Norton Neighborhoods

Mentoring at Panera

2008-07-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

Mentors from LLU's School of Allied Health Physician's Assistant program tutor neighborhood children and youth at Panera Bread on Hospitality Lane across from Costco every Sunday morning at 9:30 am.

Campfire Breakfast, Sat at 8:30

2008-07-12T17:16:00.001-07:00

On Saturday mornings at 8:30 am we have Campfire Breakfast--enjoy bagels from Panera, orange juice, and hot chocolate--and increase our Biblical literacy

2007-12-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

Crosswalk Church provided the gifts for nearly 80 children from the "Valley View" neighborhood around the Norton Gardens after-school site. Special thanks to Cheryl and Bill Lake for coordinating the member's purchase of the gifts and helping out at the party!

Starbucks Christmas Party

2007-12-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

Children from Norton Gardens enjoyed hot chocolate and a visit from Santa courtesy of Starbucks on Tippecanoe and their generous manager, Amanda Antonacci! They even received $10 gift cards to Target. Thanks again, Amanda and the whole Starbucks team. We're joining Starbuck's "Make Your Mark" program to support our tutoring and mentoring of these children. We'll rename our mentoring program "Star Kids Mentoring" early next year. Now we just need more mentors! Sign up online at www.healthycities.com

Fire Safety Day

2007-12-13T10:54:00.001-08:00

Pediatric Resident Dr. Krisha Torgerson taught the children fire safety at the regular Wednesday afternoon Children's Learning Gardens program. Dr. Torgerson's participation is part of her involvement in the LLU School of Medicine's Pediatric Department's "OK Kids" program. The children are students at Cypress Elementary School--the school to which they are bussed from the neighborhood around Norton Gardens. We need volunteers on Wednesdays who can also teach the children gardening.

More mentors needed!

2007-10-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

We have mentors for three of these neighborhood youth, but need mentors for three others. You can mentor on Tuesday afternoons at 4:30-6 or 6-7:30, or on Sunday mornings, any 90 minutes between 8:30 and noon.

Jump Rope Mentoring

2007-10-17T21:18:00.001-07:00

After studying with their mentors for an hour, middle school students in the Norton Neighborhoods mentoring program jump rope and play basketball outside the classroom at the warehouse.

Kids who came to tutoring get to visit Dr. Ron's pool

2007-09-09T19:54:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood kids who attend the weekly mentoring were rewarded with a visit to Dr. Graybill's swimming pool on Sunday.

Peds Residents from OK Kids teach about grapes

2007-09-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Pediatric Residents from OK Kids (their community pediatrics rotation) teach children at Norton Gardens about why grapes are good to eat. Our own grapes were sweet and ripe just in time for the lesson.

2007-06-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

One of the many elementary students who live in the neighborhood around the Children's Learning Gardens enjoyed eating and learning about bell peppers (and got a strawberry treat as well).

Cypress students filling the new garden box

2007-05-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood children attending Children's Learning Gardens, fill the new garden box with sand and compost. Last week Pediatric Resident Dr Gerald Williams taught them about tomatoes, so part of this week was spent getting a garden box ready to plant tomatoes. The children are all students at Cypress Elementary School. One, (whose mother also helped) even in Kindergarden.

The original garden box, made of scrap lumber, had begun to disintegrate after four years of use, we built a new one, this time using water-resistant "hardie board" on the areas exposed to moisture.

Campfire circle completed!

2007-05-27T20:09:00.001-07:00

The campfire circle is now complete. Your class, group, church, team, or family can provide a small group of neighborhood children with a mashmellow roast and song-fest on a Friday or Saturday night or a simple pancake breakfast about 8:15 on a Sunday morning

Campfire circle

2007-05-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

Senior Medical Student Thor Haugen, finishing his Senior Mission Elective, works with his friend, Krimzen, a nurse at LLUMC, to install benches around the campfire circle at the Norton Gardens after-school site. The campfire is used for evening programs and marshmellow roasts with neighborhood children and youth.

2007-04-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

Contractor Jim Morris, who owns an earth-moving business in Fontana, kindly donated his time and equipement to smooth and level the back portion of the one-acre site of our after-school program at Norton Gardens. That's Jim on the road grader. His work will enable us to install the Project Fit America program shown below, as well as a basketball court.

