A Message from Dr. David Anderson, Executive Director
Parents get excited about their baby’s firsts: first smile, first word, first steps and, my personal favorite: first solid night’s sleep. At LYDIA, we get excited about firsts, too. I’d like to share a few recent ones with you.

• First time the Safe Families program placed 100 children in a three-month period;
• First Healthy Families client to graduate from college;
• And first steps toward an after-school program at LYDIA Learn and Care Preschool.

Perhaps the most exciting firsts, though, were experienced by the children who live in our Residential Treatment Center. In late March, they participated in a three-day camp at Covenant Harbor in Lake Geneva, Wis., where highlights included horseback riding, ropes courses, campfires and archery. For some, it was the first time they had ever been out of the city. One young man ate his first s’more! What a great opportunity for these kids to enjoy God’s creation and have fun together with the LYDIA staff. This summer, they’ll be experiencing another first when they attend summer camp at Covenant Harbor.

It’s your support of LYDIA that helps make firsts like these possible. Thank you!

Helping Kids to RUN, not Walk!
“. . . let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1)

LYDIA volunteers Dan and Kim Michelson wanted to help those who live in LYDIA’s Residential Treatment Center run, not walk, through life. So last fall they launched Project RUN, a unique fundraising effort to pay for enrichment opportunities for LYDIA kids.

The Michelsons have already raised $14,000 through Project RUN, by simply asking friends and family to sponsor Dan’s participation in the New York City Marathon in 2007. That money was used to underwrite the cost of LYDIA’s Residential Treatment Center kids attending camp at Covenant Harbor in March (see above). You can contribute toward future projects by making a donation using LYDIA’s secured web site and selecting “Project RUN” from a drop down menu on the giving page. To do so, click here.

As the Michelson’s experience demonstrates, you don’t have to be a fundraising guru to support LYDIA in a special way. The key ingredients are enthusiasm and a worthy goal. Here’s one now, from Mandy Ross, Director of LYDIA Urban Academy: “I would love to establish a budget to provide transportation for monthly field trips,” she explains. “With 22 students, we have to rent a bus to get everyone there, and that costs about $250. Field trips can really enhance students’ educational experience, but lack of transportation is a real obstacle – we haven’t gone on any field trips for four months!”

To learn more about Project RUN or brainstorm about ways to raise money for the Urban Academy or another LYDIA program, please contact Erica Postma, Associate Director of Development, by or call (773) 736-1447, ext. 249.

19th Annual Charity Auction and Horse Sale at Salem Ranch
Saturday, April 12
Come one, come all to the Salem Ranch Charity Auction and Horse Sale on Saturday April 12! This fun family day at Salem Ranch in Flanagan, Ill. (90 miles south of Chicago) begins at 8:30 a.m. with a bake sale and charity auction, followed by the horse sale at 1 p.m. Other festivities include a hog roast and low-cost family-style lunch—even inflatable carnival attractions for kids! All proceeds will benefit the ministry of Salem Ranch, a Christian boarding school affiliated with LYDIA that helps troubled boys address all of the important aspects of their lives so they can return home to their families. Additional information is available at www.salemranch.com or by calling (815) 796-4561.

Finding a Way Home Through Safe Families
Most couples with four young children feel they have their hands full, and rightly so. But Jason and Alison Morris, whose four daughters are all under 10 years old, signed up as Safe Families volunteers anyway. Their first assignment was to take in Avanna and Kia, two-year-old twin sisters whose mother, Keisha, was dealing with homelessness and a number of other personal problems.

Once the girls were settled in the Morris household, Keisha called almost daily to check in. Meanwhile, the Morris’ church family provided support in the form of meals, diapers, toys, car seats and more. After Keisha secured an apartment, Alison put the word out for additional help, and churches that didn’t even know her family personally started donating food, furniture, clothes, kitchen utensils and cleaning supplies.

After about two months, Keisha was ready to bring her children home. When she and Allison met for the first time, there were hugs and tears and a sense that the two families had formed a lifelong bond. Says Jason, “Together with our four daughters we have discovered such a simple way to make an incredible difference in the life of a child who just needs love . . . and we have only just begun.”