"I believe that there are treasures only little children hold the key to." by Lindsey Froneberger - League Street Church of Christ

One thing I loved about Fortress is the amount of love being poured into the children that attend. As I sat and helped my buddy color her worksheet, I thought to myself: Have I ever been closer to Jesus than in this moment? And I don't think I have. I also felt like I was in the very middle of the heart of God. In the midst of the chaos of free time, there was a sense of quiet and serenity that I know only comes when Jesus is present. I believe that there are treasures that only little children hold the key to. I am thankful to Fortress for the opportunity they've given me to access these quiet and heavenly moments with His adored and wonderful children.

"...Fortress changes the lives of kids for the better." by Parker Pruitt - West Side Church of Christ

   People often say if they have a great new experience that it was life changing. Many people fail to realize though that every experience and action is life changing. Some actions may be as small as making a child laugh or helping him wash his hands. These small experiences are hopefully positive on both sides. There is pain and bad experiences in every life however. We realize that the children at Fortress have a difficult life ahead of them, but it is our goal, and Fortress' before us, to make it better even if it’s simply by making a kid smile.

     My buddy's name is Trent; he's a second grader this year and has been going to Fortress for at least a few years. I go around with him throughout the Fortress program and help him stay focused, sometimes a difficult task. Trent is one of the brightest people I've ever met. He's hilarious and makes up jokes that he finds especially funny. He's wild and he loves to run around and dance. A lot of the time he reminds me of how I used to be when I was his age.
     Another thing we do during the Fortress Summer program is go into the city of Fort Worth for urban experiences. The first urban experience I went on was the prayer drive where we visited many parts of the surrounding community and prayed for their specific struggles. The second day we gave out water bottles to the homeless that were on Lancaster Street. Some of them stopped to talk to us and tell us their story, while others seemed to be busy. All the water bottles we handed out were accepted graciously. Today I will be going on my third urban experience to buy and cook dinner. We will be allowed a small budget to buy food for ourselves and the rest of the youth group volunteers.
     There is no doubt in my mind that Fortress betters the lives of children in a thousand small ways. And a thousand good experiences are all life changing things; Fortress changes the lives of kids for the better.

Indoor Family Picnic

Friday, May 15th brought on a good 'ole fashion indoor family picnic here at Fortress YDC! With help from the lovely ladies of Junior League of Fort Worth, families were able to enjoy pizza and watermelon while watching Big Hero 6 on the big screen! The kiddos had a blast watching the movie while parents were able to hang back and interact with other parents. After dinner, we popped up some movie popcorn, and served it to everyone in attendance. Towards the end of the movie, all the kiddos got to play with glow sticks, and build all different light up designs. What a great opportunity for a laid back, hang out night! 

3rd Annual Literacy Carnival

On Saturday, April 25, Fortress YDC hosted a youth literacy carnival sponsored by the Fort Worth Junior League and supported by volunteers from 6 different groups, including BYX from TCU, Legacy Church of Christ Young Professionals, Decatur Church of Christ, Longhorns for Christ, Gateway Church, and Junior League of Fort Worth. In addition to some of our neighbors in the community, 37 of our 46 Fortress families came out for a day of food, games and fun! Thanks to all of our awesome volunteers, families enjoyed hot dogs, chicken nuggets generously donated by Chick-fil-a Montgomery Plaza and hamburgers, lemonade and sno-cones - and that wasn't even the best part! Students got to play all sorts of games, like a "book" walk and digging for dinosaur eggs in the sand, to earn tickets. Kids also had the chance to earn 5 extra tickets by sitting down to have books read to them by our special guests, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, Fort Worth City Councilwoman Kelly Allen Gray, Fort Worth Judge Lisa Woodard and Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks. When they were ready, the kids brought those tickets to the book store, staffed by volunteers from the Fort Worth Junior League, where they got to go shopping for books to take home. With titles ranging from Babar and the Very Hungry Caterpillar to Goosebumps and the Hunger Games series, there was something for all ages and tastes. The kids went home with well over 100 books, along with shiny new bookmarks for all the reading they're going to do! 

