Jubilee Academy

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Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

God has blessed the start of our new school year (#6) in marvelous ways! We have four new students and 5 on the list waiting to begin in January. The Jubilee Theme for this year is, "Walking By Faith" and that is what we are ALL trying to do! All ages are memorizing parts of Hebrews 11 while learning about each "faithful follower" God tells us about – this morning we learned the lesson of Enoch who was so faithful for his 365 years of living that God asked him to take a walk with HIM and they left this earth and went straight to Heaven. Everyone looked for Enoch – but, he was gone! Wow – some walk huh?!

We are so excited about our new website – our wonderful friends at FGP (Find Great People) drafted their friends at StoneSoup Technology in GA to update and re-create in a more professional site, our info and history. You can also follow us through pictures, videos and segments found on the "Heartworks Jubilee" Facebook page that one of our highschool volunteers set up for us – wow!

Todd is moving into a cute condo on Lakeshore Drive, in between working at Jubilee all day and coaching football at A.C. Flora each evening. (We are still looking for a few pieces of furniture to add to his eclectic collection, if anyone has anything in a "parting pile" – smile.) He will have a "Ballgame watching party" soon – no "housewarming" for him, he says.

Mr. Sultan’svan finally died, after being stolen twice and found on the side of interstates in other states – the head gasket blew and that was the last straw. We are glad he lives close enough to school to ride his bike and/or walk to Jubilee, but he is looking for another "ride" to get him to CIU for his seminary classes. He has a great attitude about it all and is loving his classroom, his students, his churchwork and CIU! Our men are looking forward to a wonderful YEAR!

Laura Registerhas settled into the younger classroom now that Anna Sharp moved back to Converse College for her graduate degree in Counseling. Mrs. Register’s young men have been "knighted"  and are steadily working to finish the leggo castle and their shields of FAITH! The growth level is amazing – new progress is made every day! Mrs. Wattis at Laura’s elbow and is training her in the Montessori methods that are working so well for us.

Mr. Bullockis coming daily to work with some of our younger boys and has such an influence! His presence makes a difference! He also reminds us every so often that he was trained to kill people in the military…just in case discipline is needed. ha ha! Mr. Vernis continuing his "handiness" in any way we need him – he can fix ANYTHING which reminds me of my daddy! What a blessing he is and continues to be – such an encouragement to all of us, with his dry sense of humor. His brother died recently – please join us in praying for the family.

Cindy Webband I are trying to hold the office together and get lunch on the table each day. (Speaking of lunches…Sandra Steele, Eric and Aaron’s mom, is handling our lunch calendar and has tons of openings for anyone who will donate lunch for 25.) Our most trying challenge seems to always be funding and trying to keep up with the monthly expenses – we spend time in fervent prayer and now ASK YOU to JOIN US! We were so excited when a friend pledged 3 years of salary for us to hire a Development Manager who will be able to write grants, go after funding leads, expand our donor base and build relationships with corporations who might support our efforts – We’ve interviewed SEVERAL folks and believe that we have found the RIGHT person with a heart for our Lord, a heart for this ministry AND good experience in fundraising and development in SC. (Jennifer Hall) Please pray for her as she starts at a trot! 

Please join us in fervent prayer and FAITH as our Zoning Court datewas "continued" for the third time, as we wait in expectancy for God to work it out – even before actually going to court. (Forest Acres gave us a zoning citation for this Eastside property. Apparently a mistake was made by the Forest Acres officials who misinterpreted the P-1 and P-2 zoning codes – we are only allowed to have kindergarten on this site, not all of Jubilee Academy. It was thier mistake and we will see how God works it all out. We have a good attorney and are trusting GOD!) 

We also ask you to PRAY for a boost in funding to bring us up-to-date in several areas. Please spread the word that we have students who are WELL WORTH the investment of scholarships for their tuition, which would help tremendously! The investment in the life of one of our student scholarships has AMAZING BENEFITS! ($10,000 per year)

I (Sandee) have recovered nicely from my little "lump" surgery in the spring and have had a great summer taking kiddos to camps and visiting with my mama in the mtns. I love so much! Our first week of Jubilee was spent in the traditional way – in a marvelous house in Montreat where we stayed in the creek much of the time. What a blessing it is to be able to take my children "home" and expand their comfort zone – they relax and truly experience God’s PEACE and the best sleep of their year on that trip!

