Greetings!

Thank you for investing in the work of Generations United. It’s wonderful to be able to update you on our work this past summer.

We held 2 distinct summer camps in Redwood City. One was held at an existing location: Schaberg/Roosevelt with 18 students, while a brand new endeavor took place with our newest church partner, Redeemer Lutheran. Redeemer has a successful private school and a longstanding local church. Pastor Paul Schult has been in

Redwood City for a few years and had been looking for ways to bring the two groups together, all while identifying a local partner for outreach. Our meeting in January sparked a conversation and led to the fulfillment of a longstanding dream for us. God’s timing is perfect. The closure of Fair Oaks and Hawes Schools left many people in our community heartbroken and displaced. The realization that perhaps we could host a summer camp at a local church seemed to be the perfect idea for these precious families who had felt abandoned, marginalized and disillusioned. Many students who have experienced the pain of school closures in RWC found themselves showered with the love and care of a family of believers coming together with one purpose: to love!

We are eternally grateful for the outpouring of over 121 adults and 28 LIT’s (leaders in training) who came together to serve 70 children; it was nothing short of a miracle. Generations United has been serving children in local schools since 2012, but this was our first endeavor at a local church. We are grateful to report that this was by far our most exciting summer ever! We believe everyone involved was touched in a positive way for the better and God was glorified!

The opposition to our plans was intense. We had planned to use the church’s bus which broke down a month before we launched. Three days before we launched we lost our lead teacher. God totally used this opportunity to allow us to trust Him! It was remarkable as a few weeks before I distinctly knew I was to send for my daughter (Crystal), a veteran missionary leader and children’s minister to come out to help lead an aspect of the camp. She literally saved the day! I know we couldn’t have done this camp without her. She sacrificed being home with her husband, and my grand-daughter Tishy was the youngest student and mascot for the camp. The team that Redeemer put together was stellar. I could tell endless stories of how each of the individuals made this local mission trip an incredible adventure. It was miraculous what happened on so many levels.

We put together a prayer team (thank you Mary Lou Morton & PCC), an incredible kitchen crew that cooked home made breakfast and lunch daily. Some of the Redeemer ladies found themselves seeing the work they did together as “cooking lessons.” It was indeed a positive cross cultural experience. There are too many highlights to count. Watching people of different ethnic groups, stories and backgrounds was priceless! All we can say is that we and our community were changed for the better and God was glorified. GU has served many of these families over the course of 6 summers and by far they all said this was their best! We are hoping to have an opportunity to connect again in the future to celebrate together and share great stories. In fact, wouldn’t it be great if we got together to celebrate more often? Please enjoy the pictures attached and witness the smiles, joy and cross cultural outreach.

Thank you for your incredible hearts, love and sacrifice. We welcome you to continue journeying with us to serve children and families. This school year we will launch our after school programming to 100+ children for our 7th year . We will remain on the former Fair Oaks campus working with KIPP Excellencia with 850 students. Our expectation is to serve a few hundred, as well continue on the 2 existing campuses we work with. This will require lots of prayer, local missionaries, volunteers and mentors on local school campuses. Will you join us? We covet your prayers, your finances, your time, and your talent. Would you consider becoming a monthly financial donor? With our expansion we will need more staff. This is a big request as the unemployment rate is low and most organizations serving families are vying for the same people.

Lastly, as we wrap up our camp, we would ask you to pray for the 160+ new volunteers and 70 children, as well as for the new school year. We are non-stop and in the throws of our backpack drive in July/August. We know that we have aggressive goals, but we are desperate to do ALL we can to see children succeed in the years to come!.

I leave you with a thought from The Power of Proximity “We can see evidence of injustice all around us, whether in continuing incidents of racial inequality or in the systemic forces that disenfranchise people and perpetuate poverty. It’s important to learn about the city’s inequities and to be a voice for the voiceless any way we can.”

Angie Ibarra
Executive Director, Generations United