Legacy for 2011

Good bye 2010 hello 2011. Here’s some great thoughts from John Maxwell

The Law of the Legacy
“…here’s what I know: we have a choice about the legacy we will leave, and we must work and be intentional to leave the legacy we want. Know the Legacy you want to leave.

Someday people will summarize your life in a single sentence. My advice: pick it now!

Live the legacy you want to leave. Chose who will carry on your legacy. A legacy lives on in people, not in things…only people live on after we are gone. Everything else is temporary.”

-The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

Camp Facts 2010

Here are some incredible numbers from this years summer. Thanks for all that you do to help make these numbers possible. Remember, each one of these numbers is a child of abuse or abandonment, they are not just a number, they are someone special who need someone to come along side them and care.

Number of Campers ......................................6,835
Number of Volunteers (US only).................... 8,381
Number of camps .........................................175
U.S................................................................... 150
International ..................................................25
Average number of campers per US camp .....................41
Average number of campers per International camp ..25
Number of States represented .........................................33
Number of International Countries represented ...........9
Number of church denominations involved .................27
Number of volunteer hours (US only) ...........................1,357,779
Equivalent number of full time volunteer workers *...679
Total amount raised by US camps ..................................$4,140,852
Average amount raised per US camp .............................$27,605
Largest church ...................................................................10,000 +
Smallest church .................................................................40
Social Capital ** ...........................................$28,309,692
Returning campers as volunteer....................53
Total Campers Served since 1985 ..................66,526

* Total No. of volunteer hours divided by 2000 hours, which represents the annual hours of a full time employee.
**Social Capital is the number of volunteer hours multiplied by the IRS volunteer services rate of $20.85.

Mission To Mexico

Every year, our church makes a short trip to Mexico to a small church or two in San Quintin, a small agricultural town below Ensenada. This year, Jonathan and I joined the group and helped hand out Christmas bags that our church members had donated to the children of that community.

The Pastors house

Sorting bags

Jonathan with his name on the store behind him and grabbing a taco at a local taco stand.

For many of these children, these bags may be the only Christmas gifts they receive.

I specifically wanted to get involved with not only donating bags of toys and materials, but now get involved in the distribution part with our kids, so they understand how well-off we are in America.

Our group had a great time in only three days, and we were able to bless many young kids and help some local Pastors otu as well.

Maui Zaui!!!

This October, Janet and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Maui for our 20th anniversary. I was planning to take Janet to the Islands for our 20th, which is actually next July, but Janet’s Mom and husband, Dan Petersen, happen to have a timeshare that they were not using this year and offered it to us, since Janet and I have been married the longest of Janet’s siblings. So we went a year early.

We had a great time! It was the first time since having children, 15 years ago, that we have been away on a vacation for a week without the kids. We have been away at camp for a week, but that was not vacation and it certainly wasn’t Maui!

Wow did we have fun! Relaxing, reading, dining out, swimming, snorkeling, driving, shopping and just hanging out with no particular place to go. I knew it would be good to get away, but I didn’t realize how good it was for our marriage. We just needed the chance to spend some quality time together, away from all the day-to-day routine of life, and Maui was definitely the place. If you haven’t rekindled your marriage in a while, do it!!!

We stayed in Kaanapali at a beautiful resort right on the beach, and visited several hot spots including: driving to Hana, Whalers Village, the Banyan Tree and Front Street, and touring the west side.

We visited Oahu for one day, and actually spoke to the pastor of a church about doing a camp, and then we visited the WWII sites at Pearl Harbor. We visited the USS Arizona memorial and toured the USS Missouri Battleship before catching a sunset and dinner on the Waikiki beach.

Yosemite Trip August 2010

Jessica and I had been thinking of climbing Half Dome and thought this would be a good test of our abilities. Jonathan joined us at the last minute. I wasn’t sure he could handle it all, and then I’d be carrying him down the Mt. Boy was I wrong! He just about had to carry me down the Mt. He earned the nickname "Billy goat". The rest of the gang joined us, and we made our way up the 600 steps to Nevada Falls. What a beautiful hike!

Jessica, Jonathan and I joined my brother, Jerry and his daughter, Candace, and a childhood friend, Terry Eseltine, to make a climb up to Nevada Falls this August.