We hope to involve more volunteers and develope more sincere donors for this year and the future – our vision for Jubilee and Heartworks continues to come into focus and IS AMAZING! I trust we will be stabilized in our "EXCELLENCE BUDGET" soon and can again DREAM of afarm towards the mountains for our families to learn on!! We hope to see God do powerful things THIS year to "grow" us, to "mold" us and to "perfect" us for HIS GLORY!

Please join us for lunch,  soon – we eat at 11:30 and love to have company. Please give us a call or an email to schedule a good day for you!

Many Blessings,
Sandee Hensley

(Updated 10-6-2011)

Your help doesn’t stop at donations. If you’d like to find out more ways to help out the Jubilee Academy, please visit our “How to help” page.

• School Year is Off To A Truely Blessed Start

Anyone who can help THIS WEEK (October 11-15) will be most appreciated! School is operating around the packing and moving – so if you can help Tues. – Friday any hours during the day (8-5) we will have children at Jubilee.

We need Boxes, Clear or tinted plastic bins w/lids, and PEOPLE! We have a big truck on Thursday and Saturday and NEED PICK-UP trucks on Friday.  SATURDAY we’ll meet at Jubilee (Crescent Hill) @ 9:30am.

We are sharing Eastside Baptist Church at 1410 Sunnyside Drive in Forest Acres. Turn off Forest Drive at Blockbuster and Miyos – It is a precious location with wonderful shade trees and lots of room for us! God has richly blessed us!

New phone # 803-343-5439

Jubilee takes a short break to get each child to a camp for a week away from home! It’s funny how God gives specifically donated monies for that even when we can’t pay other bills. The experiences the children need are always first with Him and with our staff!

I am in NC with little ones who are attending Camp Cedar Cliff Day Camp and staying overnights at my mom’s. Last week, Jada, Johnetta and Robert went to Hickory Cove Bible Camp and loved it —except Johnetta broke her foot and had to come home for surgery!! yikes! She was a trooper ! Robert stayed on to work on the jr. staff for a few weeks before going to the SC Governor’s School for Arts and Drama 2 week summer Discovery program. We pray that it will go well and will lead to “real” Gov. School for his Jr. and Sr. year of high school, down the road. He is now starting 9th grade. Isaiah and Aaron are spending the week at a beautiful horse farm in Rock Hill, SC with our Mr. Cameron. They and Asia and Amaya will go to Hickory Cove in July. Amaya is with Shandon youth at Kids Jam Camp. Whew!

Todd is handling things like a pro – the air conditioner is out at Jubilee so of course, he is working other places until we find someone to help with that.

Our staff is living sacrificially for sure – The Board and I paid off a large debt for us, back in April which made it necessary for me to get my SC teacher retirement money out. After paying my part of the debt, I’ve been subsidizing the ministry – I haven’t been able to pay staff since end of May – I’ve gone without pay since April. One teacher cashed a paycheck they did get, and gave it back designating it for camp for his students. Wow! What a blessing it is to work with others who are so mission-minded and living with faith that God will provide for all needs. Please pray that we will be given the $35,000 which will finish our fiscal year in July EVEN! We want to start our new school year well -

Aug. 11 will bring us back to Jubilee with some new students in the lower elementary age group. Anna Sharp will begin her Montessori training and will take on the new little ones. Abile Sultan will work with the upper elementary group and team teach with Anna and Todd on Art, Music and special projects. Todd will be the Academic Coach for the middle and high group of 4: Johnetta, Jada, Robert and Amaya who will attend some classes with the homeschoolers at their resource center. Mrs. Carolee Watt will begin 2 new classes for us: Infant/Parent and Toddler/Parent. Both will meet weekly at our newly renovated center in the alley of apartments on Waites Road. (Faith Court, formerly gates of hell)

Please pray as we work toward excellence and influencing more families for Christ and His ways! It is our true desire to see changes in the welfare dependent values and mindset which will enable our children to fulfill the seeds of promise, God has planted in them!

