Newsletter
From the Desk of Gary Krauss
President
During Advent and Christmas I always try to remember that Jesus came into the world to give himself humbly and totally for everyone. We, in our own ways, are called to follow in His footsteps as best we can using the unique gifts that the Lord has given us. The story of the young man in the accompanying photo, and those surrounding him, reflects how a community of believers can do mighty things using their God given gifts.
Angel's is an amazing story. It began approximately six years ago. Angel was hopelessly addicted to marijuana. He had entered and failed in any number of treatment programs. By pure chance his parents attended a service at Santo Tomas church where one of our Ascending Lights graduates, William Portillo, spoke. William is a former drug user and gang member. His "colorful" history also included hard time many years ago for armed robbery. Having had a conversion in prison, William started a ministry at Santo Tomas for drug abusers and gang members and their families. Its aim is to use 12 Step Programs, spiritual retreats, individual counseling, and parenting classes to help young people break out of their addictions. Ascending Lights paid for William to obtain his Associate's Degree and State Certification in Drug Counseling in order to better operate his program.
After Angel's parents heard about William's ministry at church they pleaded with their young son to try once more to break his marijuana addiction. Reluctantly, Angel consented to try again. William became his mentor and sponsor.
Two years later William called me recommending Angel for an Ascending Lights scholarship. Angel was now completely drug free. More importantly, he had become passionate about the Lord and serving Him as a leader and role model in the same program that lead to his recovery from drugs.
Angel was awarded one of our scholarships, and in the fall of 2006 he began his first semester at Los Angeles City College studying Administration of Justice. He wanted to become a probation officer. Immediately he faced many challenges. In addition to attending college, he needed to work full time in order to support his young daughter and help his parents. As part of the requirements for his scholarship he also continued to volunteer as a mentor in the drug diversion ministry that freed him from his addiction.
Angel worked as hard as any student we have seen in our program. He was assisted in his journey by two incredible Ascending Lights staff members, Wes and Julie (both pictured to Angel's left). Wes is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. As his academic mentor Wes would meet weekly with Angel, going over all of his tests and papers and providing encouragement and problem solving advice when needed. Angel quickly demonstrated that he was an outstanding student, determined to succeed.
As Angel continued to climb the academic ladder he soon encountered one of the most difficult obstacles to graduating and transferring from community college, advanced college algebra. That is where Julie came into the picture. Julie is a graduate of the Fuller School of Psychology and holds a degree from there in Marriage and Family Counseling. In addition to being a wonderful mentor, she also served our agency as a math coach. Thanks to her gifted tutoring, Angel overcame this obstacle ultimately graduating last June with an Associate's degree and a 3.4 grade point average. He is now attending Cal State Los Angeles and continuing in his administration of justice pursuits.
Also in the photo you will notice that Angel is holding a framed award that he had just received from me. It is a Certificate of Completion in Urban Leadership given to him for attending the courses in urban ministry conducted by our agency throughout the year. In this way, we also help Angel and others to become better leaders in their churches and neighborhoods.
We ended our fiscal year on June 30 with strong results.
| |
Income |
G & A Expense |
Fund Raising
Expense |
Program Expense |
Net Income
|
| Fiscal 09-10 |
$417,707 |
$18,755 |
$14,656 |
$358,470 |
$25,826 |
We are so very grateful for the faithful support of the individuals and foundations that make scholarships like Angel's possible. Recently, an article appeared in the Los Angeles Times detailing how critical the need is for programs like ours. The article reported the results of a study that found only 22% of Latino and 29% of black students enrolled in California community colleges had transferred or earned any sort of degree after six years. Thanks to the total support provided by our team of gifted mentors and tutors, better than 70% of our students earn degrees and/or transfer. The average length of time required for these successes is 3.8 years!
We presently have 35 enrolled students in our program and 52 wonderful graduates. Yet, our inner city churches and communities need more success stories like Angel's. We praise and thank God for your past support and hope you will again consider helping us to create similar opportunities for gifted young urban leaders. Have a blessed Christmas!
Gratefully Yours in Christ,
Gary
|