2007-04-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

The Project Fit America playground equipment will soon be installed at Norton Gardens. It is custom made to help young people achieve the physical fitness they need to meet standards set by the President's Council on Physical Fitness. The program was made possible by a grant from the Majestic Realty Foundation and by gifts from the 2006 Senior Class of the LLU School of Nursing and from the School of Nursing itself.

2007-04-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

Even though we try to have a mentor for each "protege", LLU Allied Health student Terrin Schmutz was able to help all four of these boys at once because they are all in Ms Williams' class at Cypress Elementary School. Thank you, Ms Williams for making sure they all had homework! We're actively recruiting more mentors for next week. Click on this small picture to see a full-size "printable" 4x6 version.

2007-04-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

These two Cypress Elementary students came faithfully to mentoring, but we had 27 children and only 13 mentors, so they worked alone at their mentoring carrel. We're actively recruiting more mentors.

2007-04-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

A middle school student learns to weild a sledge hammer to break up concrete fragments so they could be moved out of the way for upcoming excavation. When he comes to tutoring with homework, then provides 90 minutes of neighborhood service, he wins a $10 incentive award.

2007-04-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

Seventh graders from Redlands Academy joined us Sunday, April 15. They painted the storage sheds, did some weeding in the front yard landscaping, and visited the mentoring classroom for lunch.

Making signs out of cafeteria trays

2007-01-28T18:57:00.000-08:00

Michelle Johnson of Crosswalk Church helps a neighborhood student convert discarded cafeteria trays into signs advertising the Norton Neighborhoods' mentoring program--Mentor Magic. Michelle's friend, Ghina Katrib (not shown), also from Crosswalk, was also there in the portable office at the Norton Gardens helping another neighborhood student learn touch typing.

2007-01-28T18:40:00.000-08:00

Monica Har, a Global Health student from LLU's School of Public Health (center) and Professor Nicceta Davis of the School of Allied Health join a Serrano Middle School student from the neighborhood sorting pictures and creating a photo album about the after-school programs at the Norton Gardens over the past four years. Although we didn't get a picture of him, Boaz Papendick, a classmate of Monica's, also volunteered this Sunday--helping Michael Anderson (who lives at Norton Gardens with his wife) create roofs for three small storage sheds.

2007-01-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

Girls from Serrano Middle School and San Gorgonio High who live in the neighborhood near the Norton Gardens did some painting for their weekly neighborhood service. LLUMC's linen service--Angelica--provided the blue smocks they use when the paint. Students who come to tutoring and participate in the other weekly programs at the Norton Gardens get a weekly $10 incentive award provided by grants from Stater Bros, the Community Foundation, and private donors.

2007-01-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

Drs. Erika McClure and Natalie Santiago, Residents in the Pediatrics Dept of LLU's School of Medicine, visit the Children's Learning Gardens for the weekly nutrition lesson, a feature of the OK Kids community pediatrics rotation. The Gardens is an after-school site in LLUMC's Norton Neighborhoods Initiative, located in the Valley View neighborhood near the Santa Ana River in southeastern San Bernardino.

Simple Acts of Kindness

2007-01-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

Volunteers from Campus Hill Church's "SAKE" program (Simple Acts of Kindness Enterprise) visited the Valley View neighborhood and cleaned up a vacant lot two blocks from Norton Gardens. Children in the neighborhood consider "people dumping trash in our neighborhood" as one of the neighborhood's most serious problems, so the effort was much appreciated by the neighbors. They'll be back every Saturday afternoon to help empower the children, youth, and families of the neighborhood with activities ranging from gardening and crafts to character and values development.

2006-12-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

The large, heavy, railroad ties used as posts for the old fence, were too big for the Middle School boys to carry, but Michael, who lives at "The Gardens," and Vladimir, who works for Dr. Graybill and the Community Outreach Department, teamed up with the six boys to make the work easy.

2006-12-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

Neighborhood students, doing their weekly "neighborhood service" help Sue and Valdimir, employees of Loma Linda University Medical Center's Community Outreach Department, pull out old fence posts so a brand new fence can be erected around the Norton Gardens, LLUMC's after-school site on Norman Road in San Bernardino.

First homework, then play

2006-10-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Once the homework is done, children get to join their mentors in games and crafts--including a boys against the girls basketball game!

