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Schools out for summer and it is still busy around the office. We have alot going on this summer, and we would love to see you at one of these events.






I will update with some photos of the Rockwall Fun Run, Plano 5K, & DISD Partnership Camp soon!

Hope your summer is starting off awesome!!!!
~Candice
Admin Asst.

Our staff has been talking alot about volunteering and what that means, so as a staff we went out and gave an afternoon to volunteer at !It was a great afternoon filled with flying shoes (not actual flying shoes, just shoes that had been "lightly tossed") and great staff fellowship! This is a great organization that shows you the journey of a shoe, and the impact ONE pair of shoes can make! Here are the pictures from the afternoon:





Lucy Jacobs, Jeff Jacobs daughter, was the hardest worker of the day!

Chauncey Franks - Working hard to get those shoes!

~Candice S.
Admin. Asst.

January- Allen High School FCA
~Be sure to listen at 2:25PM to hear all about them!
you can go here to listen online:
http://www.christiannetcast.com/listen/dynamicasx.asp?station=kcbi-fm

Be sure to keep an eye out to see February's Huddle of the Month!

I heard this on the way to the office this morning and thought it is a story that should be shared:

I'd like to give you another story that shows a different side. This
story is real. It was written by the talented Rick Reilly of Sports
Illustrated and it inspires me every time I read it:



High school football is big in America, but I suppose there is no place
where it is bigger than in Texas. Friday nights there are legend.

The fans scream; the stands are packed; cheerleaders with pom-poms jump
and sway to the beat of the school bandand everybody joins in the
chants and stomps their feet on the metal stands until you are sure
they will collapse.

This is the frenzy of Texas high school football.

But there is one football team in Texas that is a little different.
When they play on Friday night, their stands are empty, no band, no
cheerleaders, no mass of parents or townsfolk wearing the school colors
and waving banners and flags. They take the field without anyone
cheering them on. When they score a touchdown, which rarely happens,
there is no wild celebration behind them… All of it seems hollow and
muffled in contrast to the tidal wave of roars and drums and chants
that come from the opposing side.

They are the Tornadoes of the Gainesville State School, a fenced,
maximum-security facility. The young men who go to Gainesville State
are there because they have made some major mistakes in their lives.
But the players who are on the team are there because they have worked
hard and have earned enough good behavior points that gives them the
privilege to leave the facility and play football on Friday
nights—always an away game for them—always a home game for their
opponents—and almost always a loss. They don’t have a weight program or
training equipment or high-paid coaches and assistants. They don’t have
a large pool of players to draw from. The school has 275 boys, but many
are too old or too young or can’t or don’t meet the “criteria” to play.
And they don’t have the support of a town and a mass of parents and
family and reporters and bands and cheerleaders.

That is, until November 7th. Something changed. They played Grapevine Faith Christian School.

A few days before the game, the Gainesville coach, Mark Williams
received a call from Faith Christian coach, Kris Hogan, asking him if
it would be okay if Faith formed a “spirit” line for his team when they
ran on the field. Mark said, “Sure, that would be a real encouragement
to the kids.” He thought that the line would consist of a couple of the
JV cheerleaders, but when they took the field, there were a hundred
people in it and it stretched to the 40-yard line, filled with Faith
Christian parents, fans and varsity cheerleaders, complete with a
banner at the end for them to burst through that read “Go Tornadoes!”.
And then, those parents and fans sat in the stands behind the
Gainesville players and when the Tornadoes broke the huddle and went up
to the line they could hear people cheering for them, by name. When
they got a first down, “their” fans erupted.

You see, coach Hogan had sent an email out to the Faith Christian
parents and students asking them to consider doing something kind for
these young men, many who didn’t know what it meant to have a mom and
dad who cared, many who felt the world was against them, not for them.
Hogan asked that they simply send a message that these boys were “just
as valuable as any other person on earth.”

So half of the Faith Christian fans were now sitting on the visitor’s
side of the field, cheering for the Gainesville team, and in some
cases, against their own sons.
–Cheering for a team decked out in
mismatched old uniforms and helmets.
–Cheering for boys who wouldn’t go
home that night and have a smiling dad slap him on the back and feel
his mom put her arms around him and say “I’m so proud of you
son!”
–Cheering for the underdog.

