Around the same time as Caleb’s arrival, Brian

and I gathered a small group of teens and volun-

teers to do some thinking together about how to

improve and expand our “R4” after-school pro-

gram. Our teen numbers had dropped over the

last year and we were stuck in a bit of a rut.

Youth shared their ideas for new workshops,

field trips, and academic enrichment areas that

they wanted in the program – a little more cool

and a little less school. We called it “R4 Re-

Boot” and we started incorporating some of the

ideas we came up with into our teen summer pro-

gram.

We had a great summer, with 15-20 teens each

day involved in our “Liquid” summer camp, as

well with our new “GreenHouse Academy” for

incoming 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. Teens were

learning sign language, slam poetry, guitar, jour-

naling, and going on weekly field trips including

local colleges. We had many youth get involved

with The GreenHouse for the first time through

our summer program. I began to wonder if any

of these youth would continue to come during the

Fall to R4.

In mid September we launched our new and im-

proved R4. In addition to homework time with

their college-age tutors, we’ve added academic

workshops every Tuesday like vocabulary build-

ing and working on common math struggles.

Thursday workshops focus on life skills and fun

activities. We now have over 20 youth attending

consistently and 15 volunteers impacting students

every Tuesday and Thursday! Thank you Jesus!

It has been a challenge to make some of these

changes, but a very fun adventure too!

Chito

Emily Mazzariello—Volunteer Coordinator and

Parent Liaison

One of the biggest challenges I faced as our volun-

teer coordinator has been recruiting, training, and

supporting enough volunteers to give that individu-

alized attention to our youth. This Fall, through new

partnerships at UC Davis and with the Service

Learning Department of CSU Sacramento, we have

a FLOOD of over 55 weekly volunteers serving in

our youth programs! Also, for the first time, we

have three interns from local colleges who are as-

sisting Deborah and Chito with program develop-

ment, set-up, long-term planning, leading icebreak-

ers and coordinating workshops.

As we create more ways to connect with and support

Study Buddies, they are beginning to grow in their

confidence and initiative. Many skilled volunteers

are also using their strengths to teach workshops for

all ages, mirroring the success of the summer work-

shops. Enrichment activities such as drawing, dance,

basketball, cooking, and science provide youth with

opportunities to be creative and achieve confidence

in learning while discovering new skills.

Relationships with parents are continuing to form

and grow deeper. Parents are taking more ownership

of the Parent Action Team after taking on greater

roles at events and collaborating to create a vision

for the year. This vision includes elected positions

and more resources for parents such as English

learning, computer education, or a nutrition class.

As we move forward with the team, we hope to see

even more parent leadership and discussions that

help empower and develop their strengths.

Emily

Emily, Brian, and Kacie with parent leaders from The

Greenhouse’s Parent Action Team in April.

R4 youth on a field trip to Old Town Sacramento

Happy Holidays to you and yours from the staff, board, and families of The GreenHouse!!

I am in my 9th month as the new Executive Director of The GreenHouse!

It has been a great season of learning, being stretched in my own faith

and leadership, and of forming new relationships with our amazing

youth, parents, donors, and community partners.

As we look back upon the year, I thought it would be best to have some

other “voices” from our organization share their reflections besides me,

in order to paint a more comprehensive picture of what an incredible

year this has been for The GreenHouse. God has provided for us in so

many different ways and it’s difficult for just one person to fully de-

scribe that abundance.

I’ve invited each of our staff to write up some of their thoughts on the past 12 months, as well

as the outgoing Chair of our Board of Directors chair, Shannon Sturgess. Shannon has served

with excellence as board member for over eight years and board chair for the last two years.

Mike Downey will be taking the helm from Shannon as board chair in January.

Thank you for your ongoing financial support, your prayers, your donations, and your love for

this amazing community and this special organization. Thank you also for your support of me

and my family during our transition into the broader GreenHouse family!

Please consider making a year-end donation to The GreenHouse as we seek to end this exciting

year of transition with zero deficit!

In Him,

Brian

Shannon Sturgess— 2011-2013 GreenHouse Board Chair

Happy Holidays to you and yours from the staff, board, and families of The

GreenHouse!!

We have so much to be thankful for as an organization and as a ministry over

this past year. We have seen God’s steady hand supporting us through the

transition to a new Executive Director this year, the completion of the com-

munity Clubhouse, and newly energized teen and elementary-age programs

that are serving 60-70 youth weekly!

