Show Hope’s Red Bus Project is officially half way through the spring tour! As the orphan care project continues to gain momentum on college campuses through social media and news media, we are excited to see more and more students joining the movement to care for orphans through this amazing student initiative!
Here are some media highlights from the past week:
“As the bus pulled in at the University of Tennessee and tents began to go up, I honestly felt an excitement. I was able to travel on the bus the past week, but there was something special about seeing it happen on my college campus. First off I have to give a shout out and a huge thanks to all of the amazing people that have traveled with the bus for the past three weeks. They do an unbelievable job and make the Red Bus Project such a great experience for everyone!
“So many students began to come out and shop, hang out, and even volunteer. For me, that’s what is so cool about the Red Bus Project. It combines two of my deepest passions: orphan care and students taking action. Being able to share past experiences with peers and encourage them to get involved was such a blessing. Throughout the day there was a consistent flow of students with questions and opportunities to share. I am so thankful for not only what the Red Bus does in coming to college campuses, but for the invitation to help stop the orphan crisis. They were a light on UT’s campus. Thanks for everything RBP team!”
-Dan Martin, University of Tennessee sophomore and 2012 Maria’s Big House of Hope summer intern
The WKRN Nashville News 2 team also covered the Red Bus Project last week at Trevecca Nazarene University:
To view photo galleries from past Red Bus Project events and see the upcoming tour dates, visit RedBusProject.org.
The Red Bus Project is officially on the road! We can’t believe it. Monday was a day of incredible emotion – just seeing the bus rolling down the highway was remarkable. Our whole team is so excited to finally see this come to life with real students shopping on the bus and coming out to hear Caleb play.
Even with last minute (5AM!) adjustments to the Red Bus, head colds, and some pretty threatening weather, our team pulled together to make this first day a huge success. The staff and crew on the Red Bus are some of the finest servants on the planet.
Of course, we couldn’t have done it without a ton of support from Martin Methodist University’s students and staff! A huge “thank you” goes out to Brandi Belcher, Martin Methodist’s Americorps/Vista Martin Serves Coordinator, for coordinating the on-campus promotion and student volunteers. The amount of clothes that were pre-collected and that came in on Monday was overwhelming in the best possible way. For being the first campus on our tour, Martin Methodist students have already blown us away by making a BIG impact for orphans through their donations and their purchases on the Bus!
This first event was all about serious hustle from passionate people. All the late nights and long meetings spent preparing for this day paid off big time. After an incredible day of connecting with the students of Martin Methodist in Pulaski, TN, we’re excited to see what these students do next to serve orphans!
Lee University – you’re next! We can’t wait to see you tonight!
This past Sunday, The Movement partnered with the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) of Davidson County in Nashville to throw a graduation party for seniors in foster care. Former Tennessee Titan Jonathan Orr was the guest speaker at this celebration held at Trevecca Nazarene University. To put it mildly…the party was a huge success!
In preparation for this day, The Movement clubs went to the community and asked for donations on behalf of these special graduates. Through garage sales and collection buckets in their lunchrooms, students raised an additional $2200 to buy gifts for the graduates. Last week they called each graduate to remind them of the party and make sure they were attending. On Friday afternoon, the students divided into teams to purchase gift cards, gas cards, duffel bags, iPods, digital cameras and more! In addition to all the gifts, The Movement also presented each graduate with a Show Hope shirt, a Bible, and a journal with personalized notes of encouragement and Scripture written inside.
At the party, The Movement students set up a photo booth where each graduate could have their picture taken with their friends and families. The seniors were really excited about the photo booth and loved the slide show we showed at the end of the program! The photos were printed so graduates could take these special pictures with them.
I want to personally applaud the hard work of the DCS resource linkage team of Davidson County lead by Ann Brooks, Rees Greenman, and Dana Eskridge! These three are living legends in my mind and represent what a true child advocate looks like. To say that they go above and beyond the call of duty is a gross understatement. The bottom line is they care about these students.
This party was made possible by the collaboration of our students and many other organizations. Amazing food, drinks, and desserts were donated for the party. Each graduate was also given a new computer through a state grant program. Once again, I am blown away by these amazing Movement students. They worked tirelessly to help make this party a success. Watching high school students serving these high school graduates, their peers, was awe inspiring. I can’t imagine what God has in store for us next!
