[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Root Cellar Podcast.
We believe that God is at work restoring broken lives, families and neighborhoods around the corner in Lewiston and Portland, Maine, across New England and the world.
On this podcast we'll discuss what God is doing on our team at the Root Cellar through our partners in Maine, uh, and invite guests from away to share how God is at work among them, I'm your host, Joel Furrow. Thanks uh, for join.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: All by him by tempted and tried. I wonder why the good man dies bad man thrives in Jesus Christ cuz he loves them both. We're all cast away in need of rope Hanging on by the last threads of our hope.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: This week on the Rooteller Podcast, I got a chance to sit down with Alyssa McKay. She's our program manager in Lewiston and just does a great job overseeing a wide variety of programs. A lot of them you've already heard about. If you've been listening to the podcast, the Lou Crew, our English language learning programming, the path forward. There's so much that happens there and we're going to talk today about one of our favorite programs. It was really started way back when she started working for us for a couple hundred bucks for, for the summer and helped us start what we now know as Super Summer. It's a day camp for kids. Eight weeks of super ah, summer day camp really just impacts these kids in such a deep way. They are just part of a community that demonstrates the love of Jesus in every possible way. They learn a ton when they're part of this. They have an absolute blast. If you've ever been here in the summer, you know exactly what it feels like, you know what it sounds like. It's loud, it's fun. This is a fun conversation. We got a chance to sit down with her really in the midst of it. We're in week two, just finished up week two of Super Summer. That's two of eight.
I would highly encourage you to consider donating being part of this. It costs us about $10 a day per kid for the to run this program through the summer, through the entire eight weeks. And additionally we have ah, 35 teens through the Lou Crew program that are part of Super Summer. Part of our lawn care team cost us about $500 per summer to provide a first time job for one of our teens. It's an incredible return on a gift. Think about the, the ways that you can impact a life through these programs. If that interests you at all, jump on over to therootseller.org hit, hit the give button. We'd Love to have you join us.
Alyssa and I get a chance to talk about the ins and outs of the program, the way it was developed, but more importantly, kind of the heart behind it, the, uh, the real intention, the creativity that's, that's needed and, and how you can pray for us and be part of what God is doing through this program this summer. It's a great conversation. I don't think you're going to want to miss this one.
All right, we are live.
I'm so excited to be joined by Alyssa McKay here for our most recent episode of the Reseller podcast. Alyssa, how's it going?
[00:03:11] Speaker C: It's going well. How are you today?
[00:03:13] Speaker A: We're doing good. We've had just technical difficulties the last 20 minutes and had to change locations. Uh, we just, frankly, we just had, didn't have enough room at the Root Cellar in Lewiston and ended up at Redemption Hill, uh, Community Church down here off of Lisbon street and just are grateful for the extra support they're giving us today to make this possible. So thank you for taking a few minutes. Uh, we're really, really busy in Lewiston this week week and every week in the summer especially.
What's going on, what's going on in Lewiston at the Root Cellar today?
[00:03:45] Speaker C: Um, at the moment we have about eight different teen elective classes happening for our loo crew. We have three different levels of English classes happening and a number of conversation groups. And we are preparing for, in about 45 minutes to welcome over a hundred kiddos in for our summer day camp.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: Yeah, it is just, we are just jam packed in that building all day long right now. And this is part of a larger program that we offer that we just, we generally just call Super Summer. And it's pretty involved. There's a lot of moving pieces and, and I, I want you to tell us a lot about that in a minute. But what's interesting is that I think, you know, you're. You and I, our first interaction really at the Root Cellar happened to be in a little bit of a crazy situation. Large numbers of kids over the course of a week in the summertime, we did soccer nights.
[00:04:39] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: That was effectively our first, first foray, ah, into ministry together. Right.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: Yeah. Um, back about, um, 12 years or so ago, um, we adopted a model that had been used in Boston and some other cities, um, to put on a week long free soccer clinic for our community. And soccer's very popular in Lewiston, so they came out in number and in force.
