Thank you for making a difference for students with your support!
Stories of how you helped students with disabilities belong and thrive in their Christ-centered schools!
INSIDE
Completing the Puzzle
Page 2
Ady, Elena, and Olivia Know what it Means to Belong
Page 3
Jason Needs Your Help!
Page 4
Jer’s School Knows Him Excellently!
“His classmates have completely enveloped him!”
Jeremiah is a sixth grader at Rehoboth Christian School, an All Belong member school in New Mexico. He is on the school basketball team, plays the drums in band, and is well loved by his classmates. Jer, as his friends call him, is also the first student at Rehoboth Christian who lives with Down syndrome.
Recently Jer shared a story he had written in front of his class. It was about cops and robbers.
He was Chief Jer, and his teachers and classmates were fellow cops, chasing around robbers together. He knew that his friends enjoyed his story because their faces lit up when they heard their names.
Jer relies on facial expressions to understand what’s going on around him. And because his teachers and friends know him excellently, they communicate with him through
Continued on page 3
THANK YOU FOR HELPING STUDENTS FIND
MESSAGE FROM BRIAN
I am thankful for you!
Every day I hear stories about the students you have helped by your generous giving.
I’m glad that I can share some of those stories with you in this edition of the Inclusive!
You’ll hear about Jer, whose friends know exactly what he needs.
You’ll read about Ady, Elena, and Olivia, three 7th graders who help each other grow academically and spiritually.
You have made these stories possible, and I’m so grateful! Thank you for providing exactly what Christcentered schools need to build belonging for each and every student!
Gratefully,
Brian Dykstra COO | Interim Executive Director
Completing the Puzzle
The body of Christ is a giant, billion-piece puzzle that is beautiful to God.
Have you ever worked on a jigsaw puzzle only to find out at the end that a piece is missing? Even though you have placed every piece from the box, the puzzle isn’t complete, is it?
That’s what it’s like to have a Christ-centered classroom where students with disabilities are left out.
Teacher consultants from All Belong often share the ‘puzzle piece perspective’ with teachers to help them teach students that every person is important in their community.
1 Corinthians 12:12 (NIV) says, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”
Teachers pass out pink and green puzzle pieces to each student in their classroom. The students are asked to write down things they are good at (strengths or gifts) on the green side of their puzzle piece and write down things they struggle with (hot spots or weaknesses) on the pink half.
The result is a beautiful, complete puzzle that shows how one student’s strengths fit perfectly with another student’s hot spots.
If you’ve done jigsaw puzzles before, you know the special feeling of placing the final piece. You know exactly where it goes and how it fits, and only then will the puzzle be complete.
The same goes for our community, and for classrooms in Christcentered schools.
Because of your commitment to inclusive, Christ-centered education, more students of all abilities understand that God has given them special gifts that are needed and fit perfectly with others in their classrooms and communities.
Ady, Elena, and Olivia Know What It Means to Belong!
“My favorite thing about Ady is her ability to make others laugh all the time, and whenever someone is sad or hurt, she tries to make them feel better.”
Elena, Ady, and Olivia are seventh graders at Zeeland Christian School in Michigan. They have classes and play sports together, and they are close friends.
Ady lives with Down syndrome, and while at some schools she would be in an isolated classroom all day, at ZCS she spends most of her day in the same classroom as her friends and peers.
Olivia and Elena sit next to her, and because they know her so well, they can help her with classwork, focusing, and group projects.
Because of you, All Belong comes alongside schools like ZCS and gives them the tools to truly build belonging. You make it possible for friends like Olivia, Elena, and Ady to experience the full body of Christ in their classroom. Olivia points out that “as Christians, we all have an important role in the world, no matter what.”
Elena agrees, adding, “We make sure everyone feels loved and important, and we make accommodations to fit (each person’s) needs so they can learn about academics and God.”
continued from page 1 Jer’s School Knows Him Excellently! . . .
their expressions. He knows that when someone looks at him sternly, he needs to do something different. Smiles and laughter assure him that he’s doing well.
This helped Jer learn his class schedule at the beginning of the school year. His educational support team created a visual schedule for him, and he had a buddy to help him get to each class. He watched his buddy’s expression to know when he was going to
the right class and when he was getting too distracted by friends in the hall. He now knows where all his classes are!
Because of your support, Jer’s school knows how to help him succeed. Because he is in class right along with his peers, he’s growing socially and academically, and most importantly, he knows that he is known, needed, and that he belongs in his school.
Your gift of $40 provides a warm welcome, support, and community for a student at a Christcentered school
Jason Needs Your Help!
These stories are possible because of generous donors like you.
But not all students feel like they belong in their Christcentered school.
Jason* has challenges with his speech, organization, and attention, and struggles with math and writing. He gets upset when he can’t communicate well and doesn’t like to do his schoolwork when it always comes back with low grades.
He feels like he shouldn’t be there. Like he doesn’t belong.
There are students like Jason in almost every Christ-centered school.
They need your help.
Without your help, Jason would continue to spend most of their day working with a para-educator in a separate classroom from his peers.
Your gift of $40 will give teachers the training they need to meet students where they are, and to set goals that they can achieve. You can put students just like Jason at a desk right next to their friends!
Will you help students like Jason who want to feel like they belong in their Christ-centered classroom?
Our Vision
We envision a world where every student with a disability is known, needed, and experiences belonging in their Christ-centered school.
4340 Burlingame Ave SW Wyoming, MI 49509 (616) 245-8388
AllBelong.org
*To protect the privacy of the students you have helped, photos, names, and other identifying details may have been changed.
HERE’S MY GIFT TO HELP EVEN MORE!
Yes! I’d like to provide welcome, support, and community for a student at a Christcentered school for a whole year! My gift will also support all the good work of All Belong.
Here is my gift of:
$40 to provide a warm welcome, support, and community for 1 student!
$80 to provide a warm welcome, support, and community for 2 students!
$160 to provide a warm welcome, support, and community for 4 students!
