Manna from Heaven

We are excited to report that Natalie DeShong (Administrative Assistant and amazing grant writer!!!) pulled in a huge grant from Ronald McDonald House for IMAGINE IF!! She asked for and received the highest amount possible! The grant is tagged specifically for “Enriching Generations,” which are activities we do that build up our kids and their families. It will go towards field trips, Family Fun Nites and other like-minded endeavors. Praise God for bringing Natalie into IMAGINE IF and for opening the hearts of the people on the foundation. Things like this help confirm to us that we are moving in the direction He wills for us. Thank you Lord for your provision!!

IMAGINE IF NEWSLETTER

2014 YEAR-END EDITION

…Upcoming Dates…

Check website for more info

Youth Volleyball Camp: Jan 5th - 28th

Adult Volleyball League: Jan 6th - March 3rd

Brrr Crazy: Jan 24th

Zumbathon: Feb 7

Girls Retreat: Feb 13-14th

Dodgeball Tournament: moved to Feb 21

Spring After School Program: Mar 2nd

Winter Retreat: Details To Come

Family Fun Night #3

For the year’s final FFN, we had a lovely chicken

noodle dinner and went bowling at Cooper’s. The

dinner was amazing; chicken noodles, coleslaw,

mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, etc. The dinner was

made & donated by the lovely APPLE Team from

PCC. We had around 60 people show up and eat a

hearty meal! Even Pastor Trey Oldham from

PCChoG showed up for a quick bite!

12 families then joined us at Coopers where they each

received 2 free games of bowling. Coordinator Katie

Torrence had miscommunicated the bowling start

time and the alley had (understandably) started selling

off our reserved lanes. However, when all the families

arrived, we had just enough lanes left for our families.

It was awesome to see God’s hand taking care of

things where man messes up!

Keeping each family to a lane was fantastic because

they were kind of corralled together in one space (this

can be hard to do with kiddos!) It really helped

facilitate some family bonding! It was also wonderful

seeing families from neighboring lanes getting to

know each other.

Thank you to our amazing sponsors who allow FFN’s

to be free to the participating families!!!

LEFT: All of our kids with their bowling balls at the Coopers Lanes

RIGHT: East program student Kaleb Christensen and his cousin getting ready to hop in line for some

delicious dinner

Thank you very much to all the

organizations that made this

week possible;

either with people or supplies!

New newsletter format for 2015

This will be the last, full-length newsletter! Starting this year, we will be doing shorter, bi-monthly newsletter emails/videos. We want to keep things interesting and make it easy to stay up-to-date

with the happenings of IMAGINE IF!

Missions Week

The week before Fall Break we decided to dedicate to missions. We feel it is critical that the youth see how they can directly live out their faith. The missions that joined us included Combat Ministries, Selah House, Renewable Hope and Chaucie’s Place. Combat Ministries spoke on the conqueror we all have inside us with Christ and how to fight like Jesus (by not fighting). Coach Gene Fletcher and mentoring warriors came and gave an awesome demonstration on karate skills. One of his team members even punched through a cinder block! The kids loved getting to practice “breaking boards.” Selah House therapist Darlene Graham spoke on their mission, providing a home and faithful care for women with eating disorders. She spoke on body issues and ways in which we can all love ourselves. Renewable Hope’s Director, Tim Petty spoke on the water purification systems and renewable energy systems they setup for people all over the world. The kids were challenged to make and find all the colors water are across the world. Who knew there were 7 different colors of water across the world?! Chaucie’s Place representative Josh Susie talked to the youth about body safety and inappropriate touching. He then had them play a game of over under on stats their organization has collected on body issues. The kids also made goodie bags to hand out to people they might see asking for help. The bags were filled with shampoo/conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrush, snacks, gloves, Bibles and encouraging cards from the children. We put the bags in the middle of the room and prayed that they go to the right person. The youth were instructed to put the bags in the parents’ cars and be on the lookout for people to give them to!

TOP 3: Reps from the different groups

connecting with our youth.

BOTTOM: Matt Aker collecting all the pieces

for his helping hands goodie bag.

Bing-o Bag-o!