Um, and that actually was when I really Started to love the children of downtown. And I just thought they were so fun and so special. So much energy and lots of resilience.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. That was, uh, really incredible to see you thinking back. I mean, 12 years ago we were, both of us were much younger. You're fresh out of college or maybe still in college. And I, uh, a good bit older, but had a lot more color in my hair than I do these days at the time. So, so much has changed since then. But that kind of love and attention and intentional approach to our programming with kids and our teens especially, ah, has remained the same and just grown and flourished. You know, we've kind of used summer as a time to try new things and kind of max the place out and see what we can get away with. See we can push the limits a little bit. And where has that landed? How is that? Uh, what's it, what's it like today? Tell us. Take us a little bit, take everybody into what's super summer like. What's a day in the life of Alyssa McKay in middle of, middle of June, July and August.
[00:06:18] Speaker C: Sure. Um, well, I'll try to keep my focus to the kids programming. Um, but the, the day starts early, um, in the morning with our staff, together with our teens, um, in the word of God. And we have a devotion time. It's completely optional and yet we still have about 20 of our 30, 35 Luke routines show up on any given day. Um, there's no incentive for them to be there other than for them to be, uh, spiritually filled with the bread of life. And so they come and join us early before their responsibilities begin for the day. And we just open the Word together. Um, we study, we pray.
And that is one of my favorite times of the day. It's so encouraging. I print the scripture out in the morning and to need to print 30 copies really is encouraging and exciting just to see the teens so hungry to learn more about Jesus.
Um, so we're in the Book of Acts this summer, which is really fun. After that we transition to a short breakfast time for the teens. And after that they hop into an icebreaker game, kind of get their blood flowing. We've had that game in place for a while and they seem to used to think that it was really early during the summer that they had to come to show up at 9 o' clock. So we started with a game, but now they show up at 8 o' clock and just by their own accord.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I jumped into that this morning just for the fun of it.
[00:07:51] Speaker C: Nice. Yeah. A little Kum chat. Kumcha.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Good times.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: That's a fun one. Um, after that, they go in anywhere from eight to 15 different directions, depending on which day it is, for different elective classes. So the teens right now are wrapping up college prep and readiness courses, videography electives, A, uh, fix it home and auto repair, home economics, healthy relationships, English learning. There's just. These are just a few of the classes that are happening this morning for the teens in many different directions. Joel wasn't kidding when he says our building is really full. We make classrooms out of any space that we can find. It's kind of like the whole your family grows and a kid ends up in the closet sort of situation. So our family has grown at the root cellar, and we have classes that end up in little nooks and little corners and off sites in our neighborhood.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: Yeah, our office is being used for. Yeah, it was used for, uh, the video editing elective. And then the. The kind of like communal office space is being used for college prep, uh, this morning. And there's just. There's absolutely no space. I mean, the Lewiston building is about 5,000 square feet, and we are just maxed out. I mean, how many teens are in. Are in part of lucre this summer?
[00:09:08] Speaker C: Ah, 36 teens.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: 36 right now. And they're all kind of going through this first time. Job experience, work experience. We talked a little bit about this in the previous episode with Damon, but what's the heart of Lou Crew, specifically in the summertime for you? How would you. Not just the elevator pitch for the. Or for the. For the program, but how?
[00:09:26] Speaker C: I'm. I didn't have a chance to listen to the podcast yet, but I am guessing Damon used the word family a lot. And that is the word that, um, our teens use all the time when describing the loot crew and, um, talking about it to their other friends, um, and just saying, like, sharing what the Lou Crew is all about. They describe the root cellar as their home. Uh, some say their second home, some say their first home. And it is just a place where they can learn who they are and be that person who God created them to be. That is the heartbeat of it. And it's so much fun. We play a lot. I know. Our tenants that I'm sure Damon talked about are work, play, grow and gather. And there's really hard work that happens. There's a ton of growth.
We're always gathering together. But the play is not something we take lightly. It's pretty fun.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: That's right. Well, they deserve some play too, every once in a while. I mean that they're, they're, they're earning that work. Uh, aspect this week, it's the real feel. Something like 103 degrees right now in Maine, which is.