It’s a killer on your quads, that’s for sure. We had to stop and take many breaks, but the incredible scenery was so worth it. Not only was the hike enjoyable, but it was a great time together as well. Great talks and experiences. We saw about 4 Boy Scout troops who had been on the trail for 4 – 8 days already. Those Boys can hike! We waded into the cold water and rested at the top of the falls. We also discovered that we were not in shape for the hike to the top of Half Dome. IF we attempt it next year, we will have to practice getting in stair-stepping shape first! We’ll see what the future holds.

IT DON’T COST NUTHIN’ TO BE NICE

This story reminds me about planting seeds, you just never know what will grow from it -Jeff

IT DON’T COST NUTHIN’ TO BE NICE

By Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant

At a Touchdown Club meeting many years before his death, Coach Paul
"Bear" Bryant told the following story:

I had just been named the new head coach at Alabama and was off in my
old car down in South Alabama recruiting a prospect that was supposed to
have been a pretty good player and I was havin' trouble finding the
place. Getting hungry, I spied an old cinder block building with a small
sign out front that simply said "Restaurant."

I pull up, go in, and every head in the place turns to stare at me.
Seems I'm the only white fella in the place. But the food smelled good,
so I skip a table and go up to a cement bar and sit. A big ole man in a
t-shirt and cap comes over and says, "What do you need?"

I told him I needed lunch and what did they have today? He says, "You
probably won't like it here. Today we're having chitlins, collared
greens and black eyed peas with cornbread. I'll bet you don't even know
what chitlins are, do you?"

I looked him square in the eye and said, "I'm from Arkansas, I've
probably eaten a mile of them. Sounds like I'm in the right place."
They all smiled as he left to serve me up a big plate. When he comes
Back, he says, "You ain't from around here then?"

I explain I'm the new football coach up in Tuscaloosa at the university,
and I'm here to find whatever that boy's name was and he says, “Yeah I've
heard of him. He's supposed to be pretty good.” And he gives me
directions to the school, so I can meet him and his coach.

As I'm paying up to leave, I remember my manners and leave a tip, not
too big to be flashy, but a good one and he told me lunch was on him,
but I told him for a lunch that good, I felt I should pay. The big man
asked me if I had a photograph or something he could hang up to show I'd
been there. I was so new that I didn't have any yet. It really wasn't
that big a thing back then to be asked for, but I took a napkin and
wrote his name and address on it and told him I'd get him one.

I met the kid I was lookin' for later that afternoon and I don't
remember his name, but do remember I didn't think much of him when I met
him. I had wasted a day, or so I thought. When I got back to Tuscaloosa
late that night, I took that napkin from my shirt pocket and put it
under my keys so I wouldn't forget it. Back then I was excited that
anybody would want a picture of me. The next day we found a picture and
I wrote on it, "Thanks for the best lunch I've ever had.”

Now let's go a whole bunch a years down the road. Now we have black
players at Alabama, and I'm back down in that part of the country
scouting an offensive lineman we sure needed. Y'all remember… and I
forget the name, but it's not important to the story. Well anyway, he's
got two friends going to Auburn, and he tells me he's got his heart set
on Auburn, too, so I leave empty handed and go on see some others while
I'm down there.

Two days later, I'm in my office in Tuscaloosa and the phone rings and
it's this kid who just turned me down, and he says, "Coach, do you still
want me at Alabama?" And I said, "Yes, I sure do." And he says OK, he'll
come. And I say, "Well son, what changed your mind?" And he said, "When
my grandpa found out that I had a chance to play for you and said no, he
pitched a fit and told me I wasn't going nowhere but Alabama, and wasn't
playing for nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since
y'all met."

Well, I didn't know his granddad from Adam's housecat so I asked him who
his granddaddy was and he said, "You probably don't remember him, but
you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama and you sent him a
picture that he's had hung in that place ever since. That picture's his
pride and joy and he still tells everybody about the day that Bear
Bryant came in and had chitlins with him."

"My grandpa said that when you left there, he never expected you to
remember him or to send him that picture, but you kept your word to him,
and to Grandpa, that's everything. He said you could teach me more than
football and I had to play for a man like you, so I guess I'm going to."

I was floored. But I learned that the lessons my mama taught me were
always right. It don't cost nuthin' to be nice. It don't cost nuthin' to
do the right thing most of the time, and it costs a lot to lose your
good name by breakin' your word to someone.