Easter Egg-citement!

To celebrate the start of the Easter season, Fortress YDC families gathered for food, fun and fellowship on Friday, April 10^th. The evening started by making resurrection rolls, with each ingredient representing part of the story of Christ’s burial and resurrection: marshmallows representing His body were dipped into butter and rolled in cinnamon and sugar, representing the oils and spices used to anoint His body for burial. The marshmallows were then wrapped in crescent roll dough, symbolizing His tomb, and baked for dessert. While the rolls were in the oven, families enjoyed a few more activities like dying Easter eggs and coloring pictures of the Easter bunny. After a dinner of ham, biscuits, mashed potatoes and salad, prepared and served by the ladies of the Fort Worth Junior League, the resurrection rolls were served for dessert. Just as the women returned to Christ’s tomb on the third day to discover it was empty, families broke open their rolls to discover the marshmallow was no longer there. If you missed out on Friday and would like to make resurrection rolls with your family, please see Blythe for the recipe. They are very easy and a wonderful tradition to start with your children!

Children at Risk Parent Class

For March's event at Fortress YDC, Ada Akogun from local non-profit Children at Risk spoke to a small but very engaged group of parents about how Texas grades public schools and what those ratings mean for their children. Children at Risk's motto is "Speaking Out + Driving Change for Children," and that is embodied in the Texas School Guide they publish to help empower families to succeed in public education.After dinner (provided by Jason's Deli compliments of Children at Risk), volunteers from the Junior League of Fort Worth sat down to discuss with parents what they'd learned and how to use that information to help their children receive the best education possible. Every parent also went home with a copy of the Texas School Guide, which is chock full of tips, resources and advice, in addition to the school rankings.

Valentine's Day Banquet

Love is in the air! Okay, maybe not, but the delicious aroma of chocolate chip cookies was in the air at Fortress YDC’s Valentine’s Day Banquet on February 6th, and that’s pretty darn close to love! Parents and kids were invited to spend the evening celebrating the love of family, food and fun by enjoying a yummy dinner of homemade spaghetti, salad, and chocolate chip cookies (of course!), all lovingly prepared and served by Cupid’s favorite helpers, the volunteers from the Fort Worth Junior League. And what would a Valentine’s Day celebration be if dinner wasn’t followed by dancing? While some of the kiddos were a little shy at first, a favorite song and alittle encouragement (I’m looking at you, Gabriel’s PawPaw!) were all it took to get the party started for most. The evening was capped off by a solo performance to Bruno Mars’s instant hit, Uptown Funk, by Fortress’s own superstar-in-training, Jeremiah. He even did the worm, people! We hope you had as much fun as we did and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone next month! 

Internet Safety Class

Welcome back to another year with Fortress YDC! We are so happy to have our kiddos back after the Christmas break and we just know 2015 is going to be a great year! To get the year started off right, Fortress hosted an Internet Safety Class for parents on January 15, 2015. 

Have you ever thought about how websites like Facebook and Instagram make money without charging users for their services? This was one of the many thought-provoking questions raised by Mr. Chris Robey from Teen Lifeline, Inc. Chris presented an internet safety class to a handful of Fortress parents and covered topics including text message lingo and whether your Snapchat photo is really deleted forever (hint: it’s not!). While parents listened to Chris’s informative presentation, they also enjoyed a taco and nacho bar prepared and served by volunteers from the Junior League of Fort Worth. Following the presentation, these volunteers sat down with the parents to discuss the issues Chris raised. One parent offered that her two-year old even knows how to access YouTube on a smartphone! Chris used the invention of flight to highlight how new technologies are developing faster and faster. While many of the parents and volunteers could remember their first experiences with computers and cell phones (and pagers!), our children will grow up never knowing anything but tablets and smartphones and whatever new technology is waiting just around the corner. Given the quality of the discussions, we think it’s safe to say that those in attendance went home with a new or renewed perspective on monitoring their kids’ use of technology and internet access, a wonderful way to start the new year on the right foot. 