[00:10:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: Significant for our climate.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: Yeah. So they're, we're working hard or kind of shepherding kids around in over a hundred degrees is no joke. But everybody knows that, that every single kid and leader in Super Summer today is going to get soaked. So there's various swimming field trips that are happening at three different locations and it's, it's going to be a day where we're going to find ways to stay cool.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, that's, it's, it's really incredible to see. I mean that started with just a few kids. I think we had like five doing lawn care. It must have been seven summers ago, seven or eight years ago now that we started and we started that and it's just, just ballooned into this year long. But just ramps up again in the summertime for just an incredible investment in the lives of teens for the kingdom and mentoring them for really all of that life has to throw at them. Uh, it's uh, if you get a chance to stop by the rotter Lewiston during the summertime, you are going to just meet some of the most incredible teens and really be blessed. Blessed by them. Uh, so we've got additionally after that. I mean this is. You just described the morning. That's all that was, was what's going on in the morning.
So we're headed close to lunchtime already at real time right now. Uh, uh, so what, what's, what's about to happen?
[00:11:40] Speaker C: Yeah. So we do have a little bit of a, a lunch break and every classroom in our building flips over during that time. In preparation for Super Summer, we were just talking about the lawn care elective. So in the afternoon we have in, in just the afternoon we have three different work experiences, experiences happening in some different places. Um, we have the lawn care that's off site servicing over 30 properties in downtown Lewiston. And then we have our, our teens actually teach English to adults, which is incredible. They have some sort of nerves in the beginning about teaching their aunties, their mamas, their grandmas. And then they just seem to grow in confidence and do a phenomenal job as children. True teachers. In previous years they have been group leaders and assistants, but this year, uh, we didn't have someone in the position to be a lead teacher for just more demand and more demand. So we had, um, there are 10 teens who are either English teachers or assistants on a rotation, um, teaching beginner English students as well. And then Super Summer. So the classrooms are preparing for four different pods or four different age groups. This is actually the first summer in. In 10 years of doing Super Summer day camp for kids that we've had to have four pods because so many children who have come as early as kindergarten or they started somewhere along elementary school, they want to keep returning.
Uh, and so we have a number of middle schoolers who are really interested as well. So It's K through 8th, and in three days of signups, we had 102 children sign up for Super Summer. Ah, usually we start with about 40, and it builds as summer goes on. And. And we might have 150, 160 kids sign up as the summer throughout the eight weeks. Um, but in three days we had 102. And it's been a couple more days now. So we're probably looking at about 125 children who will show up today, uh, with swim clothes in hand and just ready for incredibly fun afternoon.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: That's awesome. Talk. Talk a little bit about how you. You're so thoughtful and intentional about program development and specifically, I mean, all year long, but specifically in the summer, you just get. I think you get a little extra creative, some of the sunshine that. That extra creativity of Alyssa shows up. What is the kind of your goal in. In this, then? What's the heartbeat of Super Summer? It's not just fun. I mean, there's. It's a blast. There's a ton of things that they get to do that's incredible. But there's. There's some. There's some deeper impact that I know is kind of behind this.
[00:14:23] Speaker C: Yeah. First all, I like the little sunshine. Shout out for the creativity. I'm from Southern California originally, and that's actually where my kind of like, church camp days started. So I started in seventh grade as a volunteer counselor at a camp called Kids Games in Southern California, which had some of the same aspects as Super Summer. So not just the Bible stories and crafts and snack and a little game like, um, like a traditional VBS would, but multiple weeks of building relationship and really investing in the children and the things that they are interested in doing, expanding their opportunities and possibilities of, uh, what they get to experience in a main summer, which is an amazing place to spend a summer, as many people know. So I would say the. The heart behind Super Summer and the intention of Super Summer is really looking at how the kiddos can grow or be given the opportunity to grow in spiritual, social and economic wholeness. So it's looking at those spiritual aspects. This year our theme for our Bible stories is Jesus's miracles. So that's really exciting. Over the 32 days of super summer, we're looking at 32, um, of his miracles. And we've already been inspired just starting week two here.
