FROM OPEN GYM TO COMMUNITY...
One of the first things that we did when we opened the Mackin building was host open gym for kids aged 8 – 18 every weekday from 2:30pm – 8pm. News of a free basketball gym open every day quickly spread throughout the neighborhood and before we knew it we had 75 – 100 kids a day coming to the gym. Two of those kids were twins Sebastian and Santana. They were a lanky pre-teen brother and sister, in middle school at Westport Middle across town, even though they lived literally around the corner from the gym. Sebastian loved basketball and Santana just loved hanging in the gym, talking with her friends. Sebastian was quiet, just wanting to shoot ball while Santana often got kicked out of the gym for trying to fight even though she weighed less than 100 pounds soaking wet and tried to puff up to kids twice her size. The second year we had open gym, we started opening the building in the morning for kids attending Shawnee High School that were waiting for the bus on the front steps. That first day of school, Shawn had opened the building early that morning to wish the kids a great first day of school and hand out breakfast to those who wanted it. Just as the bus was pulling away Sebastian came running down the street. He had missed the bus on the first day of high school. Shawn quickly closed up the building and pulled his truck around to pick up Sebastian and drop him off at Shawnee about a mile away.
Over the years the twins were in high school we built a relationship with their whole family. Their mother was a woman name Frieda, who quickly welcomed Shawn and me to the neighborhood. Frieda never attended church services, but immediately recognized Shawn as her pastor and went to him for advice and whenever her family needed anything. She was a pillar in the community, always opening her home to people in the neighborhood who needed a place to crash or just needed some food and some love. Santana and Sebastian were the babies of the family, they had a couple of older sisters, and the large family was always gathered at the family home at the corner of Slevin and 28th St. Right before COVID became a pandemic, Freda had a stroke and was in the hospital. She called Shawn one night at 3 am and asked him to come down to the hospital to pray for her. Shawn got up, got dressed and drove downtown to the hospital to visit her. A few days later he and I both went to visit her in the hospital. The entire family was staying in the hospital with her, Frank her husband and the twin’s dad, the twins, their older sisters and their families, everyone was there. Freda was discharged a few days later and went home to recuperate.
A few weeks later, after the pandemic had started shutting down businesses, schools, and limiting access to hospitals, Freda had another stroke. This time she was in the hospital only a few days before she passed away. It was an enormous loss, not just for her family but for the community as well. Freda was well known, and well loved. A lot of the families in the neighborhood are interconnected, so when we hosted the funeral at St Cecilia church there were over 500 people in attendance, even with the COVID lockdowns. Cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors, everyone came out to pay their respects and show love to the family. By now the twins were 18, had just graduated high school and were starting to plan out the rest of their lives. They would have to do it without their mom.
Throughout the course of the pandemic lockdowns, we would occasionally see them out in the neighborhood. Sebastian would call Shawn every once in a while, asking if he and some of his friends could come over and use the gym at the Mackin to shoot ball. At the one-year anniversary of Freda’s death the family held a balloon release ceremony at their house. Shawn and I went to hang out and show love and support. The front yard was full of family members from around the neighborhood, swarms of little kids running from one yard toy to another oblivious to the reason for the get together and celebration. We helped release balloons in Freda’s memory then stayed for the cook out before heading back home.
Time passed and we fell back into seeing the twins occasionally around the neighborhood. About a month ago Sebastian called Shawn. As I listened to the phone conversation between him and Shawn and first I didn’t even recognize Sebastian’s voice. It sounded like a grown man on the other end of the line. He was catching Shawn up on his life the last year really. He had a steady fulltime job working at a nursing home, he had a girlfriend, and he had called because he needed some help, and his dad had told him to call Shawn. He and his girlfriend had been dating about a year and recently things had happened within her family that caused Sebastian to step up and try to help. His girlfriend’s dad was abusive toward her mom, and had beaten her mom so severely that she had had a stroke. When the mom got out of the hospital, Sebastian had arranged for his girlfriend and her whole family to stay a few nights in a hotel in order to get out of the abusive situation. The family included the mom, his girlfriend, and her three siblings aged 14 to 5. Sebastian’s girlfriend had basically taken on responsibility for taking care of the whole family even though she is only 17, and now Sebastian was stepping up to help the family as well, even though he is now only 19. Sebastian’s dad Frank, had told him to call Shawn, because he thought either Shawn would have a house they could rent for the family, or he would know of a housing option.
Sebastian's girlfriend and her family meeting with Ms. Branch about enrollment in Mighty Oak Academy
Sebastian explained all this over the phone to Shawn. We were both amazed that we were listening to the same kid that used to come into the gym, who rarely talked and dreamed of nothing except playing basketball. He was no longer a kid, but a man, and a man that was willing to sacrifice his youth, and own needs and choices, to help out his girlfriend’s family by renting them a house. A few months earlier the Congolese family that had rented one of Love City’s houses for 5 years until they saved up enough money to buy a house of their own, had moved out. The house was now empty and we had been contemplating what to do with it, do we want to sell it or rent it again, when Sebastian called looking for help.