More than 300 LLU students are mentoring

2006-10-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

More than 300 Loma Linda University students have volunteered to be tutors and mentors at 10 different sites this year. The LLUMC Community Outreach classroom is one of 10 sites across the city where children and youth are mentored. Some work with kids from challenged neighborhoods, some with pregnant and parenting teens, some with high school freshman for whom finishing high school will be a special challenge.

Outreach Classroom provides mentoring location

2006-10-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

Mentoring at "The Gardens," doesn't take place at "The Gardens" at all, but at the LLUMC Community Outreach classroom in the hospital's Support Services Center, a huge warehouse on the corner of Tippecanoe and San Bernardino Ave just across the Santa Ana River from "The Gardens" after-school site.

2006-10-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris shares a moment with LLUMC Community Outreach Director Ron Graybill among the self-portraits painted by the youth who attend programs at the hospital's after-school site, The Gardens. The Mayor was the featured speaker at a meeting of the Neighborhood Association attended by more than 50 residents of the neighborhood.

Mayor answers questions from the neighborhood

2006-10-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris was the featured speaker at the meeting of the Valley View Neighborhood Cluster Association. He fielded questions on topics such as imminent domain, water quality, and progress at San Bernardino International Airport.

More than 50 neighbors attend meeting

2006-10-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

More than 50 neighbors attended the Neighborhood Association meeting under the tents that cover our outdoor classroom at "The Gardens," LLUMC's after-school site on Norman Road.

2006-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

Students from Loma Linda Academy helped covert old storage racks from the Radiology Department into roofs for the storage sheds at The Gardens, the Norton Neighborhoods After-School site on Norman Road.

2006-05-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

2006-05-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

Students from Loma Linda helped covert old storage racks from the Radiology Department into roofs for the storage sheds at The Gardens, the Norton Neighborhoods After-School site on Norman Road.

2006-05-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

Young Kwun (right) a local developer, provides some "vocational mentoring" for several Serrano Middle School boys at The Gardens. A sleepy driver had missed the turn from Norman Road onto Clevenger and plowed through a section of our fence. The boys and Young repaired it!

2006-05-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Dr. Debbie Demos, a pediatric neurologist at LLU Children's Hospital, is volunteering to teach music at the Children's Learning Gardens. The first Wednesday in May, she taught the children to play the recorder. Next time they want to see and hear her violin, one of 14 instrument the doctor can play. She'll also be introducing them to music composition, using computer software in our portable office to help them write and record their own tunes.

2006-05-03T22:40:00.000-07:00

Dr. Debbie Demos, a pediatric neurologist from Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, is also an accomplished musician who plays 14 different musical instruments--not counting the antelope horn a Cypress Elementary student is trying out!

2006-05-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

V-8 vegatable juice was not the favorite of these two Serrano Middle School students, but they had to drink a little to enjoy the fresh stawberries that were also on the snack menu for the Children's Learning Gardens program. So, on the count of three, and with a cup of water in the other hand, they downed the healthy juice! Many of their classmates and the children from Cypress Elementary School had already drunk their portion, and some even asked for more.

2006-05-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

LLU Community Health Nursing students Desirae, Josh, and Rose are working on a number of helpful projects at The Gardens, LLUMC's after-school site in the Valley View neighborhood of San Bernardino (south of Mill, north of the river, between Tippecanoe and Waterman). This week they helped establish benchmarks for the 5-a-Day program (which encourages K-12 students to eat five fruits and vegetables a day.) In the forground is the ready-to-harvest swiss chard in one of our 14 garden boxes.

2006-05-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

A San Gorgonio High School student doesn't let baby-sitting her baby sister prevent her from attending the after-school programs at The Gardens. Here she answers the questions of a LLU Community Health Nursing student about how many fruits and vegetables she's eaten in the last 24 hours. (click on the picture to see a larger version).

2006-05-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

A Cypress Elementary School student, in his 5-a-Day T-shirt answers Community Health Nursing student Josh Diaz's questions about how many and which fruits and vegetables he's eaten in the last 24 hours. (Click on image for a larger view. 4x6 prints available for participants and their teachers.)

2006-05-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Public Health Students Carine, Janet, and Byron (standing, l-r), taught fitness and good diet to students from Serrano Middle School and area high schools. The program was part of Dr. Patti Herring's Qualitative Research Methods class. Also on the team was Emma (see picture below).

