Happy New Year to all from the ARK Family.

The New Year's promise brings renewal and hope to each one of us. We at the ARKGroup always have you in our thoughts and prayers. We see wonder, excitement, joy, happiness and fulfillment together with you in this wonderful new year of service and care for you and the children and others in your lives. A great big THANK YOU to all of you who "Teach" our family of children in schools, churches, homes and neighborhoods.

We encourage you to share our website (www.thearkgroup.org) with your friends and colleagues. The ARKGroup's website can assist you in obtaining any information you need (both faith- based and secular) about the Adults Relating to Kids' programs and processes for teachers and schools, parents and others who would be intentional in the lives of children. Visit our site today!
Bill
William R. Duffy
National Executive Director
281-537- 1301

"I think TV is great. When I'm in a hotel room, I sit there and try all these new channels and see what's going on. I probably stay up too late watching stuff. TV is neat. I don't have a TV at home, because I prefer to spend that time thinking - or mostly reading. So I'm pretty conscious about not letting myself get used to certain things." - Bill Gates

We encourage you to commit to renewal and growth with education and networking facilitated by the ARKProgram DVDs: ARK for Teachers, ARK for Parents (faith-based and secular), ARK Facilitator Training, The ARK Group Process and an Introduction to ARK hosted by Pat Summerall. Order today at www.thearkgroup.org. The ARK Program has excellent lessons, DVD's, manuals, workbooks, texts and advertising materials. They will equip you to provide life-changing ARK programs including breakthrough parenting and teaching "skills courses." With your help, we can make ARKRelationships the norm for the 21st century family, church, school and community.

UPDATE ON OUR FAITH-BASED PROGRAMS

For our friends and followers, we have had outstanding, record-breaking participation through 2008 and January 2009 with over 270 churches in the Dallas and Houston areas participating in our ARK for Parents faith-based church programs. The Facilitator training, (which prepares churches to provide this outstanding program either to the entire congregation or to smaller groups, such as Sunday School classes) can be scheduled to fit the schedule of those who commit to serve as facilitators. Thanks to wonderful gifts by kind benefactors, we are able to provide ARK for Parents Programs to many churches who require scholarship assistance. The program includes facilitator training, lessons on DVDs, books, and a host of supporting materials and services. We invite you to make sure that your church takes advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Contact us today by e-mail, letter or by telephone in Dallas at 817-268-2100 or Houston at 281-537-1301 to reserve these programs for your church and to enable your church family to become the parents and intentional adults in the lives of children who will change the world through your care.

"Ageless Wit and Observation - "If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you are informed,. The trick is asking ourselves, what do I think about that writer's words versus soaking them in without an opinion of my own." Mark Twain

From building new homes, picking up littered streets, planting flowers in the parks, singing and dancing at Nursing homes, protecting the environment, teens are taking initiative to help.

According to a 2006 study from the Corporation for National and Community Services, a federal agency that overseas service programs, volunteering for 16 to 19 year-olds more than doubled from 1989 to 2005. In 2004, 15.5 million youth aged 12-18 volunteered with an organization, contributing more than 1.2 billion hours of service. One article states, "what was different about these kids", is that they are really acting from passion, not obligation. (Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org, Does this sound familiar with that hallway talk you overhear at schools, churches, YMCAs and at the local pizza shops?
There is no doubt that the Internet and networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have made it easier for teens to organize for change across town or across the country.

As a parent, I hope you can provide some defining moments of encouragement in your children's memories in regard to recognizing their participation in service and care for others. Young people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They look for opportunities to give back and to engage. A recent survey has shown that community service activities are offered in 86% of U.S. High Schools. Teens can find a personal connection to their volunteer activities, through family, peer groups ideas, friends, and many have started their own non-profits. Just last week, I overheard a teen tell her friends, "If we don't solve problems now, we 'll suffer in the future". How great is that? Does this sound like you 20 or 30 years ago?

According to a 2007 survey by Deloitte & Touche USA, nearly two-thirds of 18-26 year-olds said they'd prefer to work for companies that allow them to contribute to nonprofit organizations. "Volunteering" is an important pipeline that produces our future and the future of our children.
We at the ARKGroup have significantly more impact on the lives of families, teachers, students and children because of the volunteer actions of our thousands of friends.

I hope your loved ones listen to the best in you and are safe and that you will appreciate those little and big moments of their volunteer activities. In this defining moment of the New Year, I hope they know happiness, the joy of giving and the wonder of the take-action generation in making this grand world a better place than we found it.

Let us have your suggestions of hope and we will share.

A man stood in the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station in Washington, D.C. and started to play the violin. It was a cold January 12th morning in 2007. Three minutes went by, and a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip. A woman threw the money into his open violin case without stopping and continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again.