Fortress Christmas Party

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! On Friday, December 12th, Fortress YDC hosted our annual Christmas dinner for our wonderful kiddos and their families. We had over 120 people attend, our biggest event this year! The kids set to work on making and decorating popsicle stick christmas tree ornaments, a perennial favorite. Then everyone was treated to a dinner of spicy Texas chili, homemade cornbread and a hot chocolate bar with every topping imaginable, all served with a smile by the lovely volunteers from the Junior League of Fort Worth. After dinner, families worked together to make gingerbread houses with graham crackers, icing, and a little engineering ingenuity. The results weren’t all what you might call “perfect,” but they were all perfectly tasty! At the end of the night, a few lucky attendees won raffle drawings for gift cards, and all of the adults went home with a gift - a cookbook designed for those on a budget. The cookbook is called "Good and Cheap," and the copies were generously donated by the author herself, Leanne Brown. It was a wonderful evening with friends and family and a festive way to end the year. Fortress YDC will be closed starting Thursday, December 18th and will re-open in January when school starts again. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and blessings for a wonderful 2015! 

Gobble, Gobble Get Together

Gobble, gobble! It’s almost Thanksgiving, and at Fortress YDC there’s a lot to be thankful for, especially our mentors. That’s why we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for our families and the mentors who volunteer their time to work with our wonderful kiddos. On Friday, November 14, 24 families came together, along with 8 mentors, for a night of food, family and giving thanks. The evening started with students, their families and mentors making thankfulness pumpkins, writing or drawing something they are thankful for on strips of orange paper and combining them to form a pumpkin. Next, volunteers from the Junior League of Fort Worth served a delicious, homemade dinner of turkey casserole, collard greens, sweet potatoes and biscuits. At the end of the meal, everyone got to enjoy watching a video collage of photos taken throughout the year at Fortress, many including the mentors and also the very popular Halloween Carnival! To cap off the evening, students were given a baggie with two Oreos, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, seven jelly beans, and access to large bowls of icing. For those who could resist temptation and hadn’t eaten their goodies already, they combined these ingredients into Thanksgiving turkeys!

The Boo Bash!

Ghouls and goblins! Pirates and princesses! Superheroes and villains! Fortress YDC’s Halloween Carnival on Friday, October 24th, had it all! The 1st annual party was one of the best-attended events Fortress has hosted this year, with over 100 parents and kids coming for a night of fun. The party kicked off with a creepy dinner of tombstones covered in graveyard dirt and doused in troll snot, zombie slime and vampire guts (i.e. ground beef nachos with cheese dip, sour cream and salsa, prepared and served by the lovely volunteers from the Junior League of Fort Worth). After dinner, the Carnival doors opened and kids raced to play pumpkin darts, ghost bowling and jack-o-lantern golf for a chance to win candy, bubble gum and snacks. However, the party REALLY got started when the costume and dance contests kicked off! The dance floor was packed the entire night with talented kids showing off their best moves. It was so much fun, even the parents and volunteers couldn’t resist getting in on the action, busting out some old school Michael Jackson Thriller and newer favorites like the Nae Nae and the Wobble. At the end of the night, prize packs full of goodies were handed out for the Best Boy Costume (Iron Man), Best Girl Costume (Day of the Dead) and Most Creative Costume (Agnes Gru from Despicable Me). The award for Most Creative Adult Costume went to Ms. Pacman, along with a $25 gift card, for her handiwork. The troll snot and graveyard dirt gone and the last piece of candy handed out, the children were turned loose in their sugar- and dance-induced frenzy to terrorize (I mean, entertain) their parents for the rest of the night, while the volunteers and Center staff cleaned up and talked about how they are already excited for next Halloween! 