We thank Teresa Ruducille for all her help and support as we learn from her to “make our case” in an excellent and organized manner, for fund raising. Our new school year’s budget will include a savings plan of 3 months of expenses and still be under $399,000.

We thank Debbie Zveineik for her visit and her funding through her husband’s foundation. We are blessed by those who believe in our children and families and in the ministry we are doing.

Please pray as we search for other foundations and corporations who would join in our work!

I especially want to thank April Allen for all her love and support – her mind races with amazing ideas that will help others. The Jr. League Ladies are a GOD SEND! They have fed us for these last weeks and have provided such blessings over and over! I had no idea how much wonderful work that group could do – it’s mind boggling! Ladies, we love you!

Please pray blessings on The Daughters of The Cross and the Trinity Bazaar in November – they are choosing to bless us with part of their earnings. Wow! We are making crafts to sell and will be there at a table to participate in this great event!

Please pray as the Lipscombe foundation considers us for a grant – I was tickled at how many personal connections I have with the family: one sister has moved to Black Mtn. (my hometown) and they have always summered in Montreat. I pray that we will build a relationship that will be a blessing to both sides.

We continue to get nice comments about the Reach Out Columbia! March article. “Todd is so good-looking”, “Todd is so huge”, “Todd is such a blessing”, etc. YES! YES! YES! Pray for him as he seeks God’s will for him in our work. He IS the ONE the children want to be LIKE!

Blessings to all -

We are resting in the shadow of the wings of the Most High – He is ABLE to handle ALL we care about!

http://www.wltx.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=68768656001

Jubilee Academy Gets Donation from Taco Bell wltx.com | Columbia, SC News, Weather and Sports |.

Please go to  http://www.daybreakcare.com and vote for Heartworks and Jubilee – we could win $500 which would be a blessing! Funding is low and we live on donations – please spread the word!

 UPDATED Heartworks and Jubilee Academy  Needs/Wish List:

• A Mac laptop or desktop; (can be used to create our own fundraising videos)
• Lunches – see our Care Calendar on this website
• Tires for 3 vehicles
• Chairs that fit the children properly for 3 classrooms;
• Fruit for morning snacks each day;
• MINI BUS   (in the meantime: replacement vehicles for old dodge minivans)
• Woodworking tools and materials;
• GIFT CARDS to Sam’s, Wal-mart, Dollar General, Amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors, Foundation for American Education, gas, Moe’s, Lizard’s Thicket, McAlister’s;
• Gas grill
• Large mixer
• Commercial can opener
• rolling tv stand
• 3 round folding tables
• bar stools
• dvd player
• kitchen items for new afterschool program – Heartworks at Faith Court
• long hose
• Large refrigerator
• Ink blocks for Xerox Phaser 8400 – all colors
• sets of uniform logo shirts (long sleeves)
• Monkey bars and climbing set;
• A replacement air conditioning unit for Jubilee classroom side of building;
• Fencing around Jubilee
• Security system w/cameras
• Grocery Cards for moms to Bi-Lo, Food Lion, etc.
• Fun treats for faculty and staff – they work extremely hard for sacrificial pay;
• First Aid items
• Healthy snacks for afternoons;
• No sugar added Juice boxes;
• Interns for a semester;
• A GRANT WRITER who can spend weekly time researching and going after long term funding!

A HUGE Thank you to Mr. Larry Watt for bringing a beautiful picnic table to us!! A HUGE Thank you to the Junior League ladies of Columbia who are bringing an embroidery machine and teaching us how to use it! A HUGE Thank you to those who helped make Christmas such a blessing for so many!

We are very thankful to God for another positive story in the local media this week about Jubilee Academy!

The original story can be found here. Check out the other stories about us at the top of the sidebar of this page. Thank you for your support and prayers.