Um, um, so it's those opportunities to grow in what the Lord has for the children, but also that social wholeness. They compete on teams and they really learn how to be a team and have teamwork and work through conflict. I have a mentor who says that sports have, and competition have the potential to build character, but they absolutely bring out character. So we work through all of those moments, um, really work on conflict resolution and cooperation and kind of seeing how God can bring the fruit of the spirit out in children through, through these competitions. And then economic wholeness for a kiddo, looks like learning, which is really important over the summer. I call it sneaky learning because they do, they do reading and that they know is reading. It's their reading time and they love it. They have a lot of books that they just get to dive into, but they also do a lot of math, a lot of problem solving, a lot of science, a lot of social studies. And that's a little more sneaky because it always goes with a theme.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Awesome. So there's a lot of academic approach to the. I mean, it's, it's all around. It's a, it's an all around approach for these kids. Uh, you know, the. I love the. I mean, that's part of our mission statement. Cultivating social, economic and spiritual wholeness. You know, those words are so important to us. And it's not that we're focused on one more than the other per se, but we see those things. It's just so essential to what it means to really follow God, love our neighbors as ourselves, to see the kingdom come in this community. What would that actually look like? And, uh, it really does.
You know, I think Super Summer gives us just a beautiful taste of it. Uh, do you have, do you have anything, any specific, maybe memory or, or part of Super Summer that just really stands out to you? That's like, this is. This is it.
[00:17:37] Speaker C: Um, so one thing that pops into my head is field trips, because I think when you talk to the kids about that, that's something that they bring up. Um, the kids go on an average of three field trips per week, which is a lot, um, all at different times. Kind of rotating through with their age group or their team. But really probably the most special memory, and it's funny you use that word memory, um, is just listening to the kids who bury scripture in their hearts. Um, so over the last couple years, um, they have memorized, uh, different parts of Ephesians 4 and Ephesians 6 and they're kind of on the seven year track to learn the whole book of Ephesians and they really commit it to memory. So this year so far they've already learned four verses.
Um, and they are dedicated to it. They, they do it for a team and they do it because, um, I think they really see a sense of achievement of like, wow, I had no idea I could memorize something like this. And they work at it every single day, multiple times throughout the day. Um, um, and then I think they do it because they've even had moments of applying it to their lives. So something so special to me has been, I can think of a moment even about back in April, so about two months ago, um, that there was, uh, a child who was talking to me about something that had happened at school. And he was just telling the story of what was going on. And then in that moment he connected it to the memory verses from two summers prior because it was totally stored in his heart and then was able to still recite, um, the chapter of Scripture that he had memorized two summers before and apply that to his life and what he was seeing at school and struggling with. So that is incredibly special.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Absolutely. It really is.
So the impact of Super Summer on a kid, obviously the hiding God's word in your heart and when they're old, they, they won't turn from him. You're kind of literally seeing that at play over the years.
Just a, um, an incredible investment in the life, in their life. Uh, got a ball. Go right across the screen. There we go. If you're, if you're not watching this, you are missing out. John's made an appearance. There's been a ball that's gone across the screen. It's uh, it's, it's good times.
So one of the things that I, uh, really appreciate about super, uh, Summer is that it's large in scale and yet there is just this really deep impact. That's, that's, that's part of it. There's a. Obviously you are not, um, I mean you're, you're, you're kind of a Jill of all trades type of type, type of gal, but for sure, you know, all of those electives Aren't necessarily. You know, we don't have. You're not the expert in all of those electives, you know, so talk a little bit about. Talked about Lou Crew. We've talked about the kid, the kids that are being impacted. But what's the. Or who are the other people that are helping us make this happen? I mean, that's. That's too many kids for our. Our staff of effectively four people in Lewiston. You know what? Who else is making this possible?
[00:20:47] Speaker C: Yeah. We are so grateful for our volunteers.
So grateful. So our volunteers come through many different avenues. Traditionally, when we think about volunteers for Super Summer, we think about our mission teams because they're a really big part of it. The mission teams from all across the country, some travel really far, um, some from New England, and they come and play a really special role in Super Summer, Just getting to witness a one week of what God is doing in Lewiston out of 52 weeks of ministry through the root cellar and just the Lord bringing his kingdom. So that's a really fun piece of it. Our kids enjoy getting to meet new people from different places. They remember them from year to year, which is really cool, especially when the mission teams return. But that's just one. One piece of it. And this summer, we don't have very many mission teams, so we've got to see some of our other groups of volunteers really shine. And what that has looked like is local churches rallying just to have people, whether they could come out for a few hours of the entire summer or maybe a few hours once a week. A lot of youth enjoy working with kids. That's fantastic. Exciting.
And our teens, obviously are, um, really the glue because they are our squad leaders. So they're in charge of each of the eight groups of children, um, keeping track of them, counting them so many times throughout the day, like any given teen might be counting to 16, just 30 times in a given day to make sure all their kids are accounted for, um, to really get to know them. The kids look up to the teens so much.
