunteering curriculum to the 6th and 7th graders.

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Program Spotlight: PHYSED

Our newest Children & Youth program is PHYSED (Points of Healthy Youth Sustainability Engagement and Development). We started this program in 2006 to meet the needs of youth in our community identified as “extremely high-risk.” These young people are in danger of expulsion from school due to behavioral and academic problems, many have already had encounters with the juvenile justice system, and their futures are bleak at best.

PHYSED provides one-on-one support for these students, as well as opportunities for group interaction. Caring and trained EECM staff mentor program participants and help them to identify and overcome the challenges in their lives. They focus on issues like anger management, alcohol and drug use prevention, and goal setting. Small groups meet to address topics like negative peer pressure, violence prevention, and team-building.

The PHYSED program also allows students to venture beyond the boundaries of their neighborhoods, broadening their horizons through organized educational field trips and outings. One group of students traveled to the African American Heritage Festival (AAHF) in Baltimore, MD. AAHF is an annual celebration of African American culture and music. It was a great opportunity for the students to see positive cultural images and to witness positive role models.

We look forward to further developing the PHYSED program in the coming years, and are grateful for our partners in this endeavor including The Grable Foundation, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, The FISA Foundation, The Eden Hall Foundation, and The Heinz Endowments. EECM is also fortunate to receive substantial federal funding as part of the FY08 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill.

Press Conference January 3, 2008 announcing the earmark

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Back to School and Off to College

There are two great opportunities coming up for the young people in our community to directly support the young people in EECM’s programs: our Back to School and Off to College supply drives!

Each fall, EECM makes a special effort to collect school supplies for the students in our programs grades K-12. A full list of needed items is on the EECM website. Why not organize your friends, neighbors, or youth group and host a Back to School Supply Drive? Donations may be dropped off at the EECM administrative offices at Eastminster Church, 2nd floor (250 N. Highland Ave.)

EECM also organizes a supply drive to benefit graduates of our Children & Youth programs who are going to college in the fall. With the help of our Council of Congregations, we prepare an Off to College Kit for each college-bound senior that includes all the necessities of dorm life, from sheets and towels to school supplies to study foods. Because the Off to College program has very specific needs, please contact Suzan Krauland at 412-361-5540 ext. 411 if you would like to participate.

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A Day at Camp

Each summer EECM's Summer Day Camp activities are geared toward character development, life skills for the 21st century, and developing etiquette and good manners. But in doing so, Summer Day Camp also includes lots of good fun! Each year 250 girls and boys ages 5-16 participate in sports clinics, arts and crafts, music, drama, dance, swimming, horse-back riding, bowling, roller skating, and field trips to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, UPMC Sports Center, Carnegie Science Center, Cedar Point, Kennywood, and more.

2008 Summer Camp will be held June 30 to August 1, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday - Friday. Rain or Shine.

Priority camp registration is given to residents of 15206, 15224, and campers from EECM Member Congregations.

Summer Day Camp Daily Schedule

9:00 - 10:30 ---- Clinic

(sports, dance, drama, crafts, etc.)

10:30 - 11:45 --- Worship

11:50 - 12:15 --- Lunch

12:15 - 12:40 --- Reflection

(on the message or theme from worship)

12:45 - 1:40 -- Art

1:45 - 2:40 -- Life Learning

(violence prevention, self image, anger management, etc.)

2:45 - 3:40 --- Recreation

(sports & team building activities/games)

3:45 - 4:00 -- Closing

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Bringing EECM to School

Quaker Valley High School (QVH) takes a very hands-on approach to learning about community needs. For the past eight years, QVH has operated a Service Learning Center. Seniors who participate in the Center receive elective credit for their volunteer efforts.

This year, the group wanted to address the issue of homelessness and poverty in Pittsburgh and to increase awareness among their peers and teachers about the problem. They decided to focus their efforts on EECM. According to student leader Merideth Dyer, “we wanted to see the difference we were making.” During the holidays, they organized a fundraiser for EECM’s homeless programs and also volunteered several times in our Hunger Programs, lending a helpful hand in the Food Pantry, Soup Kitchen, and Meals on Wheels programs.

One important activity was hosting a poverty simulation at their school. The purpose of the simulation was to provide individuals with a more personal understanding of poverty. Participants role-played the part of low-income individuals and families, according to an instruction packet they received. Working within predetermined parameters such as income and family needs, students interacted with one another and with volunteers representing community services to obtain food, shelter, and other basic necessities.

The Quaker Valley students are hoping to make the poverty simulation an annual event and to use it as a volunteer recruitment opportunity to get more students involved with EECM.

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Have a Heart for Hunger Results

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2008 Have a Heart for Hunger campaign. 261 individuals, businesses, congregations, and organizations donated $46,576 to EECM's Hunger Programs. Thanks to this outpouring of generosity, we were able to secure a matching gift of $30,000 from a very special anonymous donor, bringing the total raised to $76,576. This amount of money could provide:

More than 26,000 lunches at the Soup Kitchen

Meals on Wheel service for 40 clients for one year

Emergency groceries for almost 2,000 families

Operating funds for all of EECM's Hunger Programs for 2 months

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Past editions of the EECM news are available in pdf format.

Winter 2008

Fall 2007

Summer 2007