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August 2022
Dear <<First Name>>,
As the Summer draws to a close, we want to thank you for your support and prayers this past school year as Reaching Higher works to
Introduce True Hope to All Kids. Strengthen Families. Transform Communities.
After a crazy few years of adjustments, we feel that this past year at Reaching Higher is best captured by a comment from our Tulare 1AG site leader, Tammy Swanson... "It was the year of jubilee!" Indeed it was jubilant! As we hit reset on ministries, we created new structures and opportunities that allowed our mission to come to pass in new ways. Please read on to hear about the latest updates over at Reaching Higher and how you can continue to partner with us in ministry!
Thank you for your support,
Ty Davis
Executive Director
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After School Sites
We wrapped up our After School programs with the school year with a BBQ, parent/child softball game and water slide! A big thank you to our Site Leaders for showing up everyday to introduce the True Hope of Jesus Christ to our students: Tammy Swanson & Bri Beasley (Tulare 1AG), Jesselyn Perez & Robert Ramos (Meadow House). We averaged 32 kids between our two sites every day and relied on our wonderful volunteers to provide 1:1 support to students.
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A few highlights from this past year:
- 7 students went to Christ in Youth (CIY) camp at Biola at the end of June
- Donovan leading a music program for students at Tulare 1AG. They even wrote a song... listen here!
- The Financial Peace course wrapped up with each site collaborating on how to best spend $100 for their site!
- Installation of a wheelchair ramp at Tulare 1AG to make it accessible for all our students
- Neighborhood BBQ for families at the Meadow House
- Families starting to attend church at Tulare 1AG whose students go to Reaching Higher
- Field Trips to Top O' The Morn Farms and Correria Family Farm
Looking ahead:
- Building Update: We have received elevation plans and are waiting on approval from the city in order to continue steps in our building project. on the campus of Tulare Community Church
- Location Change: This fall, we have been asked to join in on the Tulare City Schools Extended Learning Opportunities Program. With that grant, we will be moving our Meadow House site to the campus of Mulcahy Middle School for the year.
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7-on-7 Football
What a great season we had! Thank you to head coach, Brent Beck, who lead our Junior High team to second place in the region made up of California, Arizona, Washington, and Nevada! And our high school team that made it into the first round of the "Best of the West" tournament. We will be taking a break until January, but if you are interested in joining our coaching team, please let us know!
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Family BBQs and Softball Games!
We had a great turn out at both the Family BBQ at our Meadow House after school site and our Parent/Child Softball Game at Tulare 1AG after school site!
We strive to not just provide hope to kids, but strengthen the entire family!
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Serving Families via CarePortal
Each CarePortal request is an opportunity for a local church to serve a local family in crisis. Recently, a family of three obtained their very first home, but they needed help furnishing it. Three churches worked together to provide beds, a kitchen table and chairs, couch, dresser, high-chair and some basic appliances. The mother was grateful for all of it, but it was the blender that she was most excited about! Now she can make her own baby food and salsas!
The county caseworker who submitted this request shared the following, "The families needs were great, but the kindness and service provided by Tulare Community Church were by far spectacular. They went above and beyond and even introduced my client to a local church member in her town. Thank you!"
In another request, a church responder from Radiant Visalia Church was able to provide clothing for a toddler boy who entered foster care and was placed with a local resource family, but had grown out of the clothes he had. The caseworker reflected, "The resource parent felt so supported. She called right after receiving the clothing donation and stated how amazing the donor was, they brought everything and more than what was asked for including a bouquet of flowers for her."
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CarePortal Impact in Tulare County
Since January 2021
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To celebrate this major milestone, we want to pay it forward to one of our community partners, Sleep in Heavenly Peace! SHP has provided countless beds to children in Tulare County over the past several years to ensure that "No kid sleeps on the floor in our town!"
Beds are the #1 requested item via CarePortal. In just 18 months, 131 beds have been provided to children in Tulare County via CarePortal and Sleep in Heavenly Peace has helped provide several of these beds!
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CarePortal Community Gathering
On April 22, church, agency and community leaders gathered for lunch at Sunrise Church for our CarePortal Community Gathering! We heard testimonies of the lives of children and families that have been impacted via CarePortal from Pastor John Fiscus, Faith Fighters church (pictured), Eefong See, a social worker for Tulare County HHSA (pictured), and Chad Valorosi and Lauren Gilfoy from Aspiranet, a Foster Family Agency.
We can't wait to gather again on September 22nd, 2022, to continue to celebrate the work God is doing in Tulare County through the CarePortal network!
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3 More Years!
We are excited to announce that our Tulare County Child Welfare Office (HHSA), has agreed to formally partner with CarePortal for 3 more years! After a 1.5 year trial period to try out CarePortal, the resulting impact was so great they were willing to invest in this platform. It is the commitment of our network partners that have proven CarePortal is truly a tool that can be trusted, utilized and relied upon to transform our community.
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Welcome to our new CarePortal Partners
Thank you to Rise Church in Visalia, Grand Avenue and First United Methodist Church in Porterville and Payton Construction for joining the CarePortal network to care for every child! View all current CarePortal partners here.
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New Reaching Higher Administrative Assistant
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We are grateful to welcome Liz Manonog as our Administrative Assistant to help lead communication, events, donor care and fundraisers.
Liz was born and raised in Delano, Ca. She attended Sacramento Job Corp where she obtained her Office Administration and Data Entry certificates. Liz volunteers at our Reaching Higher Tulare First AG site and shares her passion for arts and crafts with the students.
Contact Liz: liz@reachinghighertc.com
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New CarePortal Regional Manager
We continue to use CarePortal as a way to connect local churches with the real-time, vetted needs of children and families impacted by the Child Welfare System. As the network grows, so has our team! We are thrilled to introduce you to our new Tulare County CarePortal Manager, Kamrie Cadena.
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Kamrie joins us after 7 years as a social worker for Tulare County Child Welfare Services in the Emergency Response unit. She used CarePortal as a requesting agency, and now gets to support our churches, agency and business partners to use CarePortal in the field! Kamrie attends Tulare Community Church and is married to Jesse Cadena (also a social worker at CWS). Contact Kamrie: kamrie@reachinghighertc.com |
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How You Can Support Reaching Higher
As always, we cannot do this work alone. We are a community-funded organization and rely on the following forms of support from people like you.
- Pray - Pray for our staff and the families we are reaching. There is so much pain and hurt. It can be overwhelming at times, so please pray for energy and health.
- Volunteer - Our After School Sites rely on volunteers to love kids! You can sign up here.
- Share - The more people that know about Reaching Higher, the greater impact we can have in our community. Follow us on social media below and share our posts to help spread our mission.
- Give - Your generous financial support is what allows us to provide hope for the students who come to Reaching Higher. We invite you to partner in our mission by following the link below to make a financial donation.
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A monthly donation that makes an enormous impact!
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