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with

thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” - Philippians 4:6

In a year marked by changes, God has continued to

provide again and again. Indeed, God has worked

many miracles this year and here is testimony to

some of those miracles:

Our long-time Founder of The GreenHouse Kacie Strat-

ton stepped down in March as Executive Director. After

months of prayer and seeking God’s heart, God pro-

vided us with a fantastic new Executive Director in

Brian Heller De Leon. Brian has already made an im-

pact on the community in ways we could not have fore-

seen, but that God always knew. He brings deep set of

skills in youth and parent leadership development, and is

a great strategic thinker for the next stage of the organi-

zation (and is bilingual too!)

Kacie has continued to bless The GreenHouse by embracing a new role as a volunteer consultant to the

staff and board of The GreenHouse, and recently helped with a major intervention effort with a Green-

House family that was struggling. Kacie and Brian have struck up a new partnership that weaves to-

gether their gifts to benefit The GreenHouse.

The Clubhouse renovation was completed over the summer and we passed our final round of City in-

spections with flying colors just last month. Over the last 5 years we have prayed and prayed as a Board

of Directors about a permanent space for our programs, and although the negotiations to lease the Club-

house were difficult at times, God was faithful and the project is finished!

God provided many helping hands, from families from the neighborhood to an abundance of volunteers

from local churches such as River Life Covenant and Sanctuary Covenant. God also provided resources

through generous donors, including the awesome matching gift from the Halls, and the donated materi-

als and skilled workers from NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry), particularly from

Morse Remodeling and Nar’s Fine Carpentry.

We celebrated another successful Kids at Heart, this year at the beautiful Grand Hall of the Clunie Cen-

ter at McKinley Park. Over 170 people were able to celebrate God’s faithfulness and provision as we

raised a record-breaking amount in support of The Green-

House. We will never forget the enthusiastic hip-hop danc-

ing of kids from The GreenHouse and the wonderful rendi-

tion of Shakespeare’s Hamlet by some of our teens who par-

ticipated in our Summer Academy program. We also were

able to honor so many volunteers, partners, youth, parents,

and donors who mean so much to The GreenHouse.

This was a full year for The GreenHouse—a year full of

love, grace, hope and faithfulness. We pray a prayer of

thankfulness for all God has done and look forward to the

miracles of 2014.

Shannon GreenHouse kids enjoying the new kitchen space at

the Clubhouse!

Greenhouse parents, teens, board members, and support-

ers get to know each other during our Multi-Cultural

Thanksgiving Celebration in November. Deborah Elliot—Director of Elementary Age

Programs

As I look back on the last year, I realize how much

has really happened at The GreenHouse. I could try

to write down every single blessing and still would

not have enough space.

This year, I have seen some of my GreenHouse

dreams come true. First, we moved into our new

Clubhouse! The renovated Clubhouse facility has

already made a huge difference in the atmosphere

at our Evergreen elementary program. It gives stu-

dents more quiet space for concentrating their

homework and while working with their tutors.

With over 30 students in the program, it was get-

ting a little cramped in our previous building! I

have especially seen some of struggling students

really thrive with more space to themselves.

We’ve launched a new effort to create “junior lead-

ers” with our 5th and 6th graders. At Club 56, our

faith-based mentoring program, we have 16 youth

from the surrounding neighborhood who regularly

attend! We talk about what the Bible has to say

about leadership, friendship, and about questions

and issues that they choose each month. It is amaz-

ing to have so many young students want to be

leaders in their community and who are eager to

learn about God. It’s really exciting to me to see

changes in some of the students already in the

choices they’re making and in their relationships.

For the first time this year, we have been able to

create a 2:1 student-to-tutor ratio with our volun-

teers. Smaller groups therefore give students even

more time for homework help and connections

with an adult that cares about them. This has been

something that was heavy on my heart and I’m

happy to see the positive impact of these smaller

ratios.

Finally, we’ve been able to expand the number and

variety of workshops that we offer to students on

our “Fun Fridays”. Volunteer workshop leaders are

teaching students skills like gardening, drawing,

violin, baking, basketball, football, gymnastics,

dance, and countless other options. These work-

shops give our students opportunities to try things

that they would not normally be exposed to. My

hope is that every one of our students will find new

set of skills and gifts that they didn't know they

had, and that their horizons will be broadened with

these new opportunities.

This has been a year of our students finding a

deeper sense of belonging at The GreenHouse, of

students stepping up into new leadership roles, and

lots and lots of laughter and fun! There is so much

to feel blessed about!

Deborah

Chito Rosado—Director of Youth Programs

This year has been a great adventure for us as a

family and for the youth ministry and teen aca-

demic programs at The GreenHouse. Our baby

boy, Caleb Cruz Rosado, was born in May. Norma

and I are having a great time learning the ropes as

new parents!

Deborah (second from right) on a field trip with our

sixth graders over the summer.

Chito leading the teens during our “Liquid”

Summer Program