1311 E. Reserve St. Vancouver, WA 98661
360-695-3681
vidasark.org
I cannot believe how quickly the school year flies by, and it seems that each
year it goes faster and faster. I have mixed emotions during this time; I go
from excitement and pride to, "oh no, I am not going to see my girls every
school day, and their children are going to forget who I am!" I don’t usually
brag, but during graduation season I become the proud mama and
grandma knowing that our program has often held the hands of our girls
and supported them in reaching their graduation day.
So while our newest resident, Kimberly Lares, stressed out about
completing her work to graduate (her advice to underclassman: DO NOT
PROCRASTINATE!), it truly did take a village to get her to that day! Her
school counselor, teachers, YoungLives mentor, parents, fiancé, our
housemom and board members; everyone in Kim's life rallied around her
with pom-poms, cheering her on and chanting, “You can do this! We see
the finish line and it is close!"
At the beginning of June, I was invited to Kimberly’s senior presentation.
The presentation includes writing a paper and designing a Power Point
slide-show telling their life story. They are required to present in front of a
panel of school faculty and staff. Whether students graduate or not
depends on their score from the presentation. I was nervous for Kimberly,
but if she was, too, it did not show. She started out with a photo of her
daughter, Dana (pronounced Donna) who is now two and a half, her fiancé
Moises and herself all huddled together. The picture of a perfect little
family! When looking at that photo, you never would have known that
when I met Kimberly three years ago she was a scared, shy fourteen year
old girl.
At that time, she came to sign up for the Teen Parent Program at Hudson’s
Bay. I asked her several questions and she nodded her head in one way or
the other, with no verbal replies. One of my questions was about how her
family reacted to finding out she was pregnant. She said her mom was
really mad and her dad stopped talking to her. The fact that she was
fourteen, almost fifteen, and pregnant was not the plan her family had for
their daughter. Kim was devastated to have “shamed” her family and to
not be able to have her Quinceanera, a Hispanic celebration when a girl
turns fifteen.
Her daughter, Dana, was born November 17, 2009. When I went to do a
home visit soon after her birth, Kimberly was very nervous about being a
young, new mom. She was afraid to take care of the baby but her mom
helped enormously, guiding her along, every step of the way.
Leaving her family was a huge decision for Kim, but she moved into Vida’s
Ark this past December. She felt that by living there she would get the
extra “nudge” she needed to graduate.
After graduation, Kim achieved another
goal in moving to Canby, Oregon, and on
August 25th she will get married. Come
Fall, she will attend Clackamas
Community College and start taking
classes to become a Surgical Technician.
We will all miss Kimberly and Dana, but
we have to keep remembering that our job
is to raise them up and let them go! And,
we take comfort in the fact that they know
their way back!
Thank you all for helping us support these
young families. Have a great summer!
- Julie Hanke
JUNE 2012
SAVE THE DATES:
- Visit www.vidasark.org or
call 360-695-3681 for more
information. -
September 29th: Golf
Tourney
-
December 8th: Annual
Holiday Open House
Vida’s Ark SPOTLIGHT
The Vida's Ark' Superheroes
have been at it again! Our housemom, Shelley Thornton, recently
went out of town to visit a
friend for a few days. While
she was away, the
Superheroes swooped in and
completely remodeled her
bathroom. The shower had
been in quite a state of
disrepair, but they re-tiled it
and replaced the light fixture
and shower head. They also
painted the walls lovely
shades of grey and purple!
When she got home, Shelley
was shocked! We are so
thankful for such a great
housemom, and we are glad
we could give her such a gift!
And, THANK YOU to our
Superheroes!
"You are the rainbows in somebody's clouds. There are children whose lives will be changed irrevocably because of
what you do or don't do."
~ Dr. Maya Angelou
THANK
YOU
It is because of the support
of generous community
members and organizations
that Vida's Ark can touch the
lives of young mothers. We
would like to thank the
following:
Motherhood artist, Katie M.
Berggren recently blessed us
with a donation collected
through her Saving Motherhood
Collector's Circle (SMCC).
Her beautiful paintings focus
on the "magnificence of
mother and child," and you
can view them at
kmberggren.com. You can
also sign up for the next
session of the SMCC! Thank you, Katie!
We love your work!
The Body Shop, located
in the Vancouver Mall,
has chosen Vida's Ark as
its local organization to
receive their products as
donation.
Thanks to The Body
Shop, young mamas all
over Vancouver are going
to be squeaky clean and
smelling good! Letter from the President
Hope Baker
Celebration > Definition - Noun: commemoration of occasion,
achievement, expression of approval Synonyms: acclamation,
acknowledgment, applause.
This is the word of the season! I have had the honor to
watch one of our residents, Kimberly, graduate. This was
emotional for me because she has fought long and hard, and she
persevered for that diploma. Kimberly got pregnant at fourteen,
had a baby at fifteen, and now is a Mom of a 2 ½ year old. Talk
about hard work all while earning her High School Diploma!
She was also the first in her family to receive a diploma, making
her somewhat of a Rock Star in her family! I am very proud of
her, and past residents, Lizbeth, Shaylie, and Chyna, who also
earned diplomas this month. This one thing is probably the
biggest indicator of their future success and they can now say
that they did it! If there ever was a question of what this program
at Vida’s Ark does, this is the answer…..we make graduates of
these moms!!!
Another honor I have had, recently, is
the opportunity to travel to Spokane to
watch Vida’s Ark’s Founder Julie Hanke
receive the Northwestern Regional
Ruby Award from Soroptimist
International. Previously, she had won
the Ruby Award from Soroptimist
International of Camas-Washougal for
improving the lives of women and girls
in our local community, and they
submitted her for the regional award
our local community, and they submitted her for the regional
award and she won! I am very proud of her, too! She is very
humble, and will be embarrassed of me mentioning it; like me,
she is very proud of the work done at Vida’s Ark. It is a blessing to
know that we have the support of our community and we are
making a difference in lives, and the stories in this newsletter are
proof!
Thank you, Salmon Creek
Kiwanis Club for your
donation and for volunteering
to clean up our backyard this
summer!
The Workout Crossfit is
donatingthe proceeds from
the Vancouver Fitness
Throwdown to Vida's Ark.
The event takes place on
August 4th. Please visit
theworkoutcf.com or contact
[email protected] for
more information!
Above: Vida's Ark resident,
Kimberly, with, from left,
Hope Baker, Julie Hanke,
and Shelley Thornton.
Left: Former residents
Shaylie (left) and her son,
Trevontae, and Lizbeth
(right) and her daughter,
Dyanne, with Julie Hanke