Dear Friend,
In 1993, Christian Direction launched the Centre Accroche in an effort
to combat the increasing high school drop-out rates in Montreal. Over
the years, the programs and services have evolved to respond to the
needs of the community, but the heart of our mission remains the same:
the social and spiritual transformation of at-risk youth and their
families.
This year, under the leadership of Ricardo and Michel, 15 new students
enrolled in the after-school program to receive assistance with their
homework and participate in stimulating workshops. Whether it is
conversations around the pool table or helping students with their
French or English, our team is daily demonstrating the love of God to
at-risk youth.
Michel has been mentoring Eric, a 9th grade student, in his Christian
walk over the past two years. In an essay that Eric wrote, he shared
this: "God has undoubtedly spoken to me several times in my
life. Although some non-Christian people think we're crazy to believe
that God speaks to us, I know he does. God speaks to me through the
words He gives me…and through the people he places in our lives." Michel is grateful to be one of those people in Eric’s life.
Three New Initiatives in the Next Six Months
We are so excited to share with you three new initiatives that we are
launching in the next six months to extend our ministry with youth and
their families.
Summer Language Camp
Over the past two years, our team has been working closely with 20
churches in the St. Laurent Church Network on joint community outreach
initiatives. Building on this momentum, the Centre Accroche, in
partnership with local churches, will hold a new language-acquisition
camp for youth during the month of July. The curriculum will be based on
the theme of wisdom from the book of Proverbs and includes both written
and oral exercises. The goal is to pair each student with a ‘‘language
buddy’’ from the church network who will coach and mentor each student
during the camp and pave the way for deeper connections with them and
their families after the camp has ended.
Conversation Café
 In
St. Laurent, the mother tongue of over 50% of the residents is neither
French nor English. Many new immigrants need hands-on help for language
learning. A Conversation Café will help meet this need throughout the
year by providing a welcoming place for newcomers to improve their
French and English. Volunteers from network churches will host a table
at the café and lead conversations around a weekly theme while enjoying
coffee and refreshments. All this will take place in a church that
currently hosts a food bank for more than 100 local residents a week.
The Café will also break down the sense of isolation that many newcomers
experience and improve their employment possibilities. All while they
practice chatting!
Financial Capability
 In
his work with the community council, Ricardo sees a unique opportunity
to bring our Entr’Ados’ successful Financial Capability program to St.
Laurent. This program would gather a group of teens to learn how to
handle money confidently and make good financial decisions through
launching, then managing together a micro-enterprise of their choosing.
10% of all profits from sales will be donated to a charity; then they
put the rest in their savings accounts until they each reach their
financial goals.
All three of these initiatives provide Christians with unique
opportunities to cultivate relationships with youth and their families.
We are excited to see how God is going to work through these projects.
Let's Celebrate!
We have lots to celebrate and lots to look forward to as we minister in
this part of the city. We are grateful for friends like you who have
invested in the Centre Accroche over the last 20 years. To
celebrate this important milestone, we would like to invite you to our
20th Anniversary celebration on Saturday, May 25th @ 6:30pm at the
Centre Accroche. Not only will you hear testimonies from some
of our students, but you will also enjoy dessert and a classical music
concert by our very own Haruyo Platt.
Even if you cannot make it to our celebration, we would love to count on your support. Our goal is to raise $20,000 for our 20th Anniversary.
Friends of the ministry are so excited about the Centre’s three new
initiatives that they offered a matching gift of $10,000. Just think! Your gift of $20 becomes $40, $120 becomes $240 and $220 becomes a $440 investment in mentoring youth and their families in St. Laurent.
Yours for the Kingdom,
Glenn Smith
Executive Director | |