I continually find myself surprised by the sheer capacity of students. We often have students who are involved with The Movement Clubs come to the Show Hope office to volunteer. What amazes me is how quickly they knock projects out. I set them up on a project; turn around twice and the students are coming back to me asking, “what’s next?” Most people would assume that if you ask a teenager to do something and they do it quickly that it was done sloppily, but not in this case! These students really care about the mission of Show Hope and therefore do an exceptional job with each task they take on. You name it, and students can do it…filing, counting, searching, sorting, typing, printing, cutting, folding, stuffing, sticking, cleaning, moving, stacking…and on and on they go!
I recently took several students to a committee meeting at a Department of Children’s Services (DCS) office for Davidson County here in Nashville. This was a planning meeting for the foster student graduation party that The Movement clubs are helping to put on. The students were amazing during this meeting! They took notes feverishly, asked thoughtful questions, and totally engaged with the professional foster care workers in the room. I was so proud of them!
To me these are continual reminders of the truth that Paul states in 1 Timothy 4:12: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
Give the students in your life an opportunity to serve, and they’ll amaze you at what they’re capable of as well!
The Movement’s first official service project is a giant supply collection drive for students in the foster care system!
On May 1st, The Movement, in partnership with Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services, will throw a graduation party for high school graduates in the foster care system of Davidson County, Tennessee. This is an annual event for DCS and The Movement is honored to join their efforts in celebrating some very special students who have completed their high school education!
The Movement students jumped at the chance to help put on a party on par with what they want to receive when they graduate. The Movement Clubs are actively collecting new, unwrapped items in their schools and communities. These items will become door prizes and personal gifts for the graduates. Students will also be involved in the decorating, setting up, and hosting of the party.
Through these local efforts we are opening people’s eyes to the opportunities to care right in our own back yard. When asked why he would want to help with this project, Carter (a high school junior) wrote, “I believe foster kids should have a party because they deserve it. Life in high school is hard enough for me without moving around and with the constant support of a family. I can’t imagine how hard these kids have worked to make it to this goal. This isn’t just us celebrating a graduation party, we are celebrating these students, because they truly deserve to be celebrated.”
On Saturday night, a high school student gathering of 600 people gathered in Liberty Hall at The Factory to take a stand on behalf of the orphan. This event was the kick-off for a new high school club program called “The Movement” started by high school students in partnership with Show Hope. There are currently nine clubs, and soon we will be adding more. These clubs help high school students get tangibly involved in orphan care by connecting them both locally and internationally with adoptive families, foster families, and other orphan care opportunities. You may have heard me say before that students are capable of far more than most adults are giving them credit for. We saw that confirmed again and again on Saturday night!
CALEB performed at the event and they were incredible as always. The students totally connected with the band. Students Caroline Greene, Sarah Rooker and Carter Venable each shared their personal stories of how their lives have been changed by caring for orphans.
Additionally we built an experiential exhibit called “The What If Project” to lead students to identify with the orphan crisis in a more personal way. At the end of the exhibit, students wrote out their answer to the question “How Will You Show Hope?” Here are some of their responses:
“I will not just talk about helping, but actually help. I will make a difference!”
-Andrea V.
“I will seek out opportunities to help those who can’t help themselves.”
-Becky
“I will join The Movement and try to be the hands and feet of Jesus!”
-Caroline C.
“I will shine His bright light in this broken and dark world.”
-Steve B.
A huge thank you goes out to all of the incredible students and volunteers who helped to make this event a huge success! To allow others to see what The Movement is about and catch a vision for what mobilizing students to care for orphans could look like in their city, we are making a DVD of The Movement Kick-off. I’ve already heard from so many students who are pumped to get creative and get involved in orphan care. I am so excited to see what God has next for this student initiative!
As we are developing the Show Hope Student Initiative, some very exciting plans are surfacing! I’ve been amazed at just how strategic and creative students truly are. Recently, several students approached me with the idea of starting Show Hope sponsored orphan care clubs in their schools! This is such a beautiful concept because students spend the majority of their waking hours at school. Reaching students on their own turf with the message that “you can make a difference in the life of an orphan” has the potential of being life-altering for everyone involved!
