February and March Update

welcome back!

please check out our new website! because of our great new website, blog updates will now be available monthly. check back each month to see what we've been up to.

we've been getting outside and enjoying the brief warm weather this month! the afternoon program was also excited to welcome our new participant, jimmy. (pictured below with michael)



we've also been very excited to have our first alternative spring break group volunteering with us- all the way from central michigan. they have been a great help and encouragement to our participants, as well as a lot of fun.

here they are helping natalie with our wire and wood sculptures during art class.




we have continued to work hard at feed the children, mobile loaves and fishes, and room in the inn. we are sad to say that we are finishing up our last few weeks of room in the inn at the end of march!

a singer-songwriter and friends life volunteer, katie, came into the class to teach us about songwriting. she gave us a little concert, talked to us about what it took to write a song, and helped us compose one of our own! we also played around with rhythm on some drums.



remember, friends life is holding a summer program from july 6th to august 7th and spots are still available! we will be holding sign-ups until april 15th, so reserve your spot today by emailing friendslife2008@gmail.com!

We are Looking for.....

1. New Participants to join us in our afternoon program!

2. New Participants for our summer program (spots still available)!

3. Volunteers, always.

Contact Meaghan at friendslife2008@gmail.com if you are interested in any of these.

Thank you.

Weeks 15, 16, & 17

hello again from friends life!












it's been a busy transition back into the swing of things after the holidays. we have plenty of new activities, lots of familiar ones, and some snow days thrown in! (some legitimate, some not so legitimate).

by far, one of my favorite activities from the past few weeks was our sewing class held by Mrs. Cindy (Natalie's mom) and several other fantastic helpers. we pooled resources and supplies, provided a sewing machine and a helper for each of our friends, and let their creativity flow!
i was amazed at how quickly they picked up the skills required to operate a sewing machine (having never quite figured that out myself), loved their eye for putting different fabrics together and their joy at the finished product.

we added a new service site called mobile loaves and fishes this semester, and went there for the first time yesterday. mobile loaves and fishes is a great organization which prepares meals for the homeless and the working poor and gives them out nightly from their truck. we were able to help them prepare all the sandwiches to go out on the truck- a perfect combination of practicing our skills to be independent and helping serve others! (check out Mobile Loaves and Fishes under "Where We Serve."


a couple other great things we have done in the past weeks include a fun (but cold) hike, a tour of the recycling plant in Nashville, and lots of time reading, playing games, and enjoying each others company!

Week 14

we are excited to be starting a new semester in the friends life afternoon program! on monday, since nashville public schools were not in session, we all got together and had lunch and helped out at feed the children.

we set our record this monday- 320 food boxes, to help them get a truck shipment out on time!






tuesday we introduced an art program that we hope to continue throughout the semester. steph, one of our staff members, is a talented artist and has agreed to hold art classes every monday. it was a huge hit. the first class was a lesson in experimenting with different mediums- to allow everyone some time to get used to using acryllics, water colors, pastels, and pencils. and of course, there was a lesson on how to properly care for our supplies!

we went to feed the children again on wednesday (2 times in one week- what a treat!) and made boxes for a group that was coming in later that day. we also had help from a couple family members- thanks to cindy and neil for helping us out!

we finished out the week with a much needed bowling session and setting up for room in the inn. we're excited to get back into our weekly routine!