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| Many of these Kids Have Never Left their Own Inner-city Neighborhood | |
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Have you planned your summer vacation yet? If you are like most people you are probably seeking a place out of the Valley where it's cool. Maybe in the mountains. You know how valuable such a trip can be. How it can revive you. How it will live in your memory for years. To most of the teenagers in Glendale's Inner City, such a trip is not in the realm of reality. In fact, for most of them it can't even be imagined. That's why Joe Eriquez and Heart for the City is working tirelessly to send as many of these kids to camp as is possible. "You have to understand," Joe explains, "that a trip to the mountains to the kids in the Inner City is about as foreign as a moon walk. Many of these kids have never left their own neighborhood, and don't even have a concept of where the Arrowhead Mall is, let alone what it might be like in Prescott or Flagstaff. Can you imagine being fifteen years old and never having been further than a mile from where you were born?" |
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Going to camp is far more than just getting to travel. Heart for the City partners with Young Life, and they co-ordinate a program that allows for immense growth in each young person's life. Out of their normal environment, they get to be just what they are - - kids, and they don't have to worry about anything else. At the camp they learn about Faith and Trust as they master a rope course among the trees, kept safe with a harness system, and forced to rely on others. They enjoy a zip line that takes them from a mountain into a lake. They get to laugh and relax - - treats they are often neglected at home. "The camp setting is unique," Joe said, "as it allows kids to break down the walls that they are forced to live behind most of their lives. As you interact with them you can see the hurt and pain that they have suppressed, in some instances for years, pour out of them giving them a relief they never thought they could experience. |
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As you watch," he went on, his voice heavy with the emotion he felt, "you can see the Holy Spirit and the Love of Christ touch their young hearts. It is a real mountain top experience." As you can imagine, these "mountain top experiences" aren't free, and that's why Joe and Heart for the City needs your help. They need you to invest in this program, to help send an inner city youth to camp. If everyone who reads this steps up and make a donation, Joe's prayers will not only be answered, but those donors will experience a "mountain top experience" of their own!!!!
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