2006-05-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Janet, Emma, and Carine--members of Dr. Patti Herring's Qualitative Research (QRM) Methods class in the LLU School of Public Health, led out in four weeks of "Fun with Fitness" for the middle and high school students at The Gardens. The program fostered physical activity and diet and nutrition improvement. The photographer, Byron, was also a member of the QRM team!

2006-03-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Mark Jones for supporting the "Job Scouts" neighborhood cleanup efforts along Tippecanoe! Mark's company's newly renovated "Bordeaux" condos open this Friday, March 10, on Tippecanoe near Baseline. And thanks for Nancy Young, Director of the SAC Norton Clinic, and Carolyn Cales of LLU Philanthropy, for helping us arrange to use the van the Rotary Clubs generously provided in support of service-learning trips to Mexico and local outreach as well!

2006-02-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

Bill Kemper, Manager of Stater Bros Loma Linda store, awards a nearly $7,000 "Food for All" grant from the Stater Bros employees to Dr. Ron Graybill for Loma Linda University Medical Center's Norton Neighborhoods Initiative which he directs. On the right, Produce Manager Don Gann joins the joins the award ceremony, and on the left, Dr. Bill Selby, a Pediatric Resident in LLU School of Medicine's OK Kids Program, stands with two Cypress Elementary School students in their 5-a-Day t-shirts. Dr. Selby and his fellow residents provide one of several programs at the Norton Neighborhoods after-school site, "The Gardens" in southeastern San Bernardino. The doctors teach children good nutrition, safety, and fitness, and encourage them to eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day. The funds will also help distribute food from the San Bernardino County Food Bank to neighborhood families in challenging circumstances.

2006-02-09T03:23:00.001-08:00

On the day when Dr. Guia-Lynn Escuro taught about the importance of exercise, drinking plenty of water was also part of the lesson. In addition, the children who wore their 5-a-Day shirts to promote eating 5 fruits and vegetables a day, got fresh strawberries and grapes as a snack.

2006-02-09T03:23:00.000-08:00

Dr. Guia-Lynn Escuro, a Pediatric Resident in the OK Kids Program, teaches children how exercise, along with a good diet, improves health.

2006-02-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

LLU student volunteer Janice, with her mother Nancy (visiting from the Bay Area), help Serrano Middle School students sharpen their computer skills in the lab at the Children's Learning Gardens, a Norton Neighborhoods after-school site on Norman Road in San Bernardino.

2006-02-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Two students, one from San Gorgonio High and one from Serrano Middle School, arrange the wood storage area at The Gardens so they can complete the fence around the wood.

2006-02-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

A Serrano Middle School student, working in the Job Scouts program, prepares a new tool bucket. Job Scouts allows students who come to mentoring to work for 90 min and earn $10.

2006-01-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

Dr. Anna Garcia teaches the children about the Food Pyramid--helping them learn how much of various types of food to eat.

2006-01-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

Children from the neighborhood learn about the Food Pyramid from Pediatric Resident Dr. Anna Garcia during the Children's Learning Gardens program on Wednesday afternoons.

2006-01-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

Two neighborhood boys in their 5-a-Day T-shirts enjoy fresh fruit snacks during the Children's Learning Gardens on Wednesdays.

2005-10-29T03:06:00.000-07:00

Pansies now line the front walkway in the yard at The Gardens, a site that started out covered with tumbleweeds three years ago. A School of Nursing student helps during 100 Acts of Caring.

2005-10-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

School of Nursing students from Carole Donovan's (center) Critical Care class help salvage some usable lumber at the Children's Learning Gardens after-school site during 100 Acts of Caring week.

2005-10-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

Not only did we learn the food value of pumpkins from Drs. Johnny Luu and Snigdha Das, our Pediatric Residents, but thanks to Paola Case, our Senior Youth Counselor, we had pumpkins for everyone to carve.

2005-10-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

After learning about the value of pumpkins as food, Michelle works on her jack-o-lantern.

2005-10-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

Pediatric Resident Dr. Snigdha Das is surrounded by the children for whom she and other residents provide nutrition and safety education. This was pumpkin day

2005-10-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

He has football practice on Tuesdays when most of the tutoring takes place at the Gardens, so an LLU Nursing student helps him with math and other homework on Wednesdays.

