Movie Night is coming soon!  We hope you're planning to attend.  If so, please let us know by phoning 859.389.8279.  

It's going to be a great night.

Have you heard the news?  Orange Leaf is . . . . .

• hosting Amachi Central Kentucky for Charity Sunday, August 14
• allowing us to receive a portion of the day's proceeds
• giving us tips from ALL 4 Lexington stores
• yummy and a fun place to treat your mentee to some yogurt 
• the perfect, cool place to discuss the first few days of the new school year

 Hope to see you there!

Our Amachi cookout was a great,

sunshine filled time. 

 

 

Hotdogs and hamburgers, 

               inflatables, friends, family, fun. . .

  

On July 18, we celebrated summer at a 

 
Lexington Legends game. 

It was a good night for baseball, and a super time for our mentors and mentees.

 

What else have you done this summer?  

Send us a [comment] 

 and let us know.

School's out, let's. . . . .

celebrate with a cookout!

[we'll catch a Legend's game later this summer]

Meantime, all mentors, mentees and mentee family members!!!

Before you wear yourself out swimming, and fishing, and camping,
and just having fun, join us on  

Saturday 

[as in this Saturday, June 4]

11:30 am - 1:30 pm

Open Door Church

749 Addison Avenue

Lexington

Food, games, inflatables, and fun!

rsvp to mmiddleton@lexlf.org

 

50-50 Campaign

 

 Want more info?  

Email Brent Burgess or call 859.389.8279

Amachi of Central Kentucky wants you to…

Win a Free Apple iPad!!!

For the first time ever, in the history of the whole world, Amachi of Central Kentucky is holding a contest where you, YES YOU, can win a brand new free Apple iPad.  You ask yourself, “How is this possible?!” Simply by participating in our 50/50 Mentor Recruitment Campaign, you become eligible to win!  What is the 50/50 Mentor Recruitment Campaign? Read on!

50 men for 50 boys in 50 days, that is the goal of the 50/50 Campaign. Amachi currently has approximately 50 boys who are anxiously awaiting an opportunity to have a male mentor who will spend time with them and invest in their lives.  Amachi has an enthusiastic and motivated force of friends and supporters.  We want some of you hard-working and enthusiastic individuals to have an exciting opportunity to serve these children by helping us recruit new male mentors.  

It’s simple: Whoever recruits the most active new male mentors in the 50 days between June 1^st & July 20^th will win a FREE APPLE iPAD!  Our goal is to receive 50 new active male mentors in the 50 days of the campaign.  These wonderful Amachi children will have the opportunity to spend time with a positive person in their lives, and you will have the opportunity to win. 

More details will be sent out regarding the rules of the campaign in the very near future. In the meantime, if you are interested in being involved in the 50/50 Mentor Recruitment Campaign, please e-mail Amachi’s Mentor Recruiter, Brent Burgess, at bburgess@lexlf.org or contact him by phone at 859-389-8279 to enter the contest. Don’t miss the fun!

here's a deal for YOU!

Fro-Jo's Self Serve Frozen Yogurt will be doing an "Anniversary Thursday" 

rather than our "Wacky Wednesday" to celebrate Fro-Jo's 6 month Anniversary and Commerce Lexington membership. Yogurt is half-price all day and between 3:30 - 6:00 small yogurt cups with toppings for only $1.00. Come join us for the ribbon cutting at 4:00 and have some great tasting yogurt.

 

 

When a young person 

is matched to a caring adult mentor

a new path is revealed 

that can change 

his or her life.

What a girl wants, what a girl needs

On Saturday, April 30, girls in our community will be presented an opportunity.  An opportunity to [be bold].  While it might seem that girls today are all too often empowered to

be bold, go wild, do something crazy, etc. . . . . .

this opportunity affords a positive spin.  The purpose of the Be Bold Workshop is to empower girls and young women through building up their self esteem and encouraging goals and achievable dreams.  They'll discuss love, dating, sex, marriage, goal setting, and self image.  The workshop is open to girls ages 9 through 18.  

We believe this workshop is timely.  If you Google American girl, the first thing to pop up is the American Girl web page, featuring dolls, books, a magazine and more.  According to their website:

"You are great just the way you are!"  

That's the message American Girl magazine delivers to over 500,000 girls every month.

But is that what American girls believe?

 "One danger of online blogs and social networking sites is that your daughter may not be expressing what she really feels.  She may instead be writing what she thinks will entertain or impress her peers who read it." (1)

Regarding their looks. . .What are today's girls thinking?

• 11,889 13-19 year-olds received Botox injections in 2009, up 2 percent from 2008.  (2)
• By the time your 10-year-old is 50, she'll have spent nearly $300,000 on just her hair and face.  (3)
• Eight - to 12-year-olds in this country already spend more that $40 million a month on beauty products, and teens spend another $100 million.  (4)

Does all this emphasis on beauty make for a healthier girl?

