Weekday evenings
                           June 24-28 & July 22-26 at Russell Field

#1- Volunteer
Shifts: 5:30-9:30pm; 4-7:30pm; 7-9:30pm
Positions: Coach, Assistant Coach, Curriculum Team, Registration, Food & Hospitality, Parent Outreach, 3-5 Year Olds, Logistics

#2- Sign up your kids
Online registration for Soccer Nights is now closed. New participants can register on-site at Russell Field through Monday each week *if* spots are available.

#3- Sponsor a player or team
Support Greater Boston’s only free soccer camp!
 -$2,500 sponsors a division
 -$500 sponsors a team
 -$50 sponsors a player
Make checks out to “Greater Boston Vineyard” with “Soccer Nights” in the memo line. To give online, please go to: soccernights.org/north-cambridge.html.

#4- Pray for us
Sign up to be on our email list to receive daily prayer requests during the week of Soccer Nights 

#5- Advertise  
Spread the word to your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors! For every friend you recruit or time you post a Soccer Nights flier, we’ll enter you in our raffle to win $100 gift card to a restaurant of your choice. 

For more info, stop by our table in the dome or email us at soccernights@bostonvineyard.org

Watch this video and learn a little bit more about what we're up to!

Endless thanks to Paula Champagne for making the video and to everyone who took part to make it happen!

One of the things we value at VCO is helping kids discover and develop their leadership potential. We want to see kids grow as people of strong character and actively seek the betterment of their community. This winter we developed two programs specifically designed to empower kids as leaders: Reading Buddies and Soccer Nights Youth Corps. In Soccer Nights Youth Corps, 5th-8th graders learned how to be coaches and plan and run a big community event (Family Soccer Day, today at Russell Field!). We asked Siraad and Henock, two 5th graders in Youth Corps a few questions about their experience. Here’s what they had to say: 
 
VCO: What have you learned being a part of Soccer Nights
Youth Corps?
Siraad: [I learned] how to be a leader and a coach, and how to meet new people. [I also learned] how to solve problems.
Henock: I’ve learned how to be a coach, and [also learned] new soccer skills.

VCO: What have you learned about being a leader?
Siraad: I learned CLAP - Cooperation, Listening, uhhh I forgot what A stands for. And I don’t remember P either. (Side note: the A and P stands for “Always be Positive.” Growing young leaders…always in process!) [I also learned] that sometimes you might struggle at what you’re doing. Being a coach was hard.

VCO: If you were to lead something in your community in the
future what would you do?
Henock: I’d run a soccer, a basketball, or a football program. I think I’m pretty good at all of the those sports and I think I could teach people skills and technique. It’s good for the community to get active, be outside and run around.

VCO made the most of April Break, a week-long school vacation, by hosting various activities with kids from our weekly programs. We painted tiles for a community mural, played soccer, baked delicious treats, and watched a movie together. It was a blast! 

A particular highlight was starting the mornings with painting. In reference to this year’s Soccer Nights theme, “Field of Dreams,” students were instructed to paint a picture of one or more dreams they have for themselves, their families, or their communities. Because the first painting day took place less than 24 hours after the Boston Marathon bombings, many kids painted tiles encouraging peace in the city.  Others painted pictures of themselves playing sports, scenes from nature, and action heroes. The tiles will be put together to create a mural which will be displayed this summer for all to see!

This spring, VCOers have been hosting Resource Hours at the Fresh Pond Apartments Computer Center. From helping people apply for jobs online, to formatting resumes, to photocopying immigration papers, volunteers show up ready to provide some extra assistance in navigating the world of technology. 
  
While finding a job or learning the ropes of email might be the immediate goal at hand, the mouse-clicking and internet browsing have facilitated fun friendships! Volunteer Anne Ellinger remarks that she “enjoys the chance to focus one-on-one” and on several occasions spent 1-2 hours with just one person. “It’s moving to me to connect across cultures…It’s felt more like making friends than like work. I’ve also learned that just a little friendship and kindness goes a long way. My whole week feels richer from the two hours I spend at the [Computer] Center.”
 
Interested in volunteering at the FPA Computer Center? Visit vineyardcommunityofferings.org to sign up!

A brand new VCO program, Soccer Nights Youth Corps (SNYC) focuses on leadership development with a particular emphasis on preparing kids
to be future leaders at Soccer Nights. We’ve been thrilled at the program’s success thus far – we have 13 kids in grades 5-8, each personally recruited and is a past or current Soccer Nights participant.

Each week SNYC participants gain practical leadership experience ranging
from running a soccer scrimmage, to envisioning and executing communityservice projects, to planning large-scale community events. When brainstorming possible service projects, SNYC participant Aamir wrote, “I would clean Russell Field, to help nature and to help the community.” That day we all went to the field and, before we played our weekly game of soccer, picked up a ton of trash! SNYC participants are currently excited to be working together to plan the 1st Annual Soccer Nights Family Soccer Day, which will be held
Sunday, May 5th at Russell Field.
 
The program wouldn’t be successful without our outstanding team of volunteers.“SNYC gives children the opportunity to conceptualize and put into practice initiatives that are beyond the scope of most adults,” said volunteer Elissa.“It provides an environment in which these children can
feel confident and comfortable enough to throw around ‘big ideas’ and actually see them come to fruition.”

We’re excited to see these kids develop to be leaders on and off the field. Come see them in action at Family Soccer Day on May 5th!

Did you know? 6 years ago, Vineyard Community Offerings was started from our Leap of Faith “Crossing the Moat” series? The Leap of Faith is awesome because it gives us the opportunity to try new things, to stretch ourselves, both individually and collectively, and to dream alongside God for what could be that currently isn’t. 

This Leap of Faith we on the VCO team decided to challenge ourselves to take individual leaps in regards to how we live out the VCO mission to love our neighbors as Jesus commanded. Here’s what we came up with:

We invite you to ask God to open your eyes to how you can love your neighbors during this Leap of Faith/Lenten season. That could mean getting involved in VCO in a way you haven’t been in the past, or it could mean taking risks in knowing the people around you in the place you call home. We’d love to hear what you come up with. Post your Leap of Faith VCO goal to our blog at www.vineyardcommunityofferings.org so we may encourage one another to step out in faith as we follow Jesus together in our neighborhoods!

In the spring of 2010, Maura Pritchard, an elementary school teacher and Vineyard member had vision for a Reading Program at the Fresh Pond Apartments. She teamed up with VCO staff and since then, we’ve had five different iterations of reading programs for kids at the Fresh Pond Apartments run by different VCO staff workers with curriculum ranging from literacy games, small group reading, reading in pairs, vocabulary activities, reading comprehension questions, acting, to story writing. It’s been fun to see how one person’s idea can change and adapt over time and still be a space that supports love for reading and relationships.  
                 
On Wednesday, February 6th, VCO kicked off Reading Program 6.0: Reading Buddies! The program is designed to encourage kindergarteners and first graders to read more, empower older children to be student leaders by volunteering through VCO, and foster diverse mentoring relationships. Students in kindergarten and 1st grade are paired with a student leader in grades 4th-5th or an adult volunteer to read and work on literacy activities. When the kindergarteners and 1st graders go home, student leaders and adult volunteers meet in mentor pairs to reflect on their volunteer experience.  
       
The unique component of this year’s reading program is the focus on student leaders. We hope that this new model will empower kids to be leaders in their neighborhood. Ultimately, we would like to see them take ownership of programming, but to achieve this, students will need the support, guidance, and encouragement given by adult volunteers. We also hope that by spending time together in reflection, student leaders and volunteers will form meaningful relationships. We’re excited to see where our Reading Buddies program takes us!