This was a Friday night like no other for the Tornadoes. In the locker
room, the players were confused.
“Why are they cheerin’ for us,
coach?”
“Because, men, they want to encourage you. They want you to
know that they care about you…that you have value.”


Coach Williams said the boys were stunned. For many of these kids, it
may have been the first time that anyone had shown them, so visibly,
unconditional love.

They were down 33 to nothing at the half. Williams encouraged his team
to set a goal for the second half: to score a touchdown against this
vastly superior team. And when the boys from the State School took the
field again, with their fans cheering them on, everything started to
click. And they did score. Not once but twice.

And the fans went wild.

Coach Williams was asked what the bus ride was like on the way home and
he laughed and said that they were all asleep—their bellies were full.
That’s becuz after the game, the parents brought a whole bunch of food
over to the guys: hamburgers, fries, candy, sodas…and included in the
meal sack was a Bible and a personal letter of encouragement from a
Faith Christian player. But then, he said, they formed a line for us
out to the bus. And the parents patted them on the back and said, “Nice
game” and “Look forward to seeing you guys next time.”

As they left the field that night, Coach Williams grabbed Coach Hogan
and said to him: “You’ll never know what your people did for these kids
tonight. You’ll never, ever know.”

Well our Holiday vacation is over and its back to daily grind. We all seemed to have a very enjoyable holiday and we hope that you and you family had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year is starting off great. We are getting ready for Weekend of Champions, it's coming up pretty fast only 50 days away :). We are getting really excited about the event. We hope to see you there!

Because I am absent minded at times here is the link for our pictures from the Christmas Party on our Facebook Group page, if you are not a group member be sure to become one while you are checking the pictures out!

Excited about 2009,
Candice Snyder
Admin Asst.


Greater Dallas FCA Facebook Group Photos

After our amazing Staff Christmas party it was time to wrap up and get ready to enjoy our time with families and friends this holiday season! I will post some of the photos from our fun Staff later tomorrow and a link to see all of them from facebook, so keep an eye out!

We hope you have an amazing and blessed Christmas and an excellent New Year! Our office will be closed December 24th - January 2, we will reopen January 5.

*Stay safe and be merry*






See ya'll in 2009!
Candice Admin Assistant
:)

Here are some stories from the field on FCA Gives Back:

Operation Christmas Child official results are in. We have collected 135 Boxes that will be going out to some very special kids somewhere in the world! I want to thank all of the teachers, secretaries and students that gave so generously to these little ones. While it may seem a small thing to us to get such a gift, it is a really big thing to these kids that have almost nothing. One teacher at RHS reported to me that on her trip to Zambia one June, she saw kids still carrying around their boxes which they received in December ! Good Morning America last week carried a story about a woman who, as a little girl in Russia received a box and how impacting it was to her life. Her parents were both alcoholics and when she got the present, it was a life changing thing for her! The boxes are on the way to their destinations and soon, in a month, there are going to be some very happy kids!! Richardson High School FCA

"We had a huge success last night for our scavenger hunt. We had over 50 kids and 9 groups go out and try to collect 20 different items from the community and they came back with bags full!! It was an awesome response. I'm sure we had close to 200 cans of assorted things from veggies to meats, milk, fruit, lots of flour, sugar, and other necessities needed to cook a great Thanksgiving meal. We even had one group bring in a frozen turkey!! The kids gathered enough food to feed 10 - 15 families for Thanksgiving. It was an awesome display of caring hearts!"Allen High School FCA

We would like to wish every one a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!



During the Thanksgiving holiday be sure to give thanks to Lord for all that he has provided to you over the years, and what amazing things you have yet to see from His glory.

Let those you love know you love them and how thankful you are to have them in your life.

"Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can declare all His praise?" Psalm 106:1-2

"I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving." Psalm 69:30






Be Safe and Have a Glorious Thanksgiving Holiday!