Shawn told him about the house we had available and made arrangements to meet with him, his dad and his girlfriend to tour the house and talk about it. A few days later we met them all at the house to take a tour. As we walked through, we could see the Congolese left it in ok shape. It needed a good cleaning, a couple of new appliances and a couple of window unit air conditioners. Shawn made a deal with Sebastian and his dad, if they put in the work, cleaned it really well, made the repairs if we got them the supplies we’d give them one month free rent and rent it to them for well below market value to help them out. Sebastian and his dad agreed and the whole family got to work. They cleaned and made small repairs here and there where things needed to be fixed and moved in.
Because they had left their home literally in the middle of the night to escape the abuse, they didn’t have anything, just their clothes, no furniture no household items. Over the years at Love City, we had amassed a small collection of random furniture. It has all been used in various different properties over the years and now was collected in the basement storage area under St Cecilia church. The weekend Sebastian and his girlfriend’s family moved in we took them down to the basement storage area and the basically had a “shopping spree” of sorts. They picked out mattresses, rugs, dressers, a sofa, chairs, lamps even wastebins and a TV. We had bunkbeds for all the kids and even some framed artwork they could take over to decorate their new house.
After they had settled in Sebastian came to Shawn and asked about the school we had started and if there was any room for his girlfriend’s brothers and sister. We still had slots available so we schedule a meeting with her mom and the kids to do assessments to see which classes they should be assigned to. The family came in a few days later and the kids met with our school team and the mom met with Nicole. She was so thankful to be living across the street from school and have a safe place for her kids and to be a part of a community. The family even came to our Tuesday night gathering and instantly had a room full of grandmas ready to love on them. When Sebastian and his dad came to sign the lease on the house a few days later I couldn’t help but reflect on all the years we had known Sebastian and his family. How proud his mom would be of him, picking up her legacy of helping people. We’ve been in this neighborhood for seven years now and have seen a lot of changes happen, but being able to grow and do life with people has been one of the most rewarding parts of being in community. It's not always pretty, and it’s not always happy, but it’s still all love.
SUMMER CAMPS 2022!
Today wraps up camps for this summer! We had a short camps season this year as we worked on expanding enrollment at Mighty Oak Academy and hiring and training new staff. We had a different sport every day last week and art camp this week! Next week our focus turns to preparing for school, both with the staff and the building.
MIGHTY OAK IS HIRING!
We have made progress on our hiring goals for this coming school year. We filled a couple of key roles this week and are excited to have them start next week.
Our biggest need still is we need teachers for our Elementary classrooms. Here are the list of positions we are looking to fill:
Elementary School Teachers
Receptionist
Athletic Director
Digital Media Instructor/Specialist
Parent Wellness Coach
Below is a summary of the teacher job posting. You can find a full description of the teacher job, as well as links to all of the additional jobs we have open on indeed and our website. If you or anyone you know might be interested in joining the MOA team this year, please forward them the job posting. You can find the job postings on Indeed by searching Mighty Oak Academy.
TEACHER JOB POSTING AT MIGHTY OAK ACADEMY
The Teachers report to the Instructional Coach and are responsible for leading their own instruction as well as collaborating on a teaching team to facilitate learning across multiple elementary classrooms. Teachers are tone setters for the school and responsible for high quality instruction, culture building within and across classrooms. Teachers will also need to be able to deeply integrate academics, socio emotional learning and health in our classrooms daily. Mighty Oak Academy is a new school, and as we learn and grow, we respond and adapt to the needs of our students and staff. This year we will have teachers working on teams across 2-3 grade levels to address different subjects, integrate project-based learning and adjust classes to skill level rather than grade level.
Some highlights from the job responsibilities:
Annual, weekly, and daily instructional planning tailored to the needs of each child
Instructional delivery in large group, small group, and individualized formats
Collaboration with other teachers to practice skills and jointly problem solve
Partner with instructional support team, behavioral support team and other related service providers to provide personalized supports for students with identified needs
Create a safe and enjoyable educational environment that encompasses project-based learning.
Use the school’s social emotional learning techniques for encouraging the social emotional development of children that builds a healthy, safe, loving school environment.
Manage classrooms effectively so that children feel loved, safe and want to learn.
Some highlights from the job qualifications:
You have a bachelor’s degree
You have a minimum of 3 years of experience as a classroom teacher and hold deep and diverse instructional competence
Your work demonstrates a practice of creating transformative classroom culture for all kids. You take proactive steps to build an equitable classroom practice
You have a parent- and family-centered mindset
You recognize the multidimensional needs of children and families, because in your own way, you’ve been trying to weave education, health, and family support services together for your students
For the full job posting and to see all our other open positions please click on the following link:
Job Postings at Mighty Oak Academy
HELP US PREPARE FOR SCHOOL
Our enrollment is doubling next year so our needs for supplies will also increase. We have put all the new supplies we need in an Amazon wish list. The list has everything from classroom equipment to traditional school supplies the students will use. If you would like to partner with us in supplies for next year, please check out our wish list at : https://a.co/77dqBIT
If you are interested in volunteering or to find out more information about supplies needed please email: info@lovecityinc.org or call (502) 272-078.
Please consider partnering financially with Love City. We are looking for sponsors for students at Mighty Oak Academy as well as partners to help fund construction of our new preschool. Click the button below to donate today.