Dear SPACE Parents

Here is an email letter followup I sent out to all of our SPACE parents after we hosted a quick parents meeting last Sunday. Some of you might be interested if you deal with students, parents, mission teams, budgets... ok enough...

HI SPACE parents,

Thanks to those of you that were in attendance at our parents meeting on Sunday. Here is a quick recap of the information I went over. Feel free to pass this on to those I may have missed.

+ Summer Team Leaders
I'm overjoyed to tell you that our summer team leaders have a retention rate of 85% this summer - meaning that 85% of team leaders have been either a leader or participant on a previous SPACE experience. We know that the more experience our leaders have with global cultures, working with students and serving in different contexts, the stronger our teams will be. Choosing team leaders is the most intentional decision we make, based on strengths, fit and experience.

+ Support Status
Current Support as of 5/15/2008
Baltimore – XX/3600 – 2%
NOLA – 5500/14000 – 50%
England – 200/28000 – 2.5%
Cameroon – 4000/51200 – 10%
Hungary – 20334/71500 – 30%
Total budget – 34,603/170,000 – 20% [estimated budget - will fluctuate once teams hit the field and there is a significant amount of support letters that have just gone out in the mail...]

This is our most ambitious summer with more students involved in teams than ever and a larger budget due to 3 overseas teams, cost of oil, 2 teams to Europe and the global food crisis. We know that the only way these teams are viable is if God provides so we are all praying for support. Team leaders are challenging and encouraging the students to pray for support - it would be fun for you to do that with your kids too.

As an effort to engage a broader community, SPACE is hosting a Silent Auction/Ice Cream social. Products or services can be donated to SPACE to help raise support. If you know a local business that might be interested in donating, please let me know. We could also use help that evening and could use items for a bake sale if you are interested.

Friday June 6th
Maryland Piano Studio
6pm - 8pm
Website for donations: http://space2008auctions.blogspot.com
Directions

+ Mission Advance
Mission Advance is our weekend where all the summer teams come together for team building, mission trip workshops and a community service project. Mission Advance starts Friday June 20 at 7pm and ends Saturday June 21 at 8pm and will be using the Warehouse as a base of operations. We could use help from parents for food for the
weekend, including donations, setup, etc. VK is coordinator for that effort - contact her if you are interested in helping. Our goal for the weekend is to
architect an environment where teams grow, get to know each other better and serve together all in an effort to ensure that they hit the field as strong as possible.

I know thats a long email. To summarize:
- Know a business that can donate a product or service for a SPACE silent auction? Let me know. We would love to see you there - feel free to pass the event info on to anyone else that might be interested in getting to know SPACE a little better.
- Interested in helping provide some food for Mission Advance? Let VK know.

Thanks to each of you for being willing to send your students out this summer. We do this because we are convinced that your kids will mark human history. Our job is to help them do it.

- tony sheng
http://tonytsheng.blogspot.com