Fortress YDC Parenting Class

On Thursday, September 24th, Fortress YDC had a historic night. For the first time ever, every single person who registered for an event attended, and then some! It is safe to say that the Parent Training class was a big success. The 17 participants learned about the different discipline techniques used by Fortress to guide kids towards making better choices, including practical tips to use when disciplining at home. After the presentation, the parents enjoyed a dinner of garlic bread, a green salad, and baked ziti, made from scratch by the lovely ladies of the Fort Worth Junior League. After dinner, these same Junior League volunteers joined the participants to discuss what they’d learned and how they might be able to apply those principles to real-life situations they’ve encountered with their kiddos. 

Back 2 School Bash

To get the school year started off on the right foot, kids and parents (and grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and cousins too!) gathered at Fortress for a Back 2 School Bash on August 22nd. More than 140 people came out for food, games and awesome prizes to help get kids ready to go back to the classroom. Kids engaged in a variety of games to win school supplies, like composition notebooks, binders, mechanical pencils and extra large erasers. Two very lucky raffle winners even got to take home new backpacks stocked full of school supplies! While the kids played, parents and family members enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs and watching the kids run around having fun. The hula-hoop competition was particularly entertaining and attracted more than a few spectators! In the late summer heat, the water balloon toss was also quite popular. With help from Junior League of Fort Worth volunteers, Fortress gave out approximately $300 in school supplies and served nearly 200 hamburgers and hot dogs to the attendees, which included over 75 people from the community in addition to the families already enrolled with Fortress. Judging from the enthusiasm at the Back 2 School Bash, we think it’s going to be a great school year! 

Intern Spotlight - Kalyn Brisby from OCU

Kalyn Brisby is about to begin her Junior year at Oklahoma Christian University. She is working on getting a Social Work degree so that one day she can start a program with similar goals as Fortress. She found out about Fortress through a Career Fair at OCU where we were recruiting interns. Ironically, Kalyn did not attend the fair, but rather saw a pamphlet that her roommate had grabbed and was intrigued by how closely aligned our values were with her dreams for her future career.

Kalyn, like other interns and staff, felt an inspirational fire one day at Fortress during worship time. Coincidentally, her church lesson that week had been about "having faith like a child." "That week at Fortress," she says,  "the thought was really hammered home during worship time! Students were singing different songs, but all of a sudden, when "Set a Fire" started playing, the whole place exploded with the sound of singing children. All around me I heard, 'set a fire down in my soul, that I can't contain, that I can't control. I want more of you, God.' It was absolutely amazing to listen to such young hearts singing to God with such fervor. They may not fully comprehend everything that they were saying, but neither were they ashamed of what they were proclaiming either!" Kalyn believes that "we should all have faith like a child and not be ashamed of what we stand for, or to just say 'I need MORE OF YOU GOD!'" Kalyn praises God for the children at Fortress and for what they have taught her this summer!

Some very potent wisdom Kalyn has to share with newcomers to Fortress is to love and be fully invested in the work that you are doing here and with the kids. You have to believe in its purpose in order for it to feel like a successful job. Remembering that we're aiming for long-term goals for these students and that immediate change may not be evident will keep an intern in the right mindset for success. She adds, "Seek God every step of the way because He makes those unbearable days a little more bearable."

Kalyn recognizes that there are hard parts of this job. "Sometimes the kids won't cooperate. Sometimes it rains while we are on Urban Experience. Sometimes it feels like you're not making a difference. But those days that a kid loves what we are doing in class, or a homeless person exhibits so much hope and thanksgiving, or when our building is full of laughter and praise at worship, or when a child just runs up to hug you because they love you--those are the times that you KNOW God is working on and through you." She feels that every negative interaction or experience is matched with a rewarding feeling that you are doing right by God. When that happens, Kalyn is reminded that God has brought her to Fortress and is using her for His purpose!

The hardest part is having patience and keeping calm when you as an authoritative figure are being put to the test. We can feel that! These kids will try to make you crack, but we always remember 'love and logic!'

Kalyn would like to add that this summer's group of interns and staff has been the best she has ever worked with and she will be sad to leave at the end of this week!

