New Beginnings in Progress: Our First Boys find a home at GHH Kendall

We’ve just had our first boy move into Genesis Hopeful Haven Kendall. He was exuberant and full of excitement about the move. He made comments like, “I’ve never had my own room before,” and “I’ve never lived in a nice home like this.” Seeing his reactions, I was once again overjoyed that our home can provide this for boys in need. We got him settled in and took him out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. This weekend he enjoyed swimming in our pool and taking a trip to Miami Beach. He is a Junior in high school and our hope is to get him prepared for college and equipped for a bright and successful future.

For youth who don’t have the support of a safe family, finding their way in the world can be a difficult challenge, especially for those aging out of foster care. Our goal at Genesis Hopeful Haven is that we provide a family-like environment and give our youth tools for success. Our residents are required to attend weekly workshops. This month’s workshop topics are budgeting, grocery shopping, cooking and creating a vision board. The purpose of these workshops is to give each youth an opportunity to learn essential life skills and practice living independently while still having the support and guidance of caring staff. We will need volunteers to come out and conduct workshops of their choice. If you would like to volunteer, please email Nora Estevez at enora2222@gmail.com

Once all of our boys are moved in, we plan to start a gardening program where all the boys will participate in planting their own fruits and veggies. We will focus on a variety of topics, and plan to incorporate the boys’ interests so we can help them become more knowledgeable in those areas. Tony has already expressed interest in agriculture and technology, which has us excited to roll out our gardening program.

Our second boy will be moving in two weeks which is his 18th birthday. He’ll be with us to participate in our first outing. We will conduct one extracurricular activity every month with the residents. This month we are going to the Miami-Dade County Fair. The purpose of our fun outings is to expose them to different cultures and give them an opportunity to develop a global mindset. Cultural exposure doesn’t happen in a bubble. It needs to be incorporated into an individual’s lifestyle, mindset and belief system. We will take advantage of the vast resources Miami has to offer. We plan on having fun with global food, music, books, art, museum exhibits and more. These outings will be crucial for the boys’ growth, but also really fun! If you would like to volunteer to be a chaperon please email Nora at enora2222@gmail.com. Or if you are interested in mentoring and tutoring, please email her as well.

Youth in foster care and those who have aged out deserve to have a chance to grow up healthy, get a job and be successful adults the same way as children who have parents. If you have a heart for youth in need, we would love to hear from you. We hope that you can partner with us and become a part of this journey towards healing the wounded, giving hope to the hopeless and providing a safe haven to children without homes.