Merry Christmas from CHAT and Church Hill Academy,

This year, like the five that preceded, CHAT hosted a Halloween party. As founder and CEO of CHAT and one of the people who helped start Church Hill Academy, it was my duty to get hit in the face by over 300 whipped-cream pies. Fortunately for me, we ran out of pies before we ran out of kids (there were over 400). The next morning, we loaded up with all the students from the Academy and headed off on a five hour jaunt at Appalachian State University, where the students toured and learned about college life. Needless to say, I got a horrible cold that stayed with me for most of the month of November. When I was a kid, I got sick for all the wrong reasons. I would walk barefoot in freezing temperatures, or decide that I really didn’t need sleep as much as I needed to conquer the next level of Super Mario Brothers. It felt good to finally be sick for the right reasons. . . to watch kids excited (and safe) as they played games to win candy with people from their own community . . . to be pleasantly surprised at the behavior and interactions of our kids as they challenged themselves on a ropes course in the mountains of North Carolina. These are all the ‘right reasons’ for getting sick for a month. Thank you for your support and prayers for both CHAT and the Academy. Without you, we just wouldn’t have the resources to make these dreams a reality.

Dear Partner,

Greetings from the inner-city neighborhood of Church Hill in Richmond, Virginia. Six years ago, my wife and I entered this community to learn how to become neighbors to those who were hurting and in need. Our earliest "neighbors" were the children, and they would show up on our doorsteps daily as we returned home from work. Little did we know that the simple response we mustered would change our lives (and theirs) forever. What did we do? We opened our door and invited them into our home. At CHAT, we call this "opening homes". Unintentionally, we stumbled across the secret ingredient that made academic tutoring and life-skills training so alluring to children that would normally just wander the unsafe streets.

December 28th, 2006

Dear Friends and Partners,

Greetings from Church Hill! As you can tell from our newsletter, we are in the middle of a very full summer. We have already spent a weekend camping in North Carolina and watched a minor league baseball game (Richmond Braves). Our calendar for the rest of the summer is also packed with amazing opportunities for the children. Your giving allows trips and tutoring to continue to serve the children in Church Hill. Thank you all to the many people who have given to support the work with the at-risk children and families that we spend time investing in. I offer a special thanks to those who have chosen to support our interns. Their work has been invaluable to growing our influence in the community.