Rousing my UrbanTrekkers from their sleeping bags to see an ocean sunrise from the beach of Assateague Island, MD. was an experience I couldn't let them miss. They sleepily waited but then the cheer went out over the roaring surf...it was morning's first peek!

Assateague Island National Seashore with its vast bio-diversity is one of UrbanTrekkers favorite places to have fun and to learn. Its places like this, without distractions, we hear God's call to us to care for all creation and our roll as Earth's stewards. This barrier island offers a wilderness kayak trail with ample opportunity to get up close to herons, egrets, brown pelicans, horses, deer and a myriad of other wild life on land and in the sea.

The Assateague Island, MD. Eco Tour 2007 provided four of our freshman UrbanTrekkers their first ever camping and kayaking experience & in the most incredible natural environment only a few hours drive from Camden. We were thoughtful to leave no trace behind only our footprints... though soon they would be erased by the wind & sea.

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better".... Albert Einstein

UT

UrbanPromise celebrates '20/20' special

By KRISTY DAVIES
Courier-Post staff

COLLINGSWOOD -- A jawbreaker.

That was the option chosen by Diane Sawyer of ABC's "20/20'' and ''Good Morning America'' during an interview with 7-year-old Karim Council of Camden.

The exclusive interview was shown at UrbanPromise Ministries' annual banquet Thursday night.

''What would you want to be, a flag or a jawbreaker?'' Karim asked Sawyer.

''A jawbreaker,'' said Sawyer, ''because I could be carried around in a pocket and be entertainment for later.''

Curling his face up, Karim said, ''If you're a flag, nobody going to eat you!''

The audience of banquet guests, about 700 people, laughed as they watched.

Karim also asked Sawyer what she thought of UrbanPromise.

The nonprofit organization helped Sawyer find local families to interview for her special ''Waiting on the World to Change,'' a feature on children growing up impoverished. Most of the children she interviewed were from Camden.

''I really liked everybody we met there,'' Sawyer said. ''I love that they have a good time.''

Sawyer turned the tables on Karim as she asked what kind of animal he would want to be.

''A t-rex,'' he answered.

''Isn't that scary?'' asked Sawyer.

''No,'' said Karim.

''Would you be a nice t-rex?'' she asked.

''No,'' said Karim, as the audience laughed.

After the interview finished airing at the banquet, Karim admitted he was a little nervous during his interview with Sawyer.

''She was nervous, too,'' he noted.

Karim also said he considers himself to be lucky to be involved in UrbanPromise and for the opportunities it has given him.

''I've always taught him to remember where he came from,'' said Gabriella Council, 25, Karim's mother. ''We are very grateful and feel this is an honor.''

''I'm proud of him,'' said Council's father, Karim Council. ''He's my best friend, too.''

During the video, UrbanPromise also revealed some behind-the-scenes looks at ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' when the TV crew came to Camden and Pennsauken. The popular reality show built a new home for one of the families featured in Sawyer's 20/20 special.

''People need to go outside their comfort box and help others,'' Ed Sanders, an Extreme Makeover carpenter and designer, said on the video.

As part of Thursday's banquet, students, members and staff participated in prepared performances and talked about what a promise means and giving hope to the children and people of Camden.

''I grew up in Camden,'' said Elyse Smith, 19. ''It's my city.''

Smith, who was interviewed as part of the "20/20'' special, received scholarship money that allowed her to begin college this fall at Bloomfield College.

''I'm outside of my environment, but I'm focused on becoming a better leader and my education,'' said Smith.

''UrbanPromise is a very inspired group and inspire other people,'' said Garo Hovnanian, spokesman for J.S. Hovnanian and Sons, the builder of the ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' home for the Marrero family. ''They define the word 'hope.' ''

UrbanTrekkers - Outdoor Leadership Training (OLT) on the Appalachian Trail

UrbanTrekkers take on the Appalachian Trail...it was OLT weekend (Outdoor Leadership Training)...we started out with temperatures in the high 80's, a bit on the warm side for October in the Delaware Water Gap. Day 1 had us climbing mostly up along the Kittatinny Range as we began our 3 day expedition.

the trip , a requirement for the spring Senior Rite of Passage to the Adirondacks provided plenty of first time experiences for the students. The New Jersey portion of the AT has some of the more difficult terrain along the 2,150 mile trail...over the 15 miles we hiked Trekkers were given turns to lead the group responding to situations where they faced scenarios of an injured hiker or a lost member of the group.

we had some incredible visitas viewing mountains beyond mountains...hiking with 35 - 40 pounds on our backs, filtering water to drink from the mountain streams. Its been exciting to watch these students grow in experience and confidence as they explore a world beyond the streets of Camden.

