June Thank You

“I matter, but so do you.”

“I want to share a story but I need to listen to my friend’s story too. “

“I should tell ________that they were missed in group last week.”

“It’s been a really hard week but I am so grateful to have group to come to.”

These are just a few phrases and ideas that every Daystar counselor hoped and prayed they would start to hear in one of our 24 Daystar Groups.  American author and poet Wendell Berry writes “What is good for the world is good for us.” Amen! Boys and girls learning to listen, share, empathize, give, and receive not just for their sake but for something bigger than themselves. That was, is, and will continue to be the heartbeat of a Daystar Group.

As another year and semester of groups comes to a close, we are grateful so many girls and boys have had a safe place to meet each week. We’re thankful for boys who’ve learned the value of collaborating vs. competing. We’re thankful for girls who have experienced sharing hard stories about loss and struggle, only to find a warm and caring friend who reminds them they are not alone. 24 Daystar Groups met weekly to share updates, listen to stories, learn valuable social skills, and most importantly, to be reminded that they matter.

You are receiving this letter because your child was a part of a Daystar Group this year. We hope group was a place where he/she experienced rhythms of safety, belonging, encouragement, and challenges. One of our core beliefs at Daystar is “one life touching another.” Our staff, volunteers, and counselors had the opportunity of seeing this core belief weekly at one of our 24 groups. Thank you for entrusting your child to our care. It truly is a privilege!

This letter went out to every group family just a few weeks ago, announcing the end of groups and the beginning of summer at Daystar.  We wanted you to hear Sherman Bucher, our Director of Groups and Day Camps’ words as to what group really does mean to the kids and families and involved.  Your support makes a difference…day after day, and counseling hour after counseling hour in this little yellow house called Daystar. 

We are profoundly grateful.

The Daystar Staff

April Thank You 2018

We’re so grateful for your support of Daystar…and all of the “daystars” you read about in our spring mailer this year.  We wanted to give you a little more glimpse into the heart and life of one of those, in particular. 

“Being a ‘Daystar Kid’ has blessed my adult life beyond my wildest imagination (and my imagination is pretty wild!).

In middle and high school, I went to Daystar summer sessions, met with my weekly girl's group with Sissy Goff, and volunteered as a leader at Daystar camp.

Fast forward 10 years, and I have led groups of teens backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, and volunteering across the US, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, South Africa and Swaziland.  Regardless of the mix of teens, location or obstacle, my trips are successful. My co-leaders and administrators ask How? 

It's simple: I make sure the teens on my trips feel safe, adored, and celebrated - by me and their peers - because that's what Daystar first gave me.

The rays of Daystar illuminate my "grown up" life far beyond the soft skills I use in my profession. The friends I invited to Daystar as a kid are still my deepest and truest. I have a circle of women in my life today that meet, support and challenge each other just like my Daystar group did in high school. I prioritize my relationship to spirit and myself because Daystar taught me how.

Thanks to Daystar I can look into someone's eyes who is hurting and, instead of turning away, give them love and grace. Thanks to Daystar, and Melissa's prompts up at Hopetown, I can grab a journal, turn inward, and truly face myself. Thanks to Daystar I know the power of community - of praying together, singing together, and playing outside together :)

Thanks to Daystar I know I belong.

Somewhere.

Everywhere.

And now I get the scrumptious opportunity to extend love and belonging to the people around me wherever I happen to be.

In high school I remember telling Melissa "someday when I grow up, I'm going to make a Daystar."

While I may never consider myself a grown-up or have a yellow house in Berry Hill or host soup nights and teach the gospel, I most certainly sprinkle the seeds everywhere I go-

planting little shimmering daystars in nooks and crannies across the world. 

Sara Grove

Adventure Travel Guide

Your support of Daystar helps impact the 1500+ children and families who are a part of our ministry today…and has helped us keep offering hope since 1985. 

We are profoundly grateful for you.