NOTE: Coach Bryant was in the presence of these few gentlemen
for only minutes, and he defined himself for life. Regardless of our
profession, we do define ourselves by how we treat others, and how we
behave in the presence of others, and most of the time, we have only
minutes or seconds to leave a lasting impression. We can be rude, crude,
cold, arrogant, cantankerous, or we can be nice. Nice is always a better
choice. Stephen Grellet, French/American religious leader (1773-1855)
said, "I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good
therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let
me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again."

Summer Training Report

This summer was another busy time for training. As you can see by the numbers below, there was a lot of activity that will bring more hope for future foster children.

3 Directors Training Institutes
• 46 trainees
• 8 Trainers
• 4 Host Couples
• 2 Child Abuse Specialists
• 3 Host camps:
Omaha NE., Portland OR. & Madison AL.

14 NEW camps trained from:
Iowa (2), Nebraska, Illinois, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Arizona, Washington, West Virginia, Texas, Oregon, Florida, Singapore.

Two Passing the Scepter classes
• 23 Trainees
• 3 Trainers
• 2 Host Couples
• 2 Host Camps:
Tulsa OK. & Costa Mesa CA.
14 Current camps represented

Mid-Year Donor Report 2010

Hello Friends and Family,

I’ve made it half way through my fourth year now, and I wanted to give you an update on how the support raising is going.

I always have two numeric goals when it comes to fundraising, and one connecting goal.

Goal number one - raise my budget for the year, which is usually my salary plus a little bit more. Last year, I raised about 80% of my budget, and I’m really working hard at hitting the 100% mark this year.

Goal number two - have at least 100 donors giving to my budget. Last year, I had 92 different donors, so I set a new goal this year to add 30 new donors. Counting for the fact that I’ll probably lose a few donors, if I add 30 new donors, I should have at least 100 donors for 2010. This is a critical mark that I have to make. I have already added 15 new donors this year, and I’m working toward another 15. Several new donors could only give a moderate amount, but they still count as a new donor whatever the amount may be.

If you’ve been thinking of making a donation, but thought your amount wouldn’t add up to help enough, please understand, it all adds up and every little bit helps. Donations can be monthly or annually, whatever is good for you. Besides, even a little bit helps me to achieve my 100 donor goal for the year. This way, I’m concentrating on connecting with donors, as opposed to connecting with dollars.

Goal number three – connecting with donors. It’s sitting and talking to donors who are helping our cause. Some donors are struggling with their own finances or family issues, so talking and praying with them is a way for me to help the donor who is helping me. I pray that all is going well for you and your family. If not, let me know and we’ll pray about it with you.

Any questions or comments, please let me know.

Jeff Juhala

DJ at 8 weeks

Parvo Puppy and the Mis-Adventures of the “Dog Wiper”

After months of searching for a family dog, we finally settled on a German Shepherd mix puppy. It’s actually been a laborious task of researching and visiting many local shelters to try and find the right dog for our family. We didn’t want a puppy, I should say, Janet and I didn’t want a puppy, but the kids did. We decided having a puppy would be a great experience for the kids to live through and realize the ups and downs of having a puppy. We stumbled across a litter of nine pups at the Irvine shelter and fell in love with a little guy they named Dunnigan. We said okay and picked him up after he had been neutered. Eight weeks old, 10 lbs. and he was ours. The kids settled on a new name, DJ. We had the dear lad three whole days when he got sick. We had him checked and he was positive for that dreaded puppy virus Parvo. We discovered that the people at the shelter and the vet don’t even like to say the word Parvo out loud. It’s sort of the black plague of the dog kingdom.

The vet said a Parvo Puppy has a 20% chance of surviving if you do nothing, a 90% chance of survival if you hospitalize them for at least three days at $1000 a day, or a 50/50 chance if you buy the meds and administer them yourself at home. That means IV’s twice a day and 4 different shots every 8, 12 and 24 hours. So, I became a part-time Vet, getting up at all hours to give shots and clean up all the doggy messes. You see, Parvo makes the pups vomit and have diarrhea for 4-6 days, all day long. Someone asked me if I had become the “Dog Whisperer” and I said no, I’m the “Dog Wiper”, a far less glamorous job I can assure you. After a very tiring and heart-breaking week of meds, money, and messes to clean up, the skin-and-bones young pup turned the corner. DJ is now Parvo-free, weighs 17 pounds, and is acting like a true puppy once again! He is both a joy and a pain with his razor sharp little teeth constantly finding our flesh and bone. We know his mother was a Shepherd, but those teeth make me think his father was a great white shark!