I am so excited that I can hardly type – Two of us had to hold back our paychecks from last Monday because our bank account would be overdrafted. Today is Friday and I personally have $17 in my own account, so I was beginning to fret about the weekend with two girls living with me and Todd home for a visit.

I was on the phone in the car with Joy (Rose Hill Pres. church secretary and our bookkeeper) going over the numbers now that I was headed to the bank with a deposit of $600. Joy said we still couldn’t make it – we would be in the hole $2000 still – I was sad, but am a firm believer that THIS is GOD”S MINISTRY and HE is in charge of PROVISIONS! For ten years of ups and downs, Jehovah Jirah has provided and we have NEVER had to shut our doors – all the while MANY wonderful CHRISTIAN business folks who LOVE us suggested it. They have an extremely hard time with the FAITH part of ministry funding.

So – I told Joy I would only make one phone call and we would wait upon God to see what He would do by the end of today. She prayed with me on the phone while I leaned on the van at Zesto’s drinking a diet coke (a comfort drink). I got in the car, drove off and dialed the one phone call – one of those automated directory things came on and I was trying to figure out what to press when a Board Member beeped in. I took his call, to hear him say ——– “Sandee, I just decided that I am will bring this month’s gift and next month’s gift over today, so expect $2000.” I whispered – “When did you decide this?” He said, “just in the last few minutes, why?” I had to tell him that Joy and I had prayed NOT 3 MINUTES before – we both got teary and rejoiced.

I drove quickly back to Jubilee, gathered everyone from their classrooms to the living room to share the story of how God SO QUICKLY had sent the exact amount we needed for the two paychecks. Three little ones wanted to pray – I am sure God was blessed by their sincere, precious words of Thanksgiving.

They went back to class and I walked into the office to have Kari hand me an envelope from a volunteer and friend who had come by while I was gone those 15 minutes. In the envelope was a letter explaining her planned summer mission trip which for many reasons God had kept her from taking, along with a check for $1000 which was the refund from the airline for her unused ticket.

If you don’t think I have chills and am laughing out loud – just think about it!!! Oh my goodness – That check was in the works for us back in July. The $2000 was decided upon today -God IS AMAZING and we should NOT be surprised, but are FULL of JOY and are growing EVERY DAY in FAITH and TRUST that HE WILL take care of HIS work!

May all who read this be encouraged!

Blessings,

Sandee

Come join in the Year of Promise

Ms. Sharp is amazing with her older students!

 

Mr. McQueen is our Math Professor for grades one through twelve.

Mrs. Watt is such an expert on so many things! She is a JOY!

Mrs. Jane Simoneau is a wonderful library volunteer!

- Experiencing Excellence EVERY DAY! We need help in every area of our organization. You may contact us at the office by calling 803-252-4236, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please speak to Mrs. Kari Heffron to begin the volunteer process. You will be blessed!

Our Todd is THE ONE our children want to follow. He is a marvelous example for them and spends quality time with them as often as possible.

Learning practical life skills is fun with Mr. Bray!

Mr. Sultan helps the second and third graders with advanced work.

Navaeh is learning to hammer nails in preparation for a building project.

At Jubilee Academy our students are able to “catch up” on skills they never mastered and move quickly through new concepts with the master teachers. God sends amazing veterans who are able to help students take great steps towards acadmic excellence – fulfilling our mission! THANK YOU to all who give sacrificially of their time and finances to teach and train our students. Each has God-given potential and we want to help them fulfill every aspect of it!

The need grows – our budget shows it! Excellence is expensive BUT the rewards are priceless! We have added superb staff members who bring new gifts and are making HUGE impacts on all of our student body and Jubilee family! Both new teachers are fluent in Spanish, one leads in singing each morning after the pledges – music opens and uses both sides of our brains which prepares our children beautifully for starting academics each day. Our Yearlong Theme: TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES! We are creating a powerful curriculum using The Bible as our text. All ages are studying Genesis 1 – Life of Moses during this year of a Three Year Plan. Each month we will focus on one of the Ten Commandments and one of The Beatitudes. It is fun to watch our children working harder than ever and pushing themselves to excellence.

