A Full-Fledged FAQ post!

In the past 24 hours I have received a lot of good questions, ones that I probably should have thought of already (but hey, that is why I have you guys to keep in check!). So here we go with a full fledged FAQ post! Hopefully this will help out.

Q: Yo Meredith, this is cool and all, but what exactly are you going to be doing there?

A: Wow. Solid question. I will be working with Apache Youth Ministries which is basically an awesome youth center. The high school students come hang out everyday after school for a few hours, come to a youth night on thursdays, and to d-groups (bible study) on tuesdays. As part of the team I will be building relationships with the high school girls, leading d-groups with the other female leaders, and I will be the person in charge of organizing, developing, and planning all of our retreats and trips. This will include a fall and spring retreat, a trip to a conference for Native teens in Missouri, and hopefully a lot of cool trips for the kids to see different concerts or things outside of the reservation. 

Q: Cool! So you will be like a youth minister?

A: Sort of. The difference is that I am part of a team and I also have studied poverty and development. So in addition to the youth ministry part I will be working to engage the students in transformational development, that is developing them both spiritually and economically. My goal is to help these kids know Jesus and also help them rise out of poverty. I want to understand their culture, help them retain their native identity, and also enable them to rise out of the generational poverty in which they are stuck. 

Q: That is pretty neat. 

A: That is not a question, but I agree with the sentiment. 

Q: Ok, so you want me to give you money, but what is the money going towards? Pizza? 

A: The money that I am asking for will be broken down as follows: 
One Time Outgoing Budget                        $1500

Monthly Budget $43,200  annually

$3,600 monthly

Living expenses $3050 monthly
Housing $500
Salary $2000
Benefits $550 

Ministry expenses $550 monthly
Materials $100
Fees $75
Student care $175
Office $100
Transportation $200

Q: How helpful! Tell me again why these kids need my support? 

A: These kids are stuck in generational poverty, meaning their families have been poor for many years, and it is very hard to rise out of that. In addition, these students deal with a lot of hard stuff. Every one of my students knows someone who has either killed themselves or been murdered. They deal with sexual abuse, abandonment, drugs/alcohol, and really any terrible thing you could think of pretty regularly. So the only way to start a process of change is to walk alongside them and engage them in understanding the saving power of Jesus Christ. I want to combine that with transformational development in order to combat the multi-faceted poverty that exists on reservations such as this one.

Q: Ok, this has been enlightening, but I still want to know more. How do I do that?


A: Email me (meredithscarpenter@gmail.com). Let’s set up a time for lunch, dinner, or coffee, and I would love to express to you my deep passion for this ministry and my vision for how to help these teenagers. Also, email me your address! And I will send you the beautiful packet of information I have printed out. You know you want one. 

Q: Ok, I'm in, but I don't need your packet, I just want to give money right this second! ASAP! Instant gratification! Can I do that? 

A: Well sure! Thanks to a very helpful suggestion I have set up a campaign on fundly.com. If you want to give a one-time donation you can do it there. Also, you rock. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Endings and Beginnings

 I've had a lot of endings that are also beginnings.  In fact, I've lived in Jeff's house for 3.5 years and that's the longest I've lived in a single home since I left Virginia at the age of 16. For over half of my life I have been without roots. I've lived in 9 homes in the last 12 years. That is absurd.  And the truth is, I don't want to be rootless anymore. I want to settle in, build something I am proud of, and never have to pack another moving box in my life. This restless, wandering soul wants to plant my feet on the same ground for more years than I can count and raise my daughter like I was raised in Virginia- with lasting friends and mother-daughter book clubs and people you grow up with. I haven't had a single place I've felt was truly my home since I left Richmond as a teenager, and I am ready to change that.  So in one week, we move to Tennessee. It is a place where a lot of our dreams lie. It is where Jeff will continue a career that he
Read more

Faith Within Suffering

 I didn't talk about God for a while.  When I was younger, I never stopped. My oldest friend and I laughed last weekend about how I would pray for her to attend church when we were kids and tell her about my prayers. When I was in college, it was my purpose. On the reservation it was my profession.  When the waves of suffering hit, I still professed God's goodness for a while, but eventually it became too much. The waves kept knocking me down every time I tried to get up. I was sick in a cancer ward. My relationship with church completely upended. My marriage destroyed.  I stopped talking about my God because I couldn't make sense of my suffering or anyone else's pain. I didn't have any of my youthful certainty. I just had a whole bunch of questions and a whole lot of anger.  Until life got better. Until I got perspective. Until I stood in the snow among the Tetons and said to the wind, "Ok, God, I'm ready. Let's do this again. I'm with you." 
Read more

Five Years After the Divorce

Image
It has been five years, this December, since a judge declared my marriage officially over. It was the culmination of the worst season of my whole life. It was the end of something I had believed was forever. It was a season of bitter tears, struggles with depression and thoughts of suicide, and complete and utter hopelessness. Everything I had believed in had been shattered and in the end, I hadn't been chosen by the one who I chose to marry. I believed the false narrative that I hadn't been good enough, strong enough, or healthy enough. I was certain happiness would never find me again.  Over the next five years, I had to rediscover myself. I had to relearn my strength, my worth, my value. I had to heal from what had happened. I had to be angry and learn how to let that anger go. I lost my relationship with church and grew new relationships with a team of doctors when I got a cancer diagnosis just four months after my divorce was finalized. I had to figure out who God was, who
Read more