Easter Chicks at New Life this Saturday

Easter will arrive ahead of schedule at the New Life Children’s Center in Canyon Lake. The ladies from  ACTS Church Lakeway are bringing Easter to the girls this Saturday, March 9^th.  The Canyon Lake Chapter Chicktime volunteers will share the true story of Easter with the girls through music and crafts … and jelly beans!

The mother/daughter service group “Chicktime” is very active and involved at New Life, and every month they host creative activities at the Center. Chicktime encourages the New Life girls through fun projects that bring a bright spot to their lives, and leave them with some new skills and the knowledge that someone truly cares about them.

Chicktime always welcomes new volunteers and is a great way to get involved and make new friends while enriching the lives of the troubled young women at New Life. To learn more, call or email New Life Director of Volunteers Lisa Brown:  lisa.brown@lsss.org; 830-964-4390.

Rodeo Day at New Life

Cowgirl up! Saturday, February 9th is going to be a morning of cowgirl fun (8:15am to noon) at New Life Children’s Center  in Canyon Lake, when Chicktime  volunteers will be in the saddle leading the New Life girls through a barnful of activities.

Plans for the girls include learning trick roping, making cowgirl crafts, taking vintage cowgirl photos, and helping to cook up some Texas burgers and hot dogs for lunch.

Many of the New Life girls have already discovered their inner cowgirls, while helping out with the animals in the Serenity Barn and showing the mini horses at horse shows and fairs. Caring for the animals teaches the girls responsibility and brings out their tender sides –a kind of ranch hand therapy.

Chicktime is a volunteer organization that brings together groups of women using their unique gifts in the service of others. Chicktime-New Life encourages the girls at the Center through structured interaction and fun monthly projects like Rodeo Day, to bring a bright spot into their lives.

Chicktime always welcomes new volunteers! If you’re in Central Texas and want to make a difference in the lives of the troubled young women (ages 11-17) at New Life, Chicktime is a wonderful way to get involved and make new friends. To learn more, call or email New Life Director of Volunteers Lisa Brown:  lisa.brown@lsss.org; 830-964-4390.

As Dale Evans, actress and wife of movie cowboy Roy Rogers famously said, “It’s the way you ride the trail that counts.”

It’s Career Time at New Life!

Saturday, November 10^th, 8:15 am to 12noon, a Chicktime team will be filling the morning with important information for the 80 girls at New Life Children’s Center in Canyon Lake.

The girls will learn the basics of:

· budgeting,

· finding a career

· filling out a job application and rental application

· creating a resume

· the interview process

The New Life girls, ages 11-17, all with histories of abuse and neglect, rarely have support to learn these important skills when they leave the New Life campus. Chicktime hosts a variety of enrichment activities like this one, to help them overcome their emotional burdens and learn skills for leading a healthy and productive lifestyle.

To learn more about joining in and helping out with Career Time, please contact Pam Vandermey-Collins at pvandermey@yahoo.com for more details.

My Life So Far – Poem by a New Life Girl

The following poem was written by a young lady who has lived at New Life Children’s Center in Canyon Lake for the past nine months. A judge sent her to New Life after she was arrested and jailed for assault and battery. Like so many New Life residents, she arrived with a chip on her shoulder and a past full of pain. Anna (not her real name) has come a long way. She loves to write and read poetry, and the following poem tells her story, and how God and New Life have changed it.

I remember my past like it was yesterday

I remember my mom, always working, every day

Growing up was hard, gotta cook, gotta clean

I felt like I was the mother taking care of my siblings and me

So I started to drink and smoke to ease all the pain

It worked for awhile till I started to go insane

Went to jail 5 or 6 times and thought my life was done

Then I came to New Life and found my life again

Now I look forward to the future and forget about the past

I found a new life and with Jesus – it will last!

Trying hard and persevering to make my family proud

Sticking to my morals while others follow the crowd

Standing strong, gaining respect, earning trust and staying true

Building blocks and paving paths and growing up is hard to do

I never thought my pain would go away as I despaired

So I’d like to say a thank you to all of those who cared!

F.R.O.G. Day at New Life

Saturday, October 13^th is going to be a morning of froggy fun (8:15am to noon) at New Life Children’s Center in Canyon Lake, when Chicktime volunteers jump in to lead the New Life girls through a pondful of activities.

Why FROG Day? F.R.O.G actually stands for “Fully Rely On God,” and plans for the day include such non-amphibious activities as cupcake decorating, drum circle, crafts, and crocheting.

Lots of different croaks for different folks!

Chicktime is a great way to get involved and make new friends, while enriching the lives of the troubled young women (ages 11-17) at New Life. If you’re interested in volunteering at New Life with October Chicktime, contact leader Carolyn Boden at Carolyn@bodenhaus.comor 512-266-6808.

Dig ‘em!

New Life Summer Olympics 2012

It might not have had the pomp of London’s opening and closing ceremonies, a performance by the Spice Girls, or Her Majesty the Queen helicoptering in with James Bond, but the 2012 Olympics held at New Life Children’s Center in Canyon Lake gave participants every reason to feel like winners.

The New Life girls competed in some traditional and not-so-traditional Olympic events. Along with volleyball, basketball, softball, soccer, flag football, track relays, and kickball tournaments, they also earned medals for ‘Best Sportsmanship’ and ‘Most Anti-Drama.’

At the closing ceremonies, first through fifth-place medals, ribbons, and certificates were awarded in each event.  The Summer Olympics at New Life were highlighted by many “personal bests” and the proud girls who make up our own royal family.