Skinny Parvo dog after not eating for 6 days

I had him sleeping on my lap one day and he flinched during some strange puppy dream. Janet asked if he was in his REM sleep. I said, “Dogs don’t have REM sleep; they have Rem Tin Tin sleep.”

Healthy DJ now Parvo free.

Passion vs. Zealous
One thing we noticed through this whole doggy searching process is that there are a lot of people who are very passionate about helping abandoned dogs and cats. In fact, some of them have crossed over from being passionate to being zealous. I can really appreciate passion in people for whatever cause they believe in. My definition of passion in this form could be: caring so much about something that you take action and invest yourself in a significant way into what you believe in. The people at many of these shelters and rescue foundations have a passion for saving dogs and cats. I can appreciate that. A zealot, however, could be defined as: expecting others to care about something as much as you do. I’m thankful for the passion of these workers and volunteers, but some of them were practically insulting if we didn’t think and act the same way about dogs that they thought and felt. We were even turned down from taking a dog, simply because we wanted an outdoor dog, not an indoor dog. The zealot dog lover responded to my wife by saying, “Why would you even want a dog if you’re not going to keep it inside?” DJ is an indoor/outdoor dog.

It makes me wonder about what I’m passionate about and what I’m zealous about. How about you?

Rainy Royal Welcome

I just got back from another great Training Camp in Omaha, NE. We had 15 trainees from Iowa, Nebraska, West Virginia, Washington and Oregon. It was a great group of people excited about making an eternal difference in the lives of Foster Children in their communities back home.

The Camp Director told us the story of one boy who was riding along in the bus going to camp when the young boy recognized a certain exit off the freeway. The boy said, “I recognize this place, there’s a jail right down this road, that’s the jail where my Dad’s at.” The boy right behind him spoke up and said,”My Dad’s in that jail too.” What a way to grow up. These are the kids we take to camp.

The local Omaha camp did a great job of making the campers feel safe and cared for. When the bus arrives we always give the campers the “Royal Welcome”. This year it was raining pretty hard but the camp volunteers still got out in the rain and yelled and cheered as the kids got off the bus. See the attached video. A special thanks to the Omaha Camp for providing a great “Rainy Royal Welcome” to kids who desperately need to know that they are valuable and cared for by people who are willing to stand in the rain just for them.

Jeff

Twenty Habbits - Book Review

The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back From The Top.
From the book What Got You Here Won't Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith.

This trouble with success often manifests itself in the form of destructive habits in the workplace, of which Goldsmith lists twenty. He lays out very brief summaries of these twenty habits on a single page:
1. Winning too much: The need to win at all costs and in all situations - when it matters, when it doesn’t, and when it’s totally beside the point.
2. Adding too much value: The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
3. Passing judgment: The need to rate others and impose our standards on them
4. Making destructive comments: The needless sarcasms and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty.
5. Starting with “No,” “But,” or “However”: The overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone, “I’m right. You’re wrong.”
6. Telling the world how smart we are: The need to show people we’re smarter than they think we are.
7. Speaking when angry: Using emotional volatility as a management tool.
8. Negativity, or “Let me explain why that won’t work”: The need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren’t asked.
9. Withholding information: The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
10. Failing to give proper recognition: The inability to praise and reward.
11. Claiming credit that we don’t deserve: The most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success.
12. Making excuses: The need to reposition our annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
13. Clinging to the past: The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.
14. Playing favorites: Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.
15. Refusing to express regret: The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit when we’re wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.
16. Not listening: The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
17. Failing to express gratitude: The most basic form of bad manners.
18. Punishing the messenger: The misguided need to attack the innocent who are usually trying to help us.
19. Passing the buck: The need to blame everyone but ourselves.
20. An excessive need to be “me”: Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they’re who we are.

The Twenty-First Habit: Goal Obsession (The habit that is a good trait that can become a nightmare.)
He goes on to devote a few pages to each habit in detail which was very insightful and interesting. He also goes on to devote several pages to the “twenty first” habit, goal obsession. Goldsmith argues that many people lose sight of the here and now because they spend their time plotting out their long term goals, not realizing that the here and now is often the best place to take that first step to whatever you have in mind. In fact, obsession with goals often is the underlying factor in many of these bad habits.