And then we have our, um, adult volunteers from our neighborhood, many of whom are in need of volunteer hours in exchange for a housing voucher or a. A food voucher supplement program. But they love the children as well, and many of them say, I want to volunteer more hours than I'm required to.
We do a debrief at the end of every day where we all circle up every different group, staff, summer interns, mission teams, teens, church volunteers, ga, fed cap, whoever we have who worked for the day we Debrief with everyone all together, um, and talk about some highlights from the day, give some shout outs, talk about challenges and pray through them together.
And during that time, there have already been tears shed even in the first week by people just being touched by people sharing. Some of our GA, uh, volunteers sharing about how much they love the program and love working with the kids alongside us and are just witnessing a different approach to working with children, an empowering approach to working with children. And they're really moved by it and they're all in being a part of it. And they obviously have kind of that cultural broker aspect that, that they're bringing it being from the community and a lot of the similar backgrounds as the children who are in Super Summer. So they have added something tremendous to the program. And then I just gotta talk about the staff slash, like staff extended. Because in the summer who we consider our staff grows. We have interns who volunteer for year long terms and then some who join them for about 10 weeks in the summertime. And they're incredible. They're amazing. They're just pouring out, pouring out, filling up with the love of God and giving away whatever they have of that on any given day. So they're the ones who are sitting down for long conversations, sometimes challenging conversations in restorative justice. Uh, they're the ones who are saying, all right teens, line up your squad. It's time to rotate to the next activity. Because any given kid is, is going to do, um, 10 different activities in the day. And they, as well as the teens are building these consistent relationships. That's something that's so essential to Super Summer, something that we wouldn't be able to do to the same extent if we just had like a big hurrah over the course of a week or if we had just a couple hours during the day.
We're spending four and a half hours each day, um, with the children over the course of eight weeks. And that is a time where you really build a strong relationship and a strong bond. Making memories together, together.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: M. That's incredible.
What you're describing is just really a great example of one of our values. Uh, we, the word we use is interdependence.
And uh, there's so many people at work in the middle of Super Summer to make it possible. English programming, you're also seeing a lot of crossover between.
You're talking about our teens working in English classes, our adults in the Path Forward program, uh, helping in Super Summer. And they're actually learning together as part of the jobs program. This Summer as well. There's so much crossover and kind of synergy. There's a kind of a multi, um, generational, uh, community that's not just being served, but is actually finding a role and place and responsibility in that.
How would you describe that? You know, we experience that kind of daily, but I think it's kind of unique to a lot of people to see, uh, the combination of the people being served are also the people that are really have a lot of responsibility in it. How do you see God at work in the midst of that? What's the. What does that really kind of look like on the ground level? How could you explain it to somebody that isn't familiar with this idea?
[00:26:20] Speaker C: Sure. I don't think it is, um, easy to explain. I think it's something that we encourage you to come and experience.
But what I would just add to what you're describing is, um, I really do feel like it is a representation of the Kingdom of Heaven. Uh, not only because when we sit around that circle and we look at who volunteered and who labored alongside each other for the day, we're looking at 10 to 15 plus nations represented in one unified workforce with the common goal of showing the love of God to these children. But also I think that that really reminds us on a daily basis that it's not our work, it's God's work.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: The Root Cellar engages neighbors and volunteers to cultivate social, economic, and spiritual wholeness as part of God's kingdom.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: We are able to do this work.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: Thanks to generous individuals like you, to volunteer, make a gift, or learn more.
Join us
[email protected] all right, so if you're still watching, thank you for still watching. And also we had some connectivity problems. This, uh, is, uh, about 48 hours in between recordings, maybe, uh, a little less, a little more. And during which time I got a haircut and we changed locations. Hopefully we both changed clothes so we look different, but we're just going to pick up wherever we left off. Alyssa, thank you for your flexibility.
That's good stuff. So we were talking, you were describing the many roles that so many different groups play.
