summer with reset - 2017

building relationships
sunday fun days

Over the summer Reset's team of mentors has been going into the Williamson County Juvenile Justice Center to spend quality time with the teens in long term placement (CORE).  Our Sunday Fun Days consisted of game days, basketball tournaments, movies, and soccer instruction.  This time spent with the teens has allowed mentors to not only bond with their mentees, but to forge new relationships with many other teens in the CORE program.  Relationship building is a fundamental component of our mentees' success.  For many of these teens there is little support waiting for them on the outside.  The good news is our weekend events have allowed us to connect deeply with many of our teens, enabling them to feel like they have a strong team of support ready to help at a moment's notice.  Read on to see how support was provided recently to one of our teens!

Monthly Partners Provide Long Term Support

One of the GREAT things about what God has called us to do is our Monthly Partners. With Monthly Partners we don't have to rely on grants and government funding to tell us who we can help and when. This really came into play this month when one of our teens (let's call him M) "aged out" of the Juvenile Justice System. On his 18th birthday his probation was complete and all forms of support aimed at juveniles completely stopped. He had been given an empty apartment with one month's rent paid and nothing else. Can you imagine -- eighteen years old, two credits short of graduating high school, a minimum wage job, and all of the adult responsibilities dropped onto your lap?  

As excited as M was about leaving the facility and starting his adult life, the mountain in front of him seemed insurmountable.  It didn't take the Reset family long to rally around M, after all, he had been part of the Reset family for over nine months -- serving at his local church, volunteering at single mom's oil changes, attending personal finance classes, and working hard to complete his high school education. We knew that M was the perfect candidate for Reset Mentoring's third step -- Long Term Support -- in which we support a teen after probation ends, after the teen "ages out" of every other system. Due to the support of our Monthly Partners, we are able to support  teens as long as they are working on their  "next best step."  Over the next few months M's mentor will be making sure he gets online to complete his high school education, also, we will assist him in opening a banking account and getting his driver's license. God hasn't forgotten M, and neither will we.  Here is what M had to say when we showed up in full force at his empty apartment:

Before I got out I was worried on not having furniture to go in my home.  By the grace of God the mentoring program [Reset Mentoring] blessed me and told me not to worry about anything that they would take care of it. So one day as I'm going through school my case manager comes to me and says we are going to do a home visit. I was surprised at what was there and was cheesing [that means smiling uncontrollably] the whole time.  When I saw everyone contributing to putting the furniture into my house it was amazing. I just wanted to scream because I was so excited.  I gave everyone hugs even the guys haha. But I was very grateful for Ms. Lorie, my mentor, and the Reset mentoring program for helping me out.  Thank you guys for everything!

Thanks to you, we can go above and beyond, not just giving a hand out, but building relationships, teaching life skills, and ensuring that the teens in our path have the tools they need to be successful in life.

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