Announcements

Last Thursday, we had the pleasure of hosting a board appreciation event in the CFRC. To keep the atmosphere festive, we invited some of our youth to help us decorate gingerbread houses. As you can see from the pictures, with a lot of creativity and hand strength to manage the unwieldy tubes of icing, they turned out to be quite beautiful.

What the pictures don’t convey, however, is the easy teamwork that I witnessed between our youth and board members. It reminded me of the many times I volunteered to help with my sons’ classroom holiday parties. No matter how much we parents tried to organize, the kids always took the celebration in an unexpected, and usually delightful, direction. Thursday was no different. The girls quickly took charge of piecing the gingerbread houses together, and delegated tasks to the adults once they had decided how the finished product should look. But the best part was the conversation. While building, youth were able to open up to these kind adults and talk about their hard work in school and in their treatment programs, and one even shared her excitement about being discharged soon to live with her sister. While chatty children may seem completely routine to most of us who have volunteered in classrooms, our youth find it difficult to trust anyone, much less strangers. And yet here they were, living beyond the trauma that brought them here, and practicing the new skills learned at Vista Maria. It certainly warmed my heart to see and hear evidence of the impact of our mission.

So, as you go about your daily work over this holiday season, no matter your role at Vista, please know that all your efforts make a big difference in the lives of those we serve. You are the people that make it possible for kids and families to heal. I sincerely hope you find time to rest a bit and enjoy the peace and beauty of the holidays. Maybe you could make your own gingerbread house and find a talkative child to make the experience complete!

Blessings,
Megan