Um, our teens, our volunteers, our staff, uh, the many, the general assistance workers through our Path Forward program. And we started talking about one of our values, interdependence and how that actually looks and what it feels like for a lot of people. I've kind of experienced when we described this, that, uh, it's kind of a new idea for them that they haven't really seen actually work. Or seen other organizations have a commitment to it. But this idea that the people that we serve also have a role and responsibility to play in the programming that we put on, they have a, they're not just being served, but they have an important role to play. So for someone that's kind of new to this idea, how would you describe it? What does it look like?
[00:28:50] Speaker D: Uh, I would just say that I love the way it plays out. It's a similar concept to, uh, what has been mentioned about the Loo crew is it plays out like a family where we all really need each other.
And I think that that's the reality.
I think that's the truth. And sometimes we might be deceived, whether we're deceiving ourselves or what's going on, um, into maybe feeling like we're just needy and we just need others or, um, that we're just needed and we get to just save and help people or whatever, um, that may be. And I think it can be tempting to fall off the horse one side or the other, but the reality is that we were created to live interdependently. And that goes for just about everyone who we interact with. There might be some situations where there's truly a person of need.
[00:29:44] Speaker C: I think of my one year old.
[00:29:46] Speaker D: And there is, you know, they, they are in need and there's somebody who's needed in that situation.
But most of our relationships actually are, uh, we need each other and that is how God designed us. He didn't design us to live by ourselves. He designed us to live in community. And so I think what's playing out is just a reality of how we were created and it functions like a family.
[00:30:10] Speaker C: And I would just add to that.
[00:30:12] Speaker D: That I think when.
[00:30:16] Speaker C: You, I think.
[00:30:17] Speaker D: Both roles can they just feel better when they are functioning interdependently. So sometimes it can feel really good when someone helps you. You know, you need help and you receive that help. And that just feels like a blessing, like God's provision through someone else. But we all know that it also feels really good to help others.
Um, and that's because that's what we are designed to do. To use our gifts and to play a part in the body. We each have a different role. The roles might not be the same, but we, we all contribute and we all have a different role. And it might even extend, you know, the biblical metaphor that all those roles are really essential and really important, even if they're different. That, you know, I'm sure it's common to mention, like the pinky toe is needed, just like the head is needed, um, because it's pretty painful to walk around without the pinky toe. And I think that that is what plays out in super summer and at the root cellar when we're just working interdependently and the same families, even kiddos, teens who are being served, are actually serving.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: Yeah, there's so much of that in the New Testament that we see with the way that the apostles, the writers, especially Paul, describes the early church, the way it's described in Acts as well. The different levels of economic position in society, the different types of people, the diversity of backgrounds. There's def. Obviously racial diversity and ethnic diversity happening. There's different roles that people have to play, and they're all kind of involved in this. And I think family's the right word. Uh, they're. They're living so much like a family. You know, Jesus even describes, you know, his own ministry like, hey, this is my family now. Not my, Even my biological family, but this is my family. The people that I'm on mission with, you know, serving with teaching. So it's one of the things that just really takes form to. Takes on, like, kind of flesh and bonus. And it's a real true idea that is kind of, you know, you get to live it out, live in that idea. Uh, you know, almost every day.
Some of our volunteers, especially when they first get here, and I think some of the people that come and interact with us, maybe that aren't as familiar with the root seller. It's hard. It was, It's. It was hard for me to Even years ago, just to kind of grab onto it. And still, I still get reminded of this over the years that I kind of come in with this assumption that the people that we're serving need me more than I need them.
Uh, that somehow I'm the one that's here to fix the problem.
Uh, and, uh, it's funny, we've been reviewing some of our old handbook stuff that, uh, goes Back to like 2003. And the language that's in there is just. It's really interesting. The root cellar volunteer, uh, is supposed to be from outside the downtown and supposed to be this. And supposed to be this, like, thriving Christian from the church that's outside and supposed to come in and help the people that are in the downtown. And that's just so different from what you're describing.
Uh, and, and I think sometimes people have a hard time with, with even grasping, well, what's that all? What's that all about what have you seen, what have you experienced, maybe personally, and then also in, uh, your own life over the years. And then with our, uh, volunteers or staff, like, what are some. What's some of the harder things that we struggle with, with this whole complex that, you know, we're the ones that are here to kind of fix the problem. What do you think kind of gets in the way, maybe. What's gotten in the way for you? What's gotten in the way for other people?
[00:33:34] Speaker D: Yeah, I would, I would just say our pride.