From : http://wikisummaries.org/What_Got_You_Here_Won%E2%80%99t_Get_You_There

Family Photos

Judy - Self Portrait

Jessica - 15 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jonathans basketball game

Lunch on the Lawn with Janae at school

The Paradoxical Commandments

The Paradoxical Commandments

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.



Jesus Did It Anyway
The Paradoxical Commandments for Christians
Kent M. Keith
Published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Pray over your children at night

Here's something to pray over your children at night.

Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Jeff's Donor Report - 2009

Thanks once again to all of you who donated finances on behalf of abused kids across the country. We can not do what we do without the help of many people.

As most of you know, part of my work here is to raise my own salary. This enables us to train more camps and reach more kids with hope for their future.

This makes me a part-time trainer and a part-time fundraiser. Please see the “Summer Training Report 2009” for more info. on the training.

My first year I raised 60% of my budget, my second year goal was to raise 80%, but I only reached 73%. Last year, 2009, my goal was 80%, but I only raised 76%. The good news is that it went up in a bad economy, but the bad news is it was only 76%, and not the 80%, and certainly not the 100% that I need to get to.

Last year I had 93 donors give, which is great! Originally my goal was 100 donors per year. My adjusted goal is now to reach 120 donors for 2010 so I can reach my full budget.

Here’s some of the resources of my fundraising:

9 Speaking Opportunities
4 Church services, 2 Missions Conventions, 1 District meeting, 1 Civic Group, 1 Men’s Meeting.
Many individual opportunities to ask people for their support.

93 Donors Total -
7 Churches
4 Business donors
2 Sources as a Safety Consultant
1 Golf Tournament Sponsored by Contra Costa Electric
79 individual or family donors

Note: One donor had a bowling team lose a bet on a game and instead of paying to the other team they sent the money here for a donation instead. I happily accepted.

It’s a lot of work and a lot of travel, but it all comes down to helping hurting kids. If you were a part of that support, thank you so very much. Your part, whether it was large or small, does make a difference and it does transform lives.

If you weren’t a donor last year, please help this year. I need to add another 30 donors for 2010, large or small, a donor is a donor. I have some donors who give a lot, but some can only give 10 or 20 dollars for the year, they all count as a donor.

If many people do something,
it makes a difference for kids who need a hope and a future.

Thanks, Jeff Juhala

Summer Training Report 2009

Here's a brief report of our summer training activities for 2009

3 Directors Training Institutes
• 36 trainees
• 8 Trainers
• 3 Host Couples
• 3 Child Abuse Specialists
• 3 Host camps from:
Omaha NE., Portland OR., & Madison AL.
• 15 NEW camps trained from:
Nebraska (2), Illinois (2), California (2), Colorado, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and, Wyoming

2 Passing the Scepter classes
• 20 Trainees
• 3 Trainers
• 2 Host Couples
• 2 Host Camps from:
Tampa FL. & Costa Mesa CA.
• 12 Current camps represented

Additional resources for current existing camps:

Training Library on the web providing resources to Camp Directors for local training. www.Traininglibrary/rfkc.org
Day Trainer Program to train and provide resources for area trainers to assist new camps with their first year of training.

Caring Christians?

From the book, Quick to Listen Leaders, page 32 states…

“We recently asked more than fifty ordinary people on the street what they thought of Christians. Most people responded with colorful adjectives such as pushy, disrespectful, and judgmental. Not a single one used the word caring.”

Fifty people aren’t a large sampling but you get the point.

How would your friends, family, or more importantly, your co-workers describe you?

Does your example of being a Christian lead people to think of other Christians as caring?

New Report about Child Deaths in America

This info is from: http://www.everychildmatters.org/


The Growing Crisis in Child Protection

According to “We Can Do Better,” our report released in October, nearly five children die in America every day from abuse or neglect. In fact, federal data show that 10,440 children in the U.S. died from abuse and neglect between 2001 and 2007, but experts say the real number may be as many as 5,000 higher. A weak economy and resulting state budget cuts are putting even more children at risk, as evidenced by the multitude of newspaper stories from across America that link an increase in child abuse to the worsening recession. This document, entitled “The Growing Crisis in Child Protection: A sampling of news stories from across America," shows a number of these stories.

To read more and see the detials please go to:

http://www.everychildmatters.org/National/Resources/The-Growing-Crisis-in-Child-Protection.html


Thanks for caring for the fatherless,

Jeff