Dear Friends and Donors,
We would like to share just one of the many stories we hear from Denver Street School who we partner with to help kids here in Denver. They are a 501(c) (3) nonprofit Christian high school serving the Denver metro area. They accept students who have struggled, dropped out of, or been expelled from other schools and need a more personalized approach to their education. The school is completely privately funded and recently went through its five-year review with AdvancEd, which accredits all the private high schools in the metro area.
Denver Street School describes who their students are as: Youth at risk of educational and personal failure, particularly low-income minority youth, have unique academic and personal needs and require a more comprehensive approach to education that addresses not only academics but also life-skills building, career preparation, along with spiritual and emotional development. Our school is the next step in their journey. Regardless, every student who walks through our doors has a story of a difficult past and a clouded vision of a limited future.
Here is the story of one of their students, Mariel, who represents the strength and perseverance of these students:
3 Tries & 12 years later, Mariel gets her High School diploma!
I started at Denver Street School (DSS) when I was 17. I was already married and ended up getting pregnant my senior year. Angry at myself and the world, I quit school. That was 2009.
As a new mom, I was depressed, alone, and unable to care for my newborn. Even though I was no longer in school, my teachers kept checking in on me. That’s just how DSS is. Other schools brush you off or tell you to get counseling, but the teachers at the street school engage in meaningful ways. They took time out of their personal lives to help me, and I wasn’t even a student at the time.
In 2014, I came back to DSS to try again, but I didn’t make that happen either.
Deep down, I really wanted my diploma not a GED. I knew I was more than capable of getting it, so I reached out to DSS again last year. And they opened their arms to me once more. I was 29 years old.
It took all year, but I graduated last May with my diploma! I am forever grateful for the consistent support of DSS. They made me realize there are good people out there who want to see me succeed.
There’s no place like this school. They don’t brush you off. Instead, they work to get to the bottom of the what’s holding you back… and fix it.
DSS PURPOSE:
Bringing hope, a second chance, and the love of Christ to Denver’s at-risk youth through quality education in a safe environment and a supportive network of loving, caring adults.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:14-17
Thank you for walking along side us in prayer and donations to help bring Christ’s Love to all the children we come across.
Yours For the Cause of Christ,
Cameron