Kids Hope USA

Holy Cross members are committed to serving the community. One way we do that is through KIDS HOPE USA, a mentoring program for at-risk children in the local school -- in our case, Coolidge Elementary in our neighborhood. One child, one mentor, one hour per week is the heart of KIDS HOPE USA, because when kids feel loved and valued they are better able to learn, grow, and succeed.

Coolidge Elementary in Livonia will be in its third year partnering with Kids Hope USA, a nationally recognized and award-winning mentoring program. Kids Hope USA works with volunteer members of Holy Cross to find, screen, train and place our volunteer mentors to work with students identified by school staff.

Coolidge's partnership is with Holy Cross Lutheran Church. Currently 24 mentors work with students a Coolidge in grades 1-4. Students, parents and teachers alike all agree that this program has made a tremendous difference in the lives of these students.

Contact Cathy Vickers, our Holy Cross sponsor, if you are interested in being a mentor or a prayer partner.

OUR MISSION:
KID'S HOPE US builds caring relationships... one child, one hour, one church, one school.

OUR VALUES:
• Children: because every child matters.
• Relationship: because love is only possible person to person
• Faithfulness: because if I say I will, I will.
• Prayer: because it is our language of hope.

Why is KID HOPE USA NEEDED?
• Many U.S. children are at-risk
• Churches want to reach and love thse children but they don't know how.
• Principals and teachers, parents and students are asking for it.

What is KIDS HOPE USA?
KIDS HOPE USA churches give hope to children in public elementary schools through a relationship with a caring church member.

HOW KHUSA WORKS
KIDS HOPE USA is the catalyst for an expanding network of church/school partnerships. These partnerships take on the enormous challenge of kids at risk—One Child, One Hour, One Church, One School at a time—through one-on-one mentoring relationships.

ONE CHILD
An at-risk public elementary school child who needs a relationship with a caring adult. There is a desperate need among America’s at-risk children to be the “one-and-only” in the life of a caring adult. This need for love can only be met one child at a time. You can do something real, and be that one caring adult. So when your KIDS HOPE USA child asks, “How many other children do you see at my school?” you can say, “I'm here, just for you.” When kids feel loved and valued, they are better able to learn, grow and succeed.

ONE HOUR
Sixty critical minutes each week when a trained mentor befriends a child and helps him or her acquire basic academic skills. How much is an hour worth? One educator seems to think an hour is worth a lot. “Given the choice between $100,000 for instructional material or the love of KIDS HOPE USA mentors,” she says, “I would choose the love.” One hour a week, every week, is the most important hour many of these kids have. One hour of one-on-one attention, just for them.

ONE CHURCH
Takes ownership of a program with its neighborhood school and provides a trained mentor and a behind-the-scenes prayer partner for each child.
Many church members today have a deep longing to do something real, to make a real difference. KIDS HOPE USA gives churches the tools they need to tap into this energy and create a meaningful, sustainable partnership with a school in their community. KIDS HOPE USA church/school partnerships offer churches and their members the opportunity to put their faith into action.

ONE SCHOOL
Welcomes this proven intervention to increase the academic skills of at-risk children, while incurring no additional expense.
Our schools need help. Too many of their children face a world full of problems they didn’t create, and can do nothing about. Principals and teachers recognize KIDS HOPE USA mentors as an effective, proven intervention in the lives of their at-risk kids. They know how the one-on-one relationships fostered by a KIDS HOPE USA program restore self-confidence and personal security, and encourage academic excellence in their school.

One simple thing will make a big difference in the life of an at-risk child: One-on-one, positive attention from a responsible, caring adult. KIDS HOPE USA develops these one-on-one relationships through the creation of church-school partnerships that pair church members with at-risk kids in supportive, mentoring relationships. KIDS HOPE USA mentors spend just one hour per week, reading, talking, playing and listening to a child at school. By helping the child feel loved and valued, they help that child to learn, grow and succeed. You can change a life…and that’s no small change.