2005-10-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

Art dominates dominos . . .

2005-10-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

Paola Case helps Middle School students with crafts, while elementary students have their nutrition lesson and healthy snacks at The Gardens.

2005-07-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

While their children learn good nutrition, some of the Moms study English with Evie Allen, our ESL instructor. Here they're using the Rosetta Stone language software.

2005-07-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

Students who wear their 5-a-Day shirts get a special treat of fresh strawberries.

2005-07-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

Some of the beans were steamed, others lightly stir-fried by a Serrano Middle School student who lives in the neighborhood.

2005-07-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

After spinning the "veggie prize wheel" (a gift from San Bernardino County Public Health Nutrition and our local Latino 5-a-Day program), a student tries to win a prize by recalling what he just learned about plums!

2005-07-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

Middle School girls help Bonnie Savard prepare a string-bean snack while the Peds Residents teach the nutrition lesson of the day to the elementary children.

2005-07-20T22:45:00.000-07:00

The whole team harvesting string beans.

2005-07-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

Dr. Karen Delacruz helps two students pick fresh string beans at the Children's Learning Gardens.

2005-07-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

LLU School of Medicine Pediatric Residents Dr. Karen Delacruz (standing, left) and Dr. Veronica Meneses (right) join Bonnie Savard (on the left next to Dr. Delacruz) our Master Gardner and Cooking Instructor together with Dr. Marti Baum's two daughters--Ashlee and Chelsea (on the right next to Dr. Meneses)-- Paola Case, MPH, (center, in shades), and the neighborhood children in their 5-a-Day T-shirts. The shirts were a gift from our local Latino 5-a-Day program. Photo by Dr. Ron Graybill!

2005-06-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

Children in their 5-a-Day T-shirts work on their crossword puzzle to learn about the nutritional value of peppers. Click on this hyperlink for information about the California 5-a-Day program. And here for information about the local Latino 5-a-Day program.

2005-06-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Bonnie Savard, our Gardener and Cooking Instructor, serves vegetarian fajitas she and the older girls cooked while Dr. Yomna Ibrahim (far right) looks on. Dr. Ibrahim, a pediatric resident at LLU School of Medicine, taught the nutrition lesson of the day--about peppers. Photo was also taken by middle school students.

2005-06-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

The nutrition topic at Children's Learning Gardens was cherries, so a cup of sweet cherries was the reward for eating carrots, broccoli, peppers, and beans and wearing your 5-a-Day T-shirt.

2005-06-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

Cypress Elementary boys munch on some raw broccoli--earning a rewarding cup of fresh sweet cherries when they got four veggies punched on their nametags. They also had to answer three questions about cherries after LLU Pedicatric Resident Dr. Yomna Ibrahim taught them about the fruit. Another punch was for wearing their 5-a-Day t-shirts.

2005-06-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

The rare and endangered Santa Ana River Woolly Star is blooming in profusion at the east end of Palm Meadows Drive in San Bernardino--between the Santa Ana River Levee and the now-closed golf course. The Eco-Elite Youth Empowerment program at The Gardens will involve neighborhood youth in writing interpretive signs about such plants for the section of Santa Ana River Trail soon to be completed in the area.

2005-06-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Three Serrano Middle School boys help erect a second King Canopy for shelter from rain and sun during after-school programs at The Gardens. The boys must do community service or attend mentoring on other days to get rewarded with a $10 gift card for 90 minutes of work experience education in this "Job Scout" program.

2005-05-23T05:37:00.000-07:00

Landscaping at The Gardens continues to improve thanks to Bonnie Savard, who now lives in the house and works for the LLU Medical Center's Norton Neighborhoods Initiative. Neighborhood children and youth enjoy after-school programs here on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, including work-experience education, Healthy Neighborhoods Mentoring, Project Lean, Eco-Elite Youth Empowerment, and Children's Learning Gardens. University volunteers from the School of Allied Health's Portfolio Program often help, and Pediatric Residents regularly teach nutrition as part of the Children's Learning Gardens.