[00:33:37] Speaker C: It's really tempting to desire to be.
[00:33:40] Speaker D: The one who is a part of the solution, um, and never part of the problem.
It's really tempting to find our worth and helping others and not realizing that our ability to do that comes from God. And it's really tempting to keep other people in a place below us in whatever regard that might be. And one way that that happens or that we do that is by not allowing them to help us and by just being the helper. And it's terrible. It is a part of our sinful flesh and a part, a part of our pride.
Um, maybe our desire to be like God instead of submitting to how amazing he is, not just in the ways that he's gifted us to, but in the ways that he has gifted the people around us.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: That's good. That's good. It's a great perspective. Um, so we talked a lot about Super Summer. Um, one of the key roles is, uh, I think that we see a lot of people play and we're. We're actually down on our numbers this summer. We're having to make up for it in different ways, but as mission teams, because you talk just really briefly the impact of mission teams and then the opportunity, you know, and if you're thinking about a mission trip, there's still, it's still. There's still time in the summer, but there's also next summer to even start planning for.
[00:35:06] Speaker D: Yeah, we love our mission teams. I mentioned them as an essential part of our volunteer base. And, and like you say, we're. We're down on our numbers this summer. Um, um, and we have just been praying for God to provide through other means. And he has one of those ways has been through. Through more and more of our neighbors who've m. Just been able to give time and have just really demonstrated their love for the children.
But our, uh, mission teams are so much fun. They come in just for a week, and the kids love that. The kids love meeting new people, the excitement of someone else Here, who is there to pour attention out for them, to pour love out for them, who has just a bunch of energy to play games and different, uh, life perspective. They've come from somewhere else in the country. That's interesting to the kids. So our kids really enjoy mission teams, and our teens really enjoy making those connections with other youth. And we look forward to having more mission teams the rest of the summer and in years to come. And definitely encourage you to join in the spirit of what we're talking about at interdependence.
I will share that I do communicate to youth pastors. A lot of our mission teams are youth. We also have a good number of intergenerational teams, and they're both really fun.
Um, but I communicate to the leaders of these trips that the impact is going to be significant. The impact that the people coming play is significant.
We have kids who ask about people who came on mission trips, uh, for multiple years prior, and they remember those participants names, those volunteers, a little bit about their stories more than I do. But the kids formed a special bond with them, and they still ask in the same way. I hope that the people who were on the mission team still remember those specific kids and their names and are still actively ministering to them by praying for them, even after it's been a number of years.
[00:37:08] Speaker C: And we've actually had some cool stories.
[00:37:10] Speaker D: Of mission team participants who came as youth, grew up, became youth pastors, and are now bringing their churches.
[00:37:18] Speaker C: We have multiple of those stories, which.
[00:37:20] Speaker D: Is really cool, but that. So the impact is significant, but it's also limited because a mission team comes for one week, and we are here 52 weeks a year, um, year in, year out, as long as the Lord wills. And they don't need to play any kind of role of saving our kids or, uh, like, that's the Lord's work. They're just plugging in and getting to know. And so that interdependence really plays out.
And I, I do express to trip leaders, you're gonna, you're gonna leave an impact. It's gonna matter. But the greater impact is pretty much surely to be on the participants. And so there's some growth that happens in our neighbors from those relationships, but there's sometimes leaps and bounds of growth that happen in the people who come and experience that trip.
[00:38:07] Speaker A: And one of the things I love about our mission trips, mission teams and their experiences here, um, you know, it's not really the traditional mountaintop experience. I think that a lot of places get where you, you come, you know, you come away with this, you know, wow, I did something amazing. It's more like, no, I made. Met amazing people and I was impacted by them. And, um, and I, I would selfishly say that's. That's our staff. You guys are amazing. You're those. Part of those. It's also our neighbors.
And that's, that's what they. They are just incredibly, uh, impacted by what God is doing through them. Uh, and. And being blessed by them. It's a. It's a really, uh, really impactful, you know, four and a half.
Four and a half days. Uh, so if that's something that interests you, there is great, a lot of great information about this on our website, the.org and, uh, we'd love to have you join us next summer. Or we've got, uh, what, six weeks left. There's room. We'd love for you to jump on in.