"Recent studies suggest that as many as one in five girls between 10 and 18 years of age are now cutting themselves with razor blades or burning themselves with matches, etc." (5)

Girls and fashion?
What are girls facing at the mall?  Check out this article:  Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps.  It's pretty insightful.

Young women in the entertainment field?

The current Billboard Top 100 #1 song is by Rihanna.  It's title?  "S&M".  You can Google the lyrics.  And coming in at #16 is P!nk's "F**kin' Perfect". 

"We are gradually penetrating the highest levels of the work force.  We get to go to college and play sports and be secretary of state.  But to look around, you'd think all any of us [girls] want to do is rip off our clothes and shake it." (6)

Disheartening information?  

 What's the future like for our 
     American girls?

"Clearly, we need to find other ways of showing girls that we care about them, even if they don't take off their clothes.  And as I've learned from my friends, who are truly good, it is never too late to show that you believe in someone.  Growth is always possible." (7)

Hopefully we really do believe in our girls.  
Maggie Middleton, one of our Match Specialists, will be on sight at the workshop.  She'll act as a confidante for any of the girls who want someone to talk with.  Amachi will also have an informational table set up.  Bring your mentee, bring your daughter, help impact the life of a girl.  Call us for more information:  859.389.8279, or check out out this link:  Be Bold!

(1) From Girls on the Edge, written by Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D.

(2) Kathryn Stamoulis, Ph.D.From Psychology Today

(3) From Generation Diva, an article in Newsweek

(4) ibid

(5) Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D.

(6) From Female Chauvinist Pigs:  Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, by Ariel Levy

(7) From The Good Girl Revolution, by Wendy Shalit

 

April Showers....

...Bring lots of fun!

Can you believe it's already April? It's Spring, and that means one sure thing for Amachi...lots of opportunities to have fun with your mentees! We are literally showered with lots of fun things. For information or to RSVP for any of the following, please call our office at 859-389-8279. Here's what's going on:

Upcoming Amachi Events:

1. Saturday, April 16th: Low Ropes Course (for middle and high school mentees and their mentors), 10 am-2 pm. This will be a really fun day of being outside, playing games, creative activities, and bonding with your mentees. You don't want to miss this!

2. Saturday, April 16th: Bunny Blast Party (for elementary aged mentees and their mentors) This will be a FREE and FUN event! Bring your mentees to Woodhill Park from 12-2 for a day of food, games, and lots of other fun activities!

3. Tuesday, April 26th: Mentor Development Forum, 6:30-9:00 pm. PLEASE make plans to attend this if at all possible. All mentors are invited to join us for an evening with Enterchange and Dr. Chris Kiesling. We will be learning about stages of youth development (and how understanding this will help you as you mentor). The evening will also include small group time, where you will have the opportunity to get to know and learn from other mentors.

4. Saturday, April 23rd: Community Easter Egg Festival (hosted by Vineyard Community Church) at Dixie Park, 11:00 am-1:30 pm. Members of Amachi staff will be there, and this will be a fun day of food, games, inflatables, and an easter egg hunt!


Other opportunities for you and your mentees:

1. Saturday, April 30th: Be Bold Workshop for girls ages 9-18, 8 am-5 pm. This will be a fantastic opportunity for our female mentees. This will be an all day workshop focusing on confidence and self esteem for young women.

2. Living Arts and Science Center-their April Discovery Night is coming up this Thursday. It looks really fun! Check out the website:

https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/12e6db8b9d1f4062

3. The Carnegie Center hosts "family nights" once per month. This month's night will be on the 15th and will be all about music! check out the site for more info:

http://carnegieliteracy.org/youth-and-family/family-fun-and-learning-nights/

4. Also, be sure to check out the community calendar from Lexington Family Magazine:

http://lexingtonfamily.com/calendar/calendar.pdf

5. Sunday, April 10th: YMCA Healthy Kids Day Fun Fest, 2-5 pm., UK Nutter Field House. Free games, activities, inflatables, relays for all ages! Check out ymcaofcentralyky.org for more info.


6. Saturday, April 9th: Kite Festival, Noon-4 pm., Jacobson Park. Check out the website for more info:

http://www.lexingtonky.gov/index.aspx?page=24

Power Tools for a Power Purpose

Honestly, when it comes to power tools, I’m not sure what the appropriate age is for use by a child.  My nephew, Joshua, is six years old and he has some toy power tools; you know, the kind that spin and make noise like a real drill. Only with his the drill bit is just a smooth piece of plastic that would break apart long before it would ever break skin.  He loves them.  But he can’t build anything with them, nothing real anyways.  But on Saturday I had the privilege of seeing several kids holding real power tools, the kind that can break through wood, and from what I could tell every one of those kids was having an amazing time.

