Category: Volunteer
The Soopah Team has finished its training this spring for the BMX track and will begin racing on June 5th! We have been working on getting the kids safety gear and one item they needed was gloves. Meckwear is an upcoming apparel company which donated gloves for the Soopah Team! Even though the company is in the startup phase the company’s owner, Brent Mecklenburg wanted to help out. The gloves have great hand protection and are very comfortable. The kids will keep the gloves and be involved in getting feedback to the company so they can improve the design.
If you are interested in helping the Soopah Team get their safety gear please contact
Nate@triplethreat.org
Some might call 1,000 youngsters a handful. At Triple Threat, we call it fun.
So on Saturday, August 14th, from 12 – 4pm, Triple Threat will team up with the City of Aurora, area churches, non-profits and volunteers to offer the annual urban festival for youth called Celebrate our Children. Last year, about 2,000 people filed into East Aurora’s McCarty Park to enjoy the free event that features live entertainment and special attractions, rides, carnival games, prizes, community booths and more. Plan now to volunteer and join the fun. Stay connected to our Facebook and Twitter accounts for more details and we hope to see you there!
Fourth and fifth graders from Gates and Krug elementary schools will learn many lessons in Triple Threat’s basketball program.
Sure, they’ll learn to shoot the ball.
And their dribbling skills will surely improve.
That’s not entirely what the basketball program is about, though. While on-the-court skills are a building block of the program, off-the-court character is just as important.
With the help of East Aurora High School basketball players and other volunteers, Triple Threat seeks to build leadership skills in the youth it serves in this program.
The program meets at Krug Elementary on Mondays at 2:45 p.m. and Gates Elementary on Tuesdays at 2:45 p.m.
Feel the Beat is a hand drum program, teaching playing skills and beats on the djembe drum. It will be held at Krug Elementary with fourth grade youth for six weeks meeting on Tuesdays 3-4pm. The program will start on April 20th.
We are looking for volunteers! Experience is not required and fun will surely be had.
Triple Threat partnered with Fox Valley United Way for the Souper Bowl of Caring, a food drive held at Jewel-Osco locations throughout the Fox Valley area to collect food and donations for the Aurora Inter-Faith Food Pantry. On Saturday, Feb. 6, from 9am – noon, Caleb, Aurora youth, and Triple Threat volunteers served at the Jewel-Osco on Lake St. collecting food and donations. Together (9 area grocery stores and over 160 volunteers) were able to raise over $4,000.00 in cash donations and over 2,200 lbs of food donations for local food pantries.
How would you react to the news that you lost your job? Or perhaps you’re one of the more fortunate people whose job is secure in this volatile job market. And although you’re thankful for a full time job, you long to have some quality time to invest in difference-making volunteerism. Read how these “two Toms” both uniquely responded to the circumstances they found themselves in. We applaud their courage and initiative to keep their focus outward and choose to serve those less fortunate in their own community – all while making their families pretty proud. Way to go guys!
Triple Threat has been inspired in the past month by the story of two “Toms.” Like so many, Tom #1 experienced a job loss as a result of cutbacks due in an unstable economy. In the face of uncertainty, he decided to redeem his time while awaiting re-employment and focus on service. So he volunteered his time and talents to help with some Triple Threat projects and events. Tom #2 is employed full time, but really wanted to increase his serving quotient. He made some adjustments in his work schedule to allow him to volunteer one day each week with Triple Threat. Immediately he began using his passion and gifts to help organize projects and event needs, and simply serve where needed. Both Toms are planning on mentoring youth this spring through the Triple Threat bike program. Thanks Toms – and thanks to all our volunteers who partner with us to serve youth. Together we can make a difference.
Recently a group of students from Northwestern University partnered with Triple Threat to offer an Academics workshop for students living in Jericho Circle, an Aurora Housing Authority community. One of the NWU students, Jessica Holden, told of her own experience growing up as a disadvantaged youth. She shared her story with under-resourced youth to encourage them to dream big and reach to their potential. And she did it through an incredible poem she wrote titled “I Am Somebody.” Click HERE to listen to Jessica’s amazing true story.
It all started when I decided to use my December 2009 Motiv8nU Fundraiser Party to give someone special a great Christmas present!! After connecting with Caleb Luper we chose an under-resourced high school girl involved in Triple Threat programs and her family.
I went around town gathering donated raffle items: massages, gym memberships, restaurant gift cards, gift baskets, etc. The day of the fundraiser, a nasty snowstorm kept away half of my guests. We raised $100 that day, but needs far outweighed wants for the girl we wanted to help. Guests and friends continued to bring gifts in.
I wanted this to be special, meaningful, and comfortable for her, and her mom and family. So I wrote a poem in a journal for her. Everyone included a personal message inside so she’d have a real connection with those that had helped her. Gathering the gifts, we arrived at her home. I read the poem to her and we distributed gifts: things she needed, some things she wanted, something special to earn, some items for siblings, and even something for her to give to her mom!
Smiles lit up faces. It was actually pretty emotional for all of us. I shared my personal story about when I was 16, living in my car and showering in the gym. Being homeless is tough and I wanted her to see that hard work, dedication, character, and perseverance do pay off! Honestly this was the best Christmas because all of us that contributed were able to see what the true Christmas spirit is really about. And we made some great new friends in East Aurora!
Staci Boyer, a Triple Threat partner , is a personal trainer, motivational speaker, and founder of Motiv8nU. Watch for Staci’s first book Motvi8nU to be published December 2010!
Viva La Party (Very Important Volunteer Appreciation Party) was held Dec. 12 at the Harkness Center in East Aurora. It was great to have 150 of our Triple Threat volunteers and partners show up to celebrate another year of partnering to empower under-resourced youth. Fun family activities, delicious catered food from River’s Edge, a local restaurant, and surprises were all part of the evening. We were honored to have State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, Mike Meyer, Executive Director of United Way of Fox Valley, and Randy Schoof, pastor of Warehouse Church join us for the evening. Caleb Luper, Executive Director of Triple Threat, delivered a moving message to Triple Threat volunteers and partners, affirming the legacy they were creating in Aurora.
But it was single mother testimonies of the difference Triple Threat’s making in their families, video of events and programs, quotes and pictures from countless kids served, and Triple Threat volunteers in action that really told the story. This Christmas season, what a perfect time of year to recall the reason why we all do what we do. THANKS Volunteers & Partners for your commitment to under-resourced youth and MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM TRIPLE THREAT!
“Art is crucial to a developing persons mind, spatially and socially relating, finding themselves and telling people about their world.” Artist Kevin Lustrup believes it and lives it out as he teaches Aurora 4th and 5th grade students weekly in the Triple Threat Painting Class. Students experiment with different media to learn skills to draw and paint and the power of perspective, color, lighting, emotion, creativity and message in Art. The experience has been powerful for Kevin as talent emerges, “these kids show so much promise.”
Kevin, an accomplished artist, studied at the American Academy of Art and is a member of the Chicago based community of artists known as Infidel. The gritty streets of EAST L.A. influenced his unique thrash-style synthesis of Pop Art, Graffiti, Oil, and stencil making. Kevin finds it renewing to once again be in an urban setting working with students and encouraging them to find their voice through art.