After much prayer and planning we are launching “The Movement” in high schools here in the Nashville area this coming spring semester! In addition to raising awareness of the orphan crisis, these clubs will be action-oriented. The goal is that the clubs will take on fundraisers and work projects for adoptive families, local foster care and global orphan care. Our hope is that by fall of 2011 we will be able to make these available in high schools across America! If you’re interested in starting “The Movement” at your own school in the future, email me at: wheeler[at]showhope[dot]org
Last Friday, I had the opportunity to speak at the Chapmans’ Barn at an event to introduce the Show Hope Student Initiative! This was our first time to begin rolling out some of the heart behind this new student movement. As Emily (Chapman) Richards and I were brainstorming prior to the evening, we decided that the best way to illustrate what the Initiative is about is to give students the opportunity to share, so that’s exactly what we did! I invited four students to come up and share about their own desires to engage orphan care around the world. There’s nothing quite like hearing a student declare their dreams and share the convictions of their heart! It’s through students like this that we will mobilize a generation to care for orphans. To say we’re mobilizing students to mobilize students may sound redundant, but we believe it’s the key to getting young people on board. We believe that students are capable of far more than most adults are giving them credit for! I reminded the audience of this truth so clearly detailed in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
In addition to having a few students on stage, we also had a small army of students parking cars, directing traffic, running the Show Hope merch booth, and helping set up and tear down afterward! As I thanked the students for their hard work, they turned around and thanked me for letting them be involved! In all it was a fabulous night that has already served to spur great momentum. So many students have shared with me lately how excited they are to lead the charge and begin putting their faith in action toward the care of orphans around the world!
Dan Cruver, Chris Wheeler, Jason Kovacs at Together For Adoption
A few weekends ago, just before my first day in the office at Show Hope, I had the privilege of attending the Together for Adoption conference in Austin, TX. This is one of the largest adoption and orphan awareness conferences in the country! While I was there I ran the Show Hope booth. I also had the opportunity to represent Show Hope on a discussion panel about adoption fundraising. On top of all of this I was able to network with a lot of the other ministries and orphan care advocates!
I came away from the conference reflecting on the fact that we truly are all in this together (hence the conference title)! I’m so thankful for all of the other incredible ministries out there making a difference in the lives of orphans around the world. It was so exciting to hear from the other contributors about what they do and the creative ways that they do it. I was also struck with just how many people Show Hope has been able to help already! So many families and ministry leaders shared with me that they had received a grant and that it had made a huge difference in their stories! It was neat to meet so many excited families who are just on the verge of starting their own adoption journey! Encouraging them, praying with them and sharing about my own adoption was a special privilege for me as well.
Way to go “T4A,” you guys put on a great event! I’d love to especially acknowledge Dan Cruver and Jason Kovacs for their hard work in making this event so excellent! Well done gentlemen!
I’m so excited to begin my new job at Show Hope! Yesterday was my first official day as the Director of Student Initiatives. My job is to get students (Junior High through College) involved in orphan care. How incredible is that? The sky is the limit on what this can mean, and I love that…I can’t wait to fully dive in! I want to be a part of leading students in putting their faith in action. I firmly believe that students are capable of far more than most adults typically give them credit for. I like to remind people to “never underestimate a teenager!” Soon, we’ll be sharing story after story of what God is doing to care for orphans around the world through the influence of students!
The Show Hope staff is amazing! I am thrilled to partner with such high-caliber people! To celebrate my first day in the office, Nick, Melissa, McKensey and I ate at Which-Wich for lunch. On the side, Nick and I began playing an ongoing game of “likes & dislikes” to start getting to know each other a bit better. I already found out he really likes burgers…and I told him about my deep love of bass fishing!
For the most part, my first day was all about settling in. I love having a new office to make my own. I’m going to be hanging a giant white board in my office so that the brainstorming may begin full throttle. I also asked my beautiful wife Lindsey to help me decorate my office…she’s a genius at that stuff!
I thank God for the work He is doing, and for the opportunity for me to be a part of it!
So many students began to come out and shop, hang out, and even volunteer. For me, that’s what is so cool about the Red Bus Project. It combines two of my deepest passions: orphan care and students taking action. Being able to share past experiences with peers and encourage them to get involved was such a blessing. Throughout the day there was a consistent flow of students with questions and opportunities to share. I am so thankful for not only what the Red Bus does in coming to college campuses, but for the invitation to help stop the orphan crisis. They were a light on UT’s campus. Thanks for everything RBP team!”