I walked into Home Depot on Harrodsburg Road at 10am on Saturday. As a team member for Amachi, I was hoping to catch a few photographs of the mentors and mentees as they worked together on their projects.  The project was to build cornhole boards.  Quite honestly, in my mind the project seemed a bit advanced for some of our younger kids.  But I had underestimated Home Depot. And quite honestly I had underestimated our mentors and their kids!  

Home Depot had laid out for us six different sets of cornhole board pieces.  These pieces were so well-made, well-organized, and well-presented that I imagined they had ordered some kits.  Later in the morning one of their staff informed me that an employee of Home Depot had put in sixteen hours of work diligently cutting every pre-fabricated piece for our project.  Sixteen hours of time just to provide an opportunity for our kids? I was moved.  Whoever that staff member is for Home Depot, they need to be a mentor with that kind of passion! We, after all, only require one hour per week!  Once our mentor matches started working together to build their boards, the staff of Home Depot watched the project take place with joy and excitement.  I was really touched by the effort that these wonderful workers put in this project for our mentors and kids.  It wasn’t just pieces of wood that were provided by their business, there was love and care provided as well.

For three hours I watched several of our mentor matches work together to build some really cool looking cornhole boards.  They picked out some wild colors too.  University of Kentucky blue and white seemed to be the dominant theme, which is no big surprise given the excitement of March Madness!  As a new staff member, this was the first time I have had the opportunity to see our mentors work with their mentees.   I saw power in the relationship between those mentor matches for those three hours.  The kids didn’t just watch their mentors build something.  The result of the project was a cool looking cornhole board.  But there was another result as well.  While wood, nails, and paint were merging together to form a great finished project, a relationship was being built that seemed of much greater value.  Forgive me for sounding a little too Tim Allen (any Home Improvement fans out there?), but when boys and men get together and build something, I see something stronger being built than what can be done with tools and wood.  I see strength and value being built in affirmation.  I see the confidence of a boy growing as he accomplishes a task with someone that he looks up to.  I see a man proudly transferring knowledge to a child of great worth.  The power is in more than the tools.  I believe what our mentors and mentees are truly building together is something very strong.

- Brent Burgess, Amachi Mentor Recruiter

               

               

Originally posted on Ashley Kasten's blog

To celebrate #2 of the 4 part CPA exam I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the night with the lovely Miss Adrielle. We got free tickets to the UK gymnastics meet and it was the breast cancer awareness night so everyone there was donning pink! So, honestly at first you could tell that Adrielle wasn't that excited about going. But once we were there and the meet started the first thing she said to me was "I didn't really know what gymnastics was like, I had no idea how cool this was. Can we go every week?!" Haha I was like seeeeee I told you gymnastics are awesome. Later she said, "I'm going to ask my mom to buy me a leotard, they are so cool!". My 9 year old mentee is the best!

Side rant: I have been obsessed with watching gymnastics since the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. It is definitely my favorite event to watch and I am amazed at what these girls can do with their bodies. If only I had kept up with gymnastics beyond the backhand sprang haha.

Everyone remember Kerri Strug?!

Back to Adrielle. So we had a great time. Adrielle had a few dollars to spend on food and she got popcorn. She was hilarious too. She kept telling me how salty it was but continued to eat the whole thing, silly girl!

One thing that was super precious of her tonight unfortunately happened when one of UK's gymnasts hurt herself during the floor routine. It was after a long sequence of tumbling and she just collapsed onto the ground grabbing her leg (my friend who is friends with the girl informed me afterwards, that they think she tore her ACL :( ) The whole crowd went silent and I think Adrielle screamed when it happened. She kept saying she was so sad and that she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight knowing Whitney (the gymnast) was hurt. Then she told me "I'm going to send her flowers and chocolates and a teddy bear to make her feel better." I suggested that she should pray for Whitney. Her response

"I  can't pray for her, I'm not very good at it."

Saddest, yet most precious thing I have heard her say. I tried to encourage her to do it. But who knows. At least I planted that thought/idea in her head.

UK ended up winning the meet which allowed for a happy ending and as we were driving home Adrielle noticed that the street we were on was called Rose street, which was the last name of the gymnast that got hurt. She said something to the effect of "well maybe it'll make her feel better knowing that she has a street named after her. " AWWW! :)

What a fun night, I can always count on Adrielle to make me feel good. OH and you know what else she did?!? While we were sitting and watching the meet she played with my hair, on her own without prompting, for like 5 minutes and it was wonderful. She said she loves playing with peoples hair, so she's definitely a keeper!!