Intern Spotlight - Nadirah Shorter from TCU

Nadirah comes to Fortress everyday prepared for the five hours of chaos ahead of her. She works as an intern with our preK-1st grade age group, and there are some wild days for sure! She is a student at TCU until next spring when she graduates. With a bachelor's degree in Communication Studies under her belt, she will then continue on to get her master's in Speech Pathology. We are blessed to have such a dedicated student interning with us this summer!

Nadirah heard about the summer program at Fortress when we set up a booth at the Careers in Health Fair at TCU. She was interested in applying because of the unique opportunity and the challenging responsibility that she thought an internship at Fortress would bring her.

A day that Nadirah will never forget is when the preK-1st graders had a talent show-turned-dance party. Many of the kids' talent was doing some sort of dance to a Top 40 song, or singing the "Frozen" theme song from the Disney movie that we all know and love. By the end of the event, every person in the room--including the volunteer youth group--was shakin' it to top 40 songs. "It was crazy because a lot of them had a lot of rhythm and knew how to dance extremely well!"

Nadirah suggests Fortress as a great place to start with first-hand urban environment volunteer work. Even if you do not have teaching experience, a new volunteer can easily acclimate to our learning system, she says.

Nadirah feels that God placed her in the right situation for her to work in this summer with the preK-1st grade age group. "Just to be a part of these children's lives and to see them excited to learn has really solidified my choice to be a Pediatric Speech Pathologist." We are moved to know that Fortress and its students have helped inspire people to do good work with at-risk youth.

The toughest part of this summer for Nadirah has been "sustaining the amount of energy it takes everyday working with small children in addition to a youth group in the afternoons." Balancing two other jobs as well as a summer class at TCU does not make it any easier to be at full brain capacity all the time! But, we can see that Nadirah has found a way to do it, because she has been an integral part of our preK-1st grade program.

Intern Spotlight - Kelsey Henson from OC

Kelsey with her favorite little monster, Trent.

Kelsey Henson is a longtime staff member/volunteer at Fortress. Even before her first run here as a staff member in 2008, she volunteered here through Legacy Church of Christ in North Richland Hills. Kelsey has always worked with our preK-1st grade age group. Her talents for teaching this age group are evident when the kids welcome her back with each visit and each summer return. Kelsey is a senior at Oklahoma Christian University where she will obtain her degree in Family Studies/Child Development with a Psychology minor. After she graduates next spring, she will be attending graduate school for Non-profit Management. Fortress has made a huge impact on Kelsey's life and she wants to return to the Fort Worth area after grad school to work at Fortress full-time. 

Kelsey is the daughter of our Executive Director Terri, who hired her to work in the after-school program in 2008. She credits the joy that the kids bring to her life as reasons why she decided to intern here this summer. They have made such a positive impact on her life, she says. 

Kelsey and Trent (pictured above) get along great and have developed a strong relationship this summer. Trent is a vivacious character who is always making her laugh. One day, she remembers, "Trent looked at me and said, 'Man, Miss Kelsey, you have something wrong with your eyes.' I asked him what was wrong and he said, 'You have these dark circles up under them.'" Kelsey laughed and said it was because she was tired from working at Fortress so long! He told her, "You need to tell your boss to let you go home and take a nap." Her boss may also be her mom, but Kelsey didn't think that she would get a go-home-and-nap pass.

Some wisdom that Kelsey would pass to Fortress newcomers would be to "have a lot of patience and love to give away from the moment you walk in the door. It takes a lot of patience to work with the little kids and if you have no patience, then your time at Fortress will be very stressful. You have to learn to let the little things go. Lastly, one of the most important things you can give the kids is love. Letting them know you love and care about them is something that can change their lives. A simple smile and hug when they walk in the door can turn their whole day around."

This summer, Kelsey taught the preK-1st grade group all their bible lessons, starting with Creation and ending with the Resurrection. During most of the stories, Kelsey felt as if the kids weren't listening. "I have been proved wrong about that over and over again. Every time I ask about each of the stories from the whole summer, the kids can say what happened in each story. They all say 'God loves us and we should never be afraid of anything.'" Seeing them learn so much from the Bible has shown Kelsey that God is working through her as she teaches the stories.