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It’s Carnival Time at New Life

The September Chicktime event is shaping up to be lots of fun – for the girls at New Life Children’s Center and the Chicktime volunteers coordinating the carnival, scheduled for Saturday, September 8^th (8:15am to noon) at New Life’s Canyon Lake campus.

The carnival will have many of the trappings you would expect to find at a carnival or state fair, including:

• Dunking Booth

• Photo Booth

• Moon Bounce

• Cotton Candy

• Popcorn

• Clowns & lots more!

New Life even has its own animal menagerie in the Serenity Barn, although they won’t be on parade!

Paula and Haylee Oliver are the mother/daughter team coordinating and hosting the carnival. The Olivers are faithful Chicktime volunteers who serve at New Life monthly.

If you’re interested in volunteering with Chicktime, step right up and join the fun at the Carnival!

Chicktime is a great way to get involved and make new friends, while enriching the lives of the troubled young women (ages 11-17) at New Life. To learn more, call or email New Life Director of Volunteers Lisa Brown: lisa.brown@lsss.org; 830-964-4390.

Princesses for a Day: Chicktime Brings Hope + Fun to New Life Girls

The service group “Chicktime” is hosting a special volunteer event at New Life Children’s Center Saturday, August 11^th, with leader Lora Williams guiding the activities – to include discussion about making good decisions along with beauty tips and “Princessy” things.

Lora Williams can relate. Her life growing up was very similar to the backgrounds of the girls at New Life. She is the founding leader of the Chicktime San Marcos chapter and volunteers extensively as a mentor and life coach with the girls in the Gary Job Corp program.

Lora is a walking success story of intervention, and she has dedicated her life to showing young women that there is life after abuse. Lora put herself through school, is now a Registered Nurse, and is still continuing her education. Lora is the founding leader of World Vision’s Austin Women of Vision chapter. She advocates “locally and globally for better laws to protect marginalized women and children on planet earth.” She also has a heart for Kenya and works to alleviate the suffering in that country through fundraising and raising awareness among local churches.

Chicktime volunteers needed and appreciated!

Chicktime is a grass roots movement created to serve the next generation, by bringing together groups of women using their unique gifts in the service of others. Chicktime New Life encourages the girls at the Center through structured interaction and fun projects every month that bring a bright spot into their lives.

Chicktime always welcomes new volunteers! If you’re in Central Texas and want to make a difference in the lives of the troubled young women (ages 11-17) at New Life, Chicktime is a wonderful way to get involved and make new friends. Chicktime is a “no-commitment” organization so if someone only comes once just to check out New Life, that’s okay. Chicktime appreciates any and all opportunities to show off the work New Life does to help these deserving girls! Interested? To learn more call or email New Life Director of Volunteers Lisa Brown: lisa.brown@lsss.org; 830-964-4390. Enjoy the video!

Got Worries? New Life Girls Make a Doll for That

Helen Peck, a 13-year-old Girl Scout and 8^th grader from Austin, is working on her Girl Scout Silver Award project, and she recently brought her great idea and excellent organizational skills to New Life Children’s Center. If you are not familiar with a Girl Scout Silver Project, it is a big, sustainable project a girl plans, leads, and implements to help out her community. 

Helen attended a “We Are Girls Conference” in Austin and went to a “Kiss Your Worries Goodbye” class where girls get to make miniature dolls out of pipe cleaners and scrap cloth materials. As they each create their own unique doll, they make a special connection with it, and the doll becomes a sort of diary replacement that a girl can tell her private troubles, worries, and special moments to—actually saying these things aloud instead of keeping them locked up inside. This is especially appealing to girls who don’t like journaling (or writing in a diary) or for those who have trouble with writing.

So Helen wanted to set up a worry doll program in a place that helps girls. A place like New Life. Helen thought of New Life because she knew her church (St. Paul Lutheran Church in Austin) makes quilts and has donation collections for the New Life girls. She made several example dolls, and offered to coordinate the initial set-up with all materials and hold a workshop to teach the girls how to make the dolls and the staff how to teach the process.

We loved Helen’s idea, but because of some of the behaviors of our residents, we would be unable to use the pipe cleaners.  We have girls here who are self-harmers so we don’t allow anything sharp, metal or pointed.  So Helen proposed using Wikki Stixinstead of pipe cleaners to make the worry dolls, The Wiki Stix can be bent and posed like pipe cleaners, but they don’t have wires inside. This was an excellent solution because they are sold in many stores and are inexpensive to boot. With Wikki Stix, the girls can also use their creativity to make accessories and extras to go with their dolls, like dogs, cats, purses, earrings, sunglasses, and necklaces. 

The class allowed the girls to be creative, watch their own doll come to life, and then to confide their worries and concerns to the dolls instead of keeping them inside themselves. Helen left us with instructions and enough supplies for each cottage to hold another Wikki Stix session again.

Warm & Fuzzy Gifts for New Life

The National Junior Honor Society of Redeemer Lutheran School in Austin raised more than $300 in just six weeks by holding bake sales.  The service-oriented group then took their hard-earned funds to the Build-a-Bear store, where they gathered all the supplies they needed to create 11 adorable animals for the Point Store at New Life Children’s Center.

The New Life girls earn “points” for good behavior, and once they’ve accumulated enough points get to pick out their reward. These Build-a-Bear creations are so cute they are super motivating for the girls. Thank you Redeemer NJHS for a grrreat team effort!

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