The Daystar Staff

March Thank You 2018

We talk to parents often about the importance of other voices in the lives of their kids.  It’s not necessarily that those other voices say anything different than the parents…but, because they’re a different voice, their words often have a different impact.  And, hopefully, an added power.  At Daystar, one of our great privileges is being other voices in the lives of over 1500 families. 

Basically, we’re like automatic backup.  Particularly so, in situations where parents feel lost or alone.  Recently, a family came in who were going through a divorce.  The father was not ver involved in the lives of his boys.  She needed help.  And so, this mom brought her sons in for two of our counselors to be another voice in their lives.

Recently, the oldest son told his counselor about something that happened at home.  He heard his little brother using a curse word.  As we know oldest children can do, he went directly to his mom to tell her about the incident.  She reassured him she was going to take care of it.  He waited for what he considered a good amount of time, and circled back to make sure his little brother would get punished.  And maybe, he’d even get a more severe consequence if the incident was reported twice. 

His mother’s words to her oldest and trying-to-be-in-charge son were, “I want to tell you again that you’re his brother and you’re not the parent.  I am-and I’ve got this.  And Mr. Alex has got this, too.”

Mr. Alex, the younger brother’s counselor, was her automatic backup.  He was her other voice.  We are grateful to stand alongside this mom, as well as thousands of others who are a part of our Daystar, offering hope and help for their journey…particularly on those backup needing kinds of days. 

Thank you for your part in helping us to do be another voice.  You are making a profound difference in the lives of children, adolescents, and their parents.

Gratefully,

The Daystar Staff

February Thank You 2018

Kids impact kids.  We talk about it a lot around here.  We, as adults, can say the same thing over and over to a child or teenager that we love…but, when one of their peers says it, it’s as if they hear it so much louder.

A high school girl came to group for her second time this past week.  She’s coming to Daystar because she’s been sad and anxious over a lot of different things in her life-from family situations to friend troubles at school.  She’s sad and stuck and has felt powerless to change anything going on around her.  She recently said to her counselor, “It just feels like everything is hard right now and there’s nothing I can do about it.  Even the little things feel huge and insurmountable.  How could I ever make a difference?”

For weeks, her counselor has been trying to remind her of how strong she is…and what a unique perspective and voice she has at home and at school.  She’s been trying to help her discover the difference she can make.  And, honestly, it wasn’t seeming to get through—until she came to group.

Last week, this girl started to share about her week.  “Well, I’ve had a lot of little things going on that I want to tell y’all about.  They’re not a huge deal.  But, what I really want to say is that you all are the most resilient, amazing, powerful, empowering people I’ve ever met.  I have learned so much from you in the two short weeks I’ve been in group.  Thank you.”  As she said these words, she sat a little taller and smiled a little wider…as did each of the girls around her in group.

Kids impact kids.  It’s one of the reasons we have groups at Daystar.  In fact, it’s one of the reasons we have Daystar.  And, just one of the many reasons we’re profoundly grateful for you.  You impact each of the kids and families who walk through our doors with your generosity.

Gratefully,

The Daystar Staff

A New Years Thank You 2018

See, I am doing a new thing! 
   

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 


I am making a way in the wilderness wasteland. 

   

and streams in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19 

Happy New Year from the Daystar house to yours!  This verse brims over with hope and reminds us of the newness of God’s mercies…every year, every month, every day.  He is doing a new thing.  He is doing a new thing in the life of each child, each teen, each parent who walks through our doors.

 Those kids and families, however, often feel more of the wasteland than the hope.  The streams feel far off.  That’s why we’re here.  That’s why we offer individual counseling, groups, camps, and even parenting seminars for families.  As one teenage girl said to another recently in one of our groups, “We’re here to remind you that you don’t have to be alone.  We want to walk beside you in all that you’re going through.” 

God is making all things new.  He’s making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  He brings hope—through, as one child called it, “the little yellow house that helps people.”  And through you. 

We’re grateful for your belief in the ongoing work and mission of Daystar.  We are grateful that you walk beside us in encouraging parents, in offering families hope, and in being reminders that our great God is doing a new thing in each of their (and our) lives. 

With warm appreciation,

The Daystar Staff