Kelsey agrees with many of the other interns that one of the hardest parts of this job is being physically exhausted and getting little sleep each week. But, as the summer JAM program comes to an end, she knows that, once again, the hardest part for her will be saying goodbye. "This is my fifth summer at Fortress and leaving this group of kids is going to be the hardest. The relationships that I have formed with them in these nine weeks have been one of the most rewarding things I have ever experienced." Kelsey never likes saying goodbye to these kids who have affected her life for the past five years, but she visits frequently and awaits the day that she will come back permanently to make big waves of change for the near southeast community of Fort Worth. 

Intern Spotlight - Cody Clifton from TCC

Cody Clifton serves as an intern this summer with a history as being our Middle School/homework teacher during this last school year. He grew up as a member of Legacy Church of Christ in North Richland Hills, a church that works closely with Fortress and has given us many hours of volunteer service. Cody went to Harding University in Searcy for three years and is finishing up his undergrad at TCC.

His initial involvement with Fortress started in August of last year when he heard that we were in need of a Junior High teacher. After interviewing with our Executive Director Terri, Cody served as our teacher for the school year. "I love the kids with all my heart so when I was offered a job during the summer, I accepted. There is no better job in the world to me than what we do at Fortress, and I would continue here as long as possible," Cody says about his love for his time here.

"We don't and can't reach every kid. It's impossible and sometimes we try as best we can and our best isn't good enough. But then we reach one and all the hard work and tears and love pays off." That kid for Cody is his mentee he had last year, Kemarrius. Cody and Kemarrius spent their mentor time every week playing basketball, on the court and on the XBox. Kemarrius' drive to better himself at basketball is only matched by Cody's desire to help him reach his potential. Over the year, the two formed a close friendship, and Cody could see that Kemarrius "has all the tools and talents to be anything he wants in life, but he is also in a rough school environment and has a limited pool of good friends to choose from." Cody saw that Kemarrius was veering towards the wrong kids and being influenced by them. He could tell in his behavior that he wasn't the same Kemarrius he had started the year as. Through basketball practice and video games that had brought them together in the first place, Cody bonded with Kemarrius and talked to him about his friends and the choices he was making and how it would influence his future. "He has changed his friend group and I feel that God will work wonders with him in his life as he continues to grow and be at Fortress."

Cody advises that "the culture and lifestyle of most of our kids is not something that can be understood in one day and the reality of their situations is unimaginable for most of us. So come in and love our kids. That's all you can do. You don't have to understand to love."

Cody has felt God's presence strongest on the homeless drives he leads every week for our volunteer youth groups. Cody feels that God has blessed him so much through giving water to the homeless community three times a week. "The relationships I have gained and the love for God I see in the homeless community continues to astound me. I know that God has used Fortress to not only help as many kids as we can but also in the homeless and local community. God uses Fortress as a light."

The hardest part about being an intern has proven for Cody to be the physical and emotional exhaustion that can come from breaking through to the kids. When as an intern or staff you are unable to connect with a certain child no matter what you do, it breaks a part of you down. "It can keep you up at night trying to figure out how to reach them and make a meaningful connection," Cody says. But he knows that being here and giving your love can and does make a world of an impact for most of our families and the community.

Intern Spotlight - Ben Roberts from ACU

Ben comes to us as a brand new intern here at Fortress. As a Family Studies major at Abilene Christian University, he is involved in several children's ministries. He is not new to working with at-risk youth. Ben has worked the last five summers at Camp of the Hills, the camp that our students attend every summer. It is also the camp where some of our previous staff members have gone to give their talents to.

Our Volunteer Coordinator, Dani, brought Ben to us through the friendship they have. Dani suggested that Ben intern here at Fortress, and it didn't take a lot of convincing. Ben was attracted to Fortress over other children's ministry positions because of our "concrete vision of lifting people up out of poverty."