2005-02-16T06:28:00.000-08:00

Planning for an Eco-Elite Youth Empowerment project along the Santa Ana River were (behind sign) Ron Graybill, Norton Neighborhoods Director; Keri Neal, Education Coordinator for East Valley Resource Conservation District; Jeff Weinstein, Park Planner for SB County Dept. of Public Works and (in front of sign) Kim Williams, Biology professor at Cal State San Bernarsino, and Bonnie Savard, Gardner and Youth Mentor who lives in the Bradley-Lewis House at The Gardens, 948 E. Norman Road, along the banks of the Santa Ana River. The group is working on several active service-learning projects involving Cal State students working with neighborhood youth on the Santa Ana River Trail development and the study of the plants and flowers along and in the Santa Ana River.

2005-02-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

Boys from Cypress Elementary School use little paper punches to make heart cut-outs in their Valentines.

2005-02-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

Some Cypress Elementary School girls pick some hearts to paste on their Valentines. The scissors trim the edges, each with a different pattern.

2005-02-09T04:25:00.000-08:00

Getting down to some serious math, a Serrano Middle School student works with his mentor, a medical student from Loma Linda University.

2005-02-09T04:20:00.000-08:00

Two students from Cypress Elementary are learning a bit of US geography.

2005-01-26T15:16:00.000-08:00

Healthy Neighborhoods Mentoring is an "asset-based" program, focussed on the assets we have, not those we lack. A Corvette Stingray one of our mentors drives proved to be an attractive "asset" to three of our proteges--one from Serrano Middle School (left) and two from San Gorgonio High (right).

2005-01-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

One of our "proteges" from San Gorgonio High School works on her self-portrait along with her best friend while her mentor looks on.

2005-01-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

Jeramy and Premala help two Cypress Elementary students with their homework.

2005-01-04T21:50:00.000-08:00

A few games kick off the new year's mentoring program with the students from The Gardens. They're also enjoying their new rainy-day indoor classroom.

2005-01-04T21:47:00.000-08:00

Getting down to the details on a math assignment.

2005-01-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

Mentor and protege share "what I did on my Christmas vacation" over a game of checkers.

2005-01-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

Mentoring is more than tutoring--here the mentor and protege get caught up on family news, including the birth of the mentor's nephew!

2004-11-17T06:57:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Zoila Morgan and Angelica Textile Services--the company that supplies the linens at Loma Linda University Medical Center--for supplying smocks the kids can use when painting at "The Gardens"

2004-11-17T06:52:00.000-08:00

Members of the "Job Scouts" team work on the new lawn at "The Gardens," preparing to plant flowers along the walkway.

2004-11-04T06:29:00.000-08:00

A Cypress Elementary School student with her Medical Student mentor, Kimber.

2004-11-04T06:26:00.000-08:00

San Gorgonio High School students, who live in the neighborhood and participate in "Job Scouts," also earn Community Service credit organizing name tags for the Children's Learning Gardens program.

2004-11-04T06:24:00.000-08:00

A neighborhood youth, part of "Job Scouts" and a student at Curtis Middle School, with his Medical Student mentor, Keric.

2004-11-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

One of our "Job Scout" youths helps with baby sitting during the ESL (English as a Second Language) class.

2004-10-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Two middle-school girls, part of our Eco-Elite, Job Scout, and Mentoring Programs, each earned single-use cameras by caring for babies and young children while their parents study English in Evie's ESL class. (click on picture for a larger view)

2004-10-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

Two of the proteges from the mentoring program help Sam paint one of the benches he made out of solid core doors donated by the nearby Haley Brothers Door Company (See: http://www.haleybros.com/) (click on picture for a larger view)

2004-10-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Evie Gray-Allen leads an "emotional" English as a Second Language (ESL) class for neighborhood parents. (click on picture for a larger view)

2004-10-22T05:41:00.000-07:00

Self Portraits! --The proteges (our name for the children who are being mentored) can paint their own self portraits. We put a digital photo of them into Photoshop, click on Filter>Artistic>Cutout and print a color copy of the result. Then, using the already filtered copy that we just printed, we click on Filter again, then Stylize>Find Edges and project the image of those lines via LCD projector onto the board where the painting will be made. The protege traces the lines in pencil, then sits down with a few paints and, essentially, paints by numbers, filling the traced outline shapes with solid colors of various shades.

2004-10-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

It's "English with Evie!" Evie Gray-Allen, a certified ESL instructor, leads out in English classes for the parents of children who come to The Gardens for tutoring and for nutrition and safety instruction. Evie has help from several bilingual LLU students who have taught English overseas in the past. (click on picture for a larger view)