Not Just an Outdoor Club...Sure we've hiked snow covered mountains, kayaked among the porpoises off the coast of Maine, and backpacked rugged ridge lines along the Appalachian Trail. But dress us up and we can become "Ushers Extraordiare". UrbanTrekkers assist the Symphony in C with their concert series performed at the Gordon Theater of Rutgers University in Camden. For the second year our students provide a concession service during the intermission and usher service throughout the evening. Besides their good work they get to spend the evening listening to world class performances of Prokofiev and Rachmaninov from the Symphony in C

UrbanPromise Second Annual Monarch Butterfly Release





UrbanTrekkers the expeditionary learning program of UrbanPromise Ministries working with the staff and students of the Camden Forward School celebrated their second annual Monarch Butterfly release. "Gotta Go, Gotta Go to Mexico" the students chanted as they released the Monarchs to begin their miraculous journey south. Students and volunteers at UrbanPromise have created and nurtured a Butterfly habitat that serves as an outside laboratory. Each fall students collect the butterfly eggs from the Milkweed plants and then raise the caterpillars in their classrooms, watching the transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Our garden celebration completes the cycle for this season but we can only long for their return next summer.

Peace, like a garden in Camden.
UT

God Told Me to Come Home
By: Dr. Bruce Main, Executive Director of UrbanPromise

The crème colored couch had been sitting outside the new Student Center for two weeks—a beautiful new structure that houses our youth programs and alternative high school.

Some well intended donor had dropped off the couch after hours one day. But by the second day, the cushions had been taken by kids who wanted to do back flips in the parking lot. By the end of the first week, the Coke and Slurpee stains started to appear like small continents on the smooth cotton surface. Regardless of its appearance, the kids would park their behinds on the dirty couch while waiting for the program to begin. It was an eyesore.

I must admit I was getting a little irritated that nobody on the staff had taken the time to remove it. “How many times will they walk past before they do something?” I thought to myself. I just imagined a donor visiting and seeing this unattended piece of trash. So much for good impressions.

But the couch did not irritate me as much as the missing bus keys at 5am on Friday morning. I had volunteered to pick up 10 kids and their parents and take them to the airport. A camp in Colorado had donated a free week for our kids. SouthWest Airlines donated the tickets. I just had to get them all to the airport by 6:30am.

No bus keys!

Brent, our staff worker, was supposed to leave them in my mail box in the older building—our administrative hub on the other side of campus. But no keys were to be found.

So after rousing Brent’s supervisor from his sleep, I discovered that the only set of keys were on the other side of campus, in the new Student Center. Instead of jumping in the bus and heading off to the airport, I would need to break into the Student Center, disarm the alarm, and find the spare set of keys. I was already late for my pickups. This was only going to add to the morning drama.

I was not amused as I walked across the parking in the pitch dark.

I won’t tell you what I muttered to myself.

And then I saw the big ugly crème couch. It was too dark to see the stains, but seeing that eyesore still resting up against the brand new building irritated me even more.

“I guess I’ll have to move it myself,” I whined under my breath. Doesn’t it say in the Bible somewhere that Moses leaned on his “staff” and died?

Within a foot of the couch I noticed someone sleeping on it. Immediately a head popped up and startled me.

“Who’s that?” I asked, wondering who was more surprised. The person had obviously been sleeping. I, on the other hand, was not expecting to meet anyone at 5am in the parking lot.

I inched a little closer. It was a male wearing beige pants and a white t-shirt.

“Antwan.”

“Antwan, who?” I beckoned.

“Antwan Smith.”