One memory that Ben will take with him from this summer comes from one week that Ben was sick and was forced to miss a week of work. Eight-year-old Darrien gave Ben a call checking in on him. He may not have been very articulate, but it "felt nice to be missed by [his] kids."

Some wisdom Ben would like to pass onto newcomers to the Fortress crew would be to pray often, and make friends with others in the ministry.

Another instance that will stick with Ben spiritually is making friends with specific people in the community. Helping in administering our Urban Experience program with the volunteer youth groups, Ben sees a lot of the same people every week. One of the stops the groups make during their Urban Experience is a bakery called 'Cakes by Delsea,' where Ben has enjoyed talking to and getting to know employee Ross there.

As we can all agree, there are hard parts with every job, and for Ben, the hardest part of interning at Fortress is trying to love kids who can't or won't receive love. Some kids at Fortress are less willing to accept love, and an important part of our mission is to encourage that they can.

Volunteer Group Spotlight - Blakely Eller from Highland Church of Christ

"This is my second time coming to Fortress. My buddy this year was Reyonna; she is very sweet and funny. Yesterday, I saw this little boy that can dance like Michael Jackson.

We went to the museum yesterday and it was so cool to see the looks on the kids' faces when they saw something they really liked. My favorite moment was painting the sun with my buddy. I think God brought me to Fortress this week to learn about poverty and open my eyes to see that other people have it harder than me.

I'm looking forward to going to the zoo tomorrow with my buddy.

We haven't done Urban Experience this week yet but last year I really enjoyed getting to go around and pray. I can't wait for Urban Experience and getting to know my buddy more."

Blakely Eller, 13 years old

Intern Spotlight - Cori Pequeno from ACU

Cori and Marc

This is Cori. Some might call her Quirky Cori. Her favorite animal is an owl. No, seriously, her favorite animal are owls. She also has a knack for making little crafts, saying she "practically lives at Hobby Lobby." Cori is a sophomore this year at ACU getting a degree in psychology. She would like to get her Masters for Counseling Psychology eventually.

Cori initially became involved with Fortress through Emily Burns, the children's minister at Woodland West church of Christ in Arlington. As a long-time Fortress volunteer, Emily has done everything from mentoring to providing meals for us! Emily encouraged Cori to apply for the internship here at Fortress this summer, and she is so glad she did (and so are we!). Her love for working with inner-city kids also pushed her to apply.

One of Cori's favorite parts about interning is the companionship of all the interns. She says they can easily turn anything into a joke, and it's what makes things fun when maybe you don't even feel like laughing some days. She recalls a day when another intern, Kalyn, was joking around with some chopsticks we had been using for our "Around the World" week when we learned about China. She was messing with intern Cody, casting a "bippity, boppity, boo" spell from the fairy godmother in Cinderella. The joke came full circle when the gang of interns ended their meeting later by putting their hands all in and chanting "bippity, boppity, bye!" It is such a blessing, Cori says, to leave everyday with a smile on her face because of her fellow interns' comedy and company.

A serious piece of advice Cori has for an incoming Fortress staff member would be that "prayer and sleep are essential!! These kids will wear you out in a heartbeat; do not underestimate them! Lots of sleep and God at your side will get you through both the good and the bad days at Fortress."

Cori feels God has been using the Near Southeast community of Fort Worth to work on herself. "I wish I could say I have felt like I was making a huge difference in the community with every moment I have been here, but I feel like the community has changed me for the better instead. I've worked with kids many times before, but never had I walked their streets and stepped into their shoes quite like this. I have a new-found respect and love for them especially from the time I've spent in the community." Urban Experience is a set of activities that the interns lead for the volunteer groups every week that allows the groups to see exactly what it is like for the Fortress families. It is an intensive, sometimes grueling experience that has made a big difference for interns like Cori. 

The hardest part for Cori is always having to be the authority figure. "It stinks to watch the youth group kids get to play one-on-one with the kids while we make sure the kids are behaving." Having to give consequences to misbehaving students is something that no one likes doing, but, it is an important part of working here, she says, and is necessary to the kids' behavioral virtuosity.