The one who paid the most attention was a three-year- old boy. His mother pulled him along as he tried to stop to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child walked away turning his head back to see the man continuing to play. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only seven people stopped to listen. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed he had stopped. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with his Stradivarius violin handcrafted in 1713 that is worth 3.5 million dollars. Three days earlier, Bell had played to a full house at Boston's Symphony Hall, where seats averaged $100.00. But on this day he collected just $32.17 for his efforts which was contributed by 27 of the 1,097 passing travelers. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.

The outlines were: in a commonplace environment during a busy hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? One of the conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing? What could we be missing? We have food on the table. We have a car. We can put gas in it. We can drive to a park and sit seeing the children play. It might be cold, but we have a coat to wear, and we can have a smile of thankfulness on our face.

Or we might be holding an invoice and be figuring out how to pay it, but our lights are on ,and the house next door has not been destroyed by a rocket fired from twenty miles away or by a shell fired from a tank down the street. We have so much beautiful FREEDOM that we so often take for granted.

There truly IS beauty all around us. What do we choose to see?

We are the most fortunate, luckiest, most blessed and joyous parents, grandparents and just people who have kids in our lives "individuals" in the world. As the bright breathe of the new year whistles into our lives I wish you a great moments of "findings " in the most usual of places. Please consider a donations to ARK Programs that can be a means of giving adults tools for relating to their kids and showing that they care. Give as generously as you can. You will make a lasting different in the lives of deserving children.<

Glenn, Bill, Jan, and our entire staff greatly appreciate your contributions in helping us to make caring relationships and discovery of the beautiful things in our world and lives the norm for kids.

I have spent some time in this month's conversation engaging you with the evidence and words of others who have found great meaning in the psychological and physical benefits of giving or taking action towards the well-being of others.

My own family continues to share stories as we grow more comfortable with a dad whose hair has whitened and whose mind is better able to focus on the really important things of their lives. I have been so lucky to have always been guided by a remarkable, loving spouse who has grown me up in the reality and actions of being in love with the world and actioning that love in real work. Real work takes many forms, like making caramel popcorn with our four-year-old granddaughter or dealing with that deep question of "where does my energy go?" .

As parents, grandparents and teachers, many actions of others need our attention to have a mindset of volunteering to be present with actions that are anticipated, wanted and needed by our nearby kids. You know, kids do seek to belong to someone who cares about what they think , what little new steps they have just taken, what new idea they would like to explore, and whose lap they would like to relax into as they contemplate the days events and how they belonged.

My youngest daughter was recalling a moment this past week when my grandson, while playing the Wii Play, asked his 7 year old side-kick how he was doing. The conversation revealed that this particular side-kick did not believe he had any friends on the block. This conversation continued from Ethan, "of course you do, this block is full of friends". He immediately grabbed the side-kick and shot out of the house to show him all these friends that would be their "together friends" as they "stopped the space alien invasions, blasted the bad guys and launched a new mission to the moon."
How better to understand "actions that are significant" than through the real lives of our children and grandchildren. Now I am sure that each of these beautiful children have had periods and moments of rejection and "put-downs" from their peers. Their resilience to let those words fly right over their heads, to recognize when one of their buddies felt less than accepted, and to initiate an immediate rise to action as they ran out of the house to meet these 'great friends" --is awe-inspiring. And make no mistake about it: the resilience of a child and the formation of a sound self-concept are made possible by the nurture of a caring adult in that child's life. Now that is what we adults can provide as the "take charge" behaviors of significance, taking a child's hand in our own and giving ourselves to the simple and yet profound task of being an unconditionallyf caring friend.

ARKParenting and ARK for Teachers programs help small-group networks of support to practice and grow these natural real and loving toolsets for care in our parenting and teaching . They enable us adults to participate in significant moments of care giving and allow us to focus on the acts of kindness of our children and students. ARK programs help teachers,mothers, and fathers to establish firm and consistent expectations in ourselves about the things we know to be important while anchoring our children and students in love, warmth, support and encouragement.

To find out about facilitating an ARK Program in your area, give us a CALL!
In making this 2009 the Happiest of New Years, We can make a difference in our schools, neighborhoods and families. We can be a convergent force for the good, the beautiful ,and the true that lives in each of us and in those we encounter each day.

Check out our Dr. Brooks Website for an excellent view on Forgiveness

ARK is always aware of organizations which want to incorporate the ARK experience in their programs but who need financial assistance to do so. Even public schools frequently don't have the resources that will allow them to offer their students the life-changing benefits of ARK. DID YOU KNOW THAT ...your gift of $100. will introduce ARK to a school, United Way supported agency, neighborhood center or church. ... your donation of $1,000. will provide ARK programming for an entire school. ...your contribution of $10,000. will allow the ARKgroup to equip 10 schools within a school district to begin the ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents programs.

GoodSearch - a way to support ARK while using the Internet. You can contribute to the ARKGroup so that we might invest in your favorite community services, church, juvenile justice program or school--just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo!

Read on at the ARK website...