“Purses for a Purpose” was a night of bingo and designer

bags! It was held on December 13th

at our partner

Fall Creek Christian Church

(http://www.fallcreekchristian.org/).

We had over 20 bags, from Vera Bradley, to Coach to

BCBG, donated as prizes for our fun night. Everyone who

came left with one or more gorgeous bags and at least one

more present marked off their Christmas shopping list!

We had a delicious spread of appetizers and Christmas

candies. Bingo play was offered in individual cards and

bundles. We played all different variations of bingo and

had a lot of fun. Some of the kids helped us out in calling

the numbers and we all ate our fill of delicious pinwheel

apps and butter-scotcheroos. Mark Yeager, Bryce Axel-

Adams and Natalie DeShong were all winners of our door

prizes and Jason Pfieffer was our 50/50 raffle winner.

This night was such a fun and easy way for us to raise

some holiday funds! Make sure to mentally mark this

event for your next year’s festivities!

Final Fall Field Trips (#4 & 5)

Field trip 4 consisted of a downtown scavenger hunt! The

kids accompanied us to Indy where we took the town by

storm. The kids enjoyed learning about several different

landmarks of the city. For most of the youth it was their

first time in that area! A big thanks goes out to Giorgio’s

Pizza for opening their doors to us and giving us a good

deal for lunch!

Field trip number 5 was a Christmas Festivus! This final

field trip of the year was located at one of our partner

churches, Pendleton Community Church of God

(http://www.pendletonchurchofgod.org/). The kids made

some amazing gingerbread houses from icing, candies and

graham crackers. A lot of tasting went on with the

construction of these homes! I think some “accidents”

were really just excuses to eat! We then settled down (ha!)

with some popcorn and watched Elf. The loudest laugh hit

when Buddy the elf jumped onto the Christmas tree and it

fell down on top of him.

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LEFT: Bingo contestant Robin Henderson tries her

luck at three different playing cards.

RIGHT: Nanci Custer at the registration table,

along with our door prize and 50/50 raffle signups

TOP LEFT: Lillian Roman and Joy Graham explore the

cultural trail in Indianapolis

TOP RIGHT: Alania Mastain with her perfectly

manicured m&m lawn and butterscotch candy roof.

BOTTOM LEFT: Izzy and Tucker Barnes break from

desiging to strike a pose

BOTTOM RIGHT: Dylan Haisley went with a skyscraper

design and claimed it would be the tallest building in all

our gingerbread town.

PLACE LOGO OR

COMPANY NAME HERE

Support IMAGINE IF Thank you so much if you are considering donating to our program. The best thing we do for these youth is have loving, consistent adults in their lives every day. Your donation goes towards allowing those adults to commit to this program full time, for awesome field trips these kids may never get to go on otherwise, and towards giving any child the chance to hear the transformative message of our Savior Jesus Christ.

-LOCATION FOR A HANGOUT -KIDS LINED UP TO GET INTO THE AFTER

SCHOOL PROGRAM -INTERNATIONAL MISSION TRIP

-BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

-GREATER DISCIPLESHIP OF HIGH SCHOOL

VOLUNTEERS -A MEMBER FROM EVERY AREA CHURCH

STAFF VOLUNTEERING @ PROGRAM -OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTING OUT FAITH

-FAMILIES CONNECTED WITH YOUTH GROUPS AND CHURCHES

-COMMUNITY CALENDAR

-VAST GRADE IMPROVEMENTS

For all these dreams on the left, of course!

For our youth to grow in their prayer lives

Bus or 15 passenger van of our own

Downpour of finances-we have already seen some of the harvest!

Launch of our new and improved website

Divine inspiration for upcoming curriculum

The wisdom and patience to always put time into people, not programs

How we can faithfully tithe as an organization

Cash or check can be sent to IMAGINE IF INC.

PO Box 187 Pendleton, IN 46064

OR

You may also donate online at

http://www.imagineif.us/support.aspx

Already an IMAGINE IF

supporter? Make your generous donation

go even further!

Check with your employer and find out if your

company does a matching program.

Many organizations will match whatever you

donate to a charitable nonprofit (501c3).

Dreams

for 2015