Alyssa, any. Anything else you'd like to maybe share about some of the current needs of, of our Super Summer programming, but our youth programming, youth mentoring programming in general and how people can get involved?
[00:39:12] Speaker D: Yeah, um, first need I would love to mention would be prayer. The more that we've seen this amazing impact in our neighborhood, even just in the last two weeks, the more we've also felt just spiritual resistance and heartache and challenges, different instances of violence in our neighborhood, uh, different people outside of our programming who have tried to come in and just negatively influence things. So we have had some challenges. And I just ask that you pray for us. Pray for protection. Pray for our kids, our teens or adults that as God continues to move that. That he would protect the work that he's doing from the schemes of the enemy. I also would love for people to consider financial support. One thing, one of the impacts of not having mission teams has been there have. Has been less donations and financial support that has come in that usually comes in from mission teams. Additionally, we have put more money out to pay our teen leaders to. To fill more of those roles that the volunteers usually do. And so that adds up. They are just working extremely hard for a small stipend. Um, but there are a lot of them and we need. We need a lot of them. Additionally, one of our vans blew a transmission.
[00:40:31] Speaker C: And it's such a core part of our Super Summer to and Lou Crew.
[00:40:36] Speaker D: Experience to be able to go on field trips. So we've been working really creatively in switching up groups and changing schedules to be able to still give kids those opportunities. But it has been more challenging, especially with the numbers with Over. At this point, over 125 kiddos signed up. We would love for them all to be able to participate and to be able to go on field trips. So if you have a van and you want to bring it to Maine and leave it here, like a 15 passenger. So that'd be amazing. If you want to give financially to help us with that repair or to get a new one, that would also be really great. And if you're local, I would also just add summer camp supplies. Like our kids love rollerblades. We only have a limited amount. They love bikes and scooters. They need helmets. They love doing all sorts of crafts. And we need craft supplies and things as simple as markers and glue.
So if there is a fun game or activity or art supply that you would want to drop off, would welcome that as well.
[00:41:35] Speaker C: Used is great.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we've uh, kind of looked at the numbers on that too and roughly, you know, $500 supports a teen job for the summer.
It's, it's uh, even a little less than that will, will help us along the way to keep. Make sure that kid has an opportunity with us. And they're playing really integral roles in what we do. And so it, that number, that dollar amount isn't just for that teen. It's, it's also impacts the kids they're serving in Super Summer. Obviously. It's, it. There's, there's significant impact with those dollars. So you know, it, you can look at that. It's something like, um, you know, for Super Summer, we look at with our numbers this summer, our budget, it's like $10 a day.
It uh, keeps a kid in Super Summer. Uh, it's really affordable. You're talking about, you know, less than $50 a week.
Um, and uh, is what it comes down to. So really an amazing, um, um, bang for your buck in terms of investment in the kingdom and a child's life. Uh, so we greatly appreciate any support you could offer in that for that program would be, would be incredible.
So Alyssa, thank ah, you so much for your time and um, what you do, the incredible amount of things that you carry and uh, the way God's. You've allowed God to kind of work through you.
It's an honor to be partnered with you and I'm excited for everybody to get a glimpse of what's happening this summer.
[00:43:00] Speaker D: Thanks for having me on the podcast.
[00:43:05] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Root Cellar podcast. This ministry depends on the faithful giving of individuals just like you.
For us, it's an honor to be partnered with so many in the work of loving our neighbors. When you give monthly, you create jobs for teens, mentor children, welcome immigrants, and expand God's kingdom in our cities.
To learn more, volunteer or make a gift, join
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[00:43:45] Speaker B: So cheer up my my brothers live in the sunshine uh Will understand this all by him Ah tempted and tried I wonder why the good man dies Bad man thrives in Jesus cries Cuz he loves them both we're all cast away Zim Need a rope Hanging on by the last threads of our hope In a house a mirror full of smoke, confusion, illusions I've uh seen but where did I go wrong? I sang along to every chorus of the song that the devil wrote Like a piper at the gate Leading by some men down to their fate Some will courageously escape the seductive voice with a heart of faith While walking line back at home there's so much more to life than we've been told is full of beauty that will unfold and shine like you struck gold my wayward son the dead weight burden weighs a ton I'll go down to the river and let it run Wash away all the things you've done Forgiveness all right.