Please take this opportunity to share in this year of Promise and Excellence – Our new accreditation with South Carolina Independent School Association and additional work on fine tuning the organization of Heartworks community ministry and Jubilee Academy is bringing us to a new level. We’ve been dreaming of the time when things worked this well – Please GIVE to help make this possible – our budget for this school year includes so many marvelous experiences for our children and parents ($300,000) and we NEED your help! Those who already give are able to share in the JOY and expectation of how God will manifest their investment in the lives of others! Thank you -

Mr. Sultan shows his K-3 group maps of the world.

First week of school is always in the mtns. of NC!

Morning music to open up our brains and praise God!

Isaiah on climbing wall at Camp Cedar Cliff!

Mr. Sultan and class show off their

We have updated the Jubilee school lunch calendar for 2009. Please login to CareCalendar.org to see what dates are available in 2009 to provide lunches for our students.

Here’s how you log in to our CareCalendar:
user id: 6993
password: 7197

As always, your donations of school lunches are very much appreciated by all of us at Heartworks. Have a Merry Christmas!

Courtesy of First Presbyterian Church here in Columbia:

This will also be posted in our “About Us” page.

We were so blessed last Christmas to meet and be able to help the Felder family! Ashley(18) is a teenage mom, paralyzed from a gang shooting and in a wheelchair. We fell in love with Amaryia, now 2 and hope she will grow up and into Jubilee! A group of friends have gotten together to help us shop for this sweet family and we will deliver “Christmas” tomorrow night. The children and I had a great time decorating with for Amaryia as she squealed and enjoyed every part of the process. I thank God for the opportunities He gives us to minister to others! I want my children to learn to GIVE, having so much given to them! They love to visit Ashley and Amaryia!

I just posted a couple more news stories from the State newspaper from 2001 and 2005 in our news section (upper right hand corner). Also check out this good report from last night’s huge fundraising event at the Watershed bookstore. I’m personally looking forward to seeing pictures from that (and video, maybe??) , if there are any. If you haven’t attended a dessert presentation and would like to, check the post immediately below this one for dates and call the school office for details.

Sandee gave us some old video tapes this weekend, containing TV news reports from back in the early days of Heartworks. I have processed

and uploaded the most recent of those to Youtube and made a page for it here. Watch for the older ones in the coming days.

Also, please check out the newly-released Trumpeteer newsletter for the month of August [5MB PDF file], which will also be linked in the sidebar.

Thank you to all who are supporting us during this very exciting time in our ministry! Jubilee has had a powerful first week and a half – a four day trip to my hometown, Black Mtn.,NC and 5 days in the classroom with some additional curriculum. We are pouring on the work and the kiddos are loving it! Our new History curriculum is a great homeschool choice, The Story of the World – Ancient Times. It is fun and full of great information. Who knew it took 2 months to make a mummy?

Devon Copeland did a wonderful job on our State news article. I thank God for those who see us as a positive work and who will support us with helpful words – getting the word out on what God is doing in our inner city! Yahoo!

I want to especially thank Mr. and Mrs. Ben Wisdom (volunteers) and Mrs. Sandra Steele (one of our parents) for purchasing and donating computers to update our lab. Technology is so very important in education and in learning to seek and find answers to life’s questions – ALL of the children, 5-17 yrs. , are learning to research for info. on lesson subjects and all will be creating their own powerpoint presentations, which they learned to do last term. We really are very blessed with THINGS – now, our upcoming fundraiser and positive publicity will hopefully raise our donation base to cover monthly expenses and give us the ability to work toward our VISION – beyond just paying bills!

We also thank Jack Felmy and his family for our new playground which he built for his Eagle Scout Project! We are loving it – although this last week it’s been too hot to play but in 5 min. intervals. We need fencing that will go around our playground and basketball court – we have folks to install it, if we can get it donated or at a great deal!

We’d love for you to come for a visit to see us for yourselves and catch up – hope this week is a great one for everyone!

Blessings,

Sandee