One bite at a time

There is an old joke that asks, "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer is, "One bite at a time."

This saying, to me, is a great reminder of the work that Amachi sets out to accomplish in this community. Mentoring kids impacted by incarceration is often not pretty. It's not glamorous. There isn't often a white glowing light indicating that a child's life has been changed. More often that not, it is frustrating. More often than not, a mentor can be left asking the question, "Am I really making a difference?" I would answer here, "Yes, you are. One very small bite at a time."

Amachi Central Kentucky recently hosted a mentor celebration breakfast. We invited all of our mentors together for some free (and very yummy!) breakfast and for some celebrating. As someone on staff, I have the privilege of seeing things from the outside. I speak with the parents and their kids about how much they love their mentors. I see the deep love that develops week after week. I see what a difference an hour a week can make. Still, when one is in the thick of it, the change can be difficult to see.

At our breakfast, we invited our mentors to share about their experiences of mentoring a "child of promise." A few folks shared some insightful and inspiring stories, or funny things that had occurred. I loved hearing what everyone said. One mentor's story, however, stuck out to me. A couple of our male mentors had shared about the boys they have been working with. Unknown to each other, both of the boys happen to attend the same elementary school. After they shared, a female mentor stood up, and with tears in her eyes, began to share a different perspective. She shared that she was a social worker at a local elementary school-the same school that both of the boys attend. She then went on to witness to the difference she has seen in the boys since they have had mentors. She remarked on improved behavior, increased school performance, and she even remarked that one of the boys was recently the student of the month. She then encouraged all of the mentors to remember that even if they couldn't see the change, that just being there was indeed making a difference.

As I listened to this mentor share, I choked back some of my own tears. I remember meeting those boys for the first time. I remember hearing about the monumental challenges they are facing. I remember the pain and chaos in these households. The pain may still be present. The challenges are still real. Many of the circumstances still remain. However, because of the simple act of being present once a week, a slow, meaningful and lasting change has begun.

Most weeks, it may not be exciting. The impact does not often come paired with epiphany-like conversations, tears, or a movie scene that brings chills. It looks like going to a movie and laughing together. It looks like going out to eat and not being sure of what to say. It looks like playing a board game together. It looks like listening to a fun song together. It looks like discovering what your "child of promise" enjoys doing. The change doesn't happen overnight, but it does happen.

How do you change the life of a child of promise? One bite at a time.

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not."  

~Dr. Seuss

As a child, Dr. Seuss books seemed silly, fun and entertaining.  Green Eggs and Ham?  Sort of ridiculous?  Maybe, but did you know that Dr. Seuss purposefully created the story using just 50 words?  49 of them are monosyllabic.  He wrote it with the beginning reader in mind.  

The Cat in the Hat?  Yes, a little odd.  But did you know Dr. Seuss was challenged to write a book limited to 225 words, utilizing a list of 348 words every 6 year old at the time should know?  The story consists of 1629 words in length and uses a vocabulary of only 236 distinct words, of which 54 occur once and 33 twice.   Just one word – another – has three syllables, while 14 have two and the remaining 221 are monosyllabic. The longest words are something and playthings.  

You might be thinking:  {Interesting, but so what?}  Let me get to my point, which is this:  Sometimes all of our hard work and effort might seem mundane.  It might seem like a cutesy rhyme made up for a 6 year old.  We plan, we try, we try harder, hoping that we make a difference.  We make an organized effort.  But is it making any difference?  

Take a look at the quote at the top of this blog entry.  Nothing is going to get better unless someone like YOU cares a lot! Dr. Seuss's last book was Oh, the Places You'll Go.  It includes this line:
   "Will you succeed? Yes, you will indeed. (98 3/4% guaranteed.)"  

 That's what we want for the kids we're helping, isn't it?  We want them to succeed.  Right now, that might mean learning to read through Green Eggs and Ham.  Or learning to deal with a difficult classmate.  Or helping them cope with living in a broken family situation.   It takes some planning, putting together a process, and hoping we eventually see some results.  And in the meantime, trying to make it a bit fun and somewhat silly.

things to do in the winter

Need some ideas for mentor/mentee activities? 

see a movie at a discount theater [Secretariat's playing now!]

go to the Explorium

attend a University of Kentucky gymnastics meet

grab a hot chocolate at Common Grounds

visit the library - check out all their fun activities, like Game Night

build a snowman 

go sledding

attend a FREE concert at the Singletary Center

work a puzzle 

bake cookies or brownies or cupcakes

have an outdoor photo shoot 

attend a high school basketball game

Now it's your turn!  Send us your ideas for fun winter activities.

Saturday's bowling party was a lot of fun and a huge success!!