The last time I had heard from Antwan Smith was ten years earlier. He had been locked up for drug dealing charges and I had lost track of him. But I had not forgotten Antwan. How could I? He was one of the boys in my memorable 6th grade class—a class of young boys who oozed with potential. Antwan had won our annual Martin Luther King Speech contest with a stirring rhetorical display. He had sung in our Gospel Choir, raked my leaves for spare change. He was just a good kid.

But then like so many young men in our city something happened. The drugs, the money, the prestige of being on the corner was just too alluring for a young man searching for identity.

Here he was. Pants wet with urine from an early morning discharge, curled up on a cushion-less couch. Homeless. What had his life had become? A 27 year old man without a job, without an education. Drifting.

I reached out my hand for his.

“Good to see you friend,” I chimed with a smile.

“Good to see you too,” he returned.

“Antwan,” I asked, feeling like I was caught in some kind of surreal moment of suspended time. You see, I am usually in bed at 5am. And had the keys been where they were supposed to be, I would have never seen Antwan. But there we were. Both ten years older. No fear between us. The seeds of friendship had been sown years before.

“Why did you come here?” I inquired.

Silence. The city eerily quiet.

“God told me I was supposed to come home.”

That was it. No big theological explanation. Just, “God told me I was supposed to come home.”

“Do you want to ride to airport with me?” I asked.

He nodded. And together we began our journey through the city streets to pick up eagerly waiting kids. As each child got on the bus, bagged packed, eyes wide open with expectation and hope I wondered what Antwan was thinking. Did he remember those days when I used to pick him up for trips to the Shore or the Amusement Park or for church Sunday morning? Was it painful for him to watch young people who still had hope, opportunity and choices?

After dropping the children and parents at the airport, we stopped for breakfast. We chatted for a couple of hours about the past ten years. And then I dropped him at the corner of Federal and Broadway so he could meet his parole officer.

I have not seen Antwan since. All I know is that for a brief moment Antwan came home. And because of an old couch and a set of forgotten keys, I was given the opportunity to welcome him.

Pics from SeaQuest...

UrbanTrekkers, the expeditionary learning program of UrbanPromise Ministries in Camden, New Jersey helped to bring a marine biology based afterschool program into the Camden Forward School for grades 6 - 8. In partnership with the American Littoral Society 14 students were part of a fourteen week program both in and outside the classroom with students building a salt water aquarium, visiting natural habitats of both fresh and salt water marine life. Students were also treated to a wonderful sea food dinner that they took part in preparing as well as the eating. They also learned of the relationship between Camden, the Delaware River, the Atlantic Ocean and themselves.

some pics from Maine..."Hoods to Woods Summit II"

For the second year running UrbanTrekkers and Trekkers from Midcoast Maine, two youth development programs, joined forces at Blueberry Cove Camp in Tenants Harbor, Maine. Twenty five high school students from both groups met to explore the area and learn about each others cultures. The program included kayaking in Port Clyde, swimming in rock quarries, fishing on lobster boats and hiking Monhegan Island. Time spent in camp included evening camp fires where the rural Maine Trekkers engaged our UrbanTrekkers from Camden, New Jersey. Both programs are committed to helping young people reach their full potential by exposing them to a myriad of options for life choices.

Pics from Freshman Orientation...

To start the new school term at the UrbanPromise Academy the class of 2011, eleven students along with the staff spent the day at Mount Misery in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. UrbanTrekkers, the expeditionary learning program of UrbanPromise Ministry hosted the event for the incoming freshman class creating an intense time of trust & teambuilding exercises. As the students went through the drills of a low ropes obstacles and challenge course they found the need to cooperate and listen to each other as they problem solved each challenge they faced Students and teachers come to know each other in a setting outside the classroom and outside their typical roles.

Pics from Sedge...

Each year UrbanTrekkers, the expeditionary learning program of UrbanPromise Ministries takes sophomore students from the UrbanPromise Academy to discover Sedge Island and the bio-diversity of New Jersey's coastal heritage. Sedge Island, part of the New Jersey Fish & Wildlife Department offers an educational outreach program to immerse students over several days and promote a conservation ethic for the New Jersey coastal bay and shore area. Students kayaked, fished, clammed and later prepared meals from the catch. They also did field research on a number of topics, ranging from the Diamond Back Terrapin to the American Oyster Catcher and Blue Fish in order to do oral reports on the final day at the Sedge House.