Matthew Donohue
My Plans for Next Year
My name is Matthew Donohue, I’m 23 years old from Cynthiana, Kentucky and I have recently graduated College. During my College years I felt God telling me to serve somewhere after I was done with school. I initially thought about the Peace Corps and looked in to that. I was about to start applying for that, but I didn’t feel like that was what God wanted me to do. Than I was like where do you want me to go God? Then I heard of Americorps and thought about that, but then I didn’t feel like God wanted me to do that either. Then when my senior year at College came around I kinda forgot about worring about where God wanted me to serve after College and was just going to get a job. Then like the last month College I was going through some old papers I had just stuffed into a drawer and found this thing about Mission Year and thought huh this looks interesting. To tell you the truth I don’t really remember where I even got the stuff about Mission Year. So my last month of school I looked into it and felt like this is where God wanted me to go, so I applied and got accepted and will be in Camden, NJ in September. I am flooded with emotions, I’m excited, anxious, and nervous and can’t wait to join my housemates in Camden. Peace
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Matthew Donohue's Blog
April Blog / Apr 17, 11:49 AM
April Blog
Hello everyone. Hope everyone is well. It is going pretty good here in Camden. It is starting to get warmer and more people are starting to spend time outdoors, which makes it easier to meet new people.
Hopeworks
I had an exciting couple of weeks at the adult literacy program. After spring break I worked with Angel on multiplication for a week. He wasn’t that strong in math so the literacy director wanted him to work on some of his weaknesses and he was going to test him at the end of the week. We had already worked on multiplication before spring break but when he got tested he didn’t do so well, so we were going to give it another try. If he didn’t do good on this next test there were going to be consequences. So I worked with him everyday to make sure that he knew his multiplication and I was nervous by the end of the week but he did very well on the test and got to continue with the program.
Also at Hopeworks the literacy director went on vacation, so he left me in charge for a week. AAAHHH!!! I was real nervous about this, but I was up for the challenge. During this week some of the trainees were going to take a college placement test to see what classes they could test into, which I had to help them prepare for. This was a big challenge and I spent that week going over sample problems with those trainees. I felt like they were well prepared for the test and when I saw the results three of them did extremely well. They tested into four classes and can start college this summer and one of them was Angel, which made me excited. So all in all, I did an ok job while the literacy director put me in charge.
The Rest
So at Urban Promise nothing that exciting happened. The kids were a little crazy after they came back from spring break and have been ever since. I think they are ready for summer to be here and so am I. On community day we had a naked guy run down the street. I really didn’t get to see it; I just got to see the aftermath. Like a million people were out on the street after and a few people were chasing him and throwing bottles I think. I heard some cool stories about growing up in Camden from neighbors around my age. Other than that not much is happening. Later
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord…
plans to give you hope and a future… You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11, 13)
March update / Mar 24, 10:30 AM
Happy Easter! I hope everyone is having a good Easter Holiday, but let’s not forget what Easter is about. On Palm Sunday our pastor talked about how we need to be more like the donkey that Jesus rode on when he entered Jerusalem found in Matthew 21:1-11. The donkey was obedient and was a tool for God. We need to be like a donkey and let God “ride us.” He said a lot of other good things I just can’t remember them now.
Hopeworks
So this month at the adult literacy program they took a week to do a special project they termed “Digital Storytelling.” All of the trainees wrote a story about their lives. They then recorded their stories digitally and made a slideshow with pictures they had. When they put it all together it looked awesome. It was pretty cool for me to be able to hear the stories of the people’s lives I have been working with and it helped me to get to know them better. Also I have continued to work with Angel and they think that he will be ready for college this summer, which is great.
Urban Promise
I have been working more closely with Shydel over the last month. He still usually puts up a fight about doing his homework. Most days I have to take him out of class and work with him one-on-one. He is getting better though. Usually he gets all of his homework done in time to do the fun activity the kids get to do after homework.
Jesus became what we are so we can become like He is. “…through the obedience of one man the many will be made righteous.” Rom. 5:19
Have a good Easter Holiday
February Update/newsletter / Feb 21, 02:42 PM
So basically this is just my newsletter, so if you already read that there is no reason to read this, later
News from Camden
Another month has passed and what a month it has been. Thanks for all the support I am receiving and keep praying for me.
Hopeworks
At Hopeworks, the adult literacy program I work at in the morning, I no longer get to work with Miles. As I said in my last letter he has got an internship this semester and is still taking college courses too. I am sad that I don’t get to work with him anymore because he brought joy to my life, but I am extremely excited for him and what he is doing. I still get to stop in and see him sometimes at Hopeworks. Since I am not working with Miles I have started working with Angel. Angel is a new trainee at Hopeworks and I get to work with him about an hour every morning doing one-on-one mentoring. He is trying to make the transition into College. Hopefully by August he will be able to get into a College.
Super Bowl
I actually didn’t get to watch the Super Bowl with Kelly, which is okay because a lady from our Church invited our house over to watch it with her at her house. It was a good opportunity to get to hang out with someone from Church outside of Church, which is something we have not actually had a chance to do a lot of. I and three of my housemates went to watch the Super Bowl with her and it was a great bonding experience.
Urban Promise
I have continued to work with Jimmy, the 4th grader at the Urban Promise after school program, every chance I get. I notice that he is more talkative when I am around him and he seems to ask me to help him with his homework more than he does the other helpers. So I guess he is getting more comfortable with me.
Another kid from the after school program is Justyn, a first grader. He is usually really bad and doesn’t respond to the staff very well. So we decided to give him some extra attention to see if that would get him to settle down a little bit. I had the task of keeping him calm during are closing program, which last for about 30 minutes and requires kids to be still and quiet, which is obviously hard for Justyn. The first day we implemented this new plan I was kind of iffy of it working, however, Justyn sat next to me and for the most part was quiet and still. Every few minutes he would ask me a question though, “Am I being good Mr. Matthew?” I would say, “Yes, you are Justyn, you are being very good.” And he was being good, I was a little shocked. He did ask me that question over and over again. I thought it was cute and funny. Then I thought this might just work for this kid. The next day at closing program he is all over the place. I had to take him out of program and sit with him in another room because he was being so disruptive. I finally got him to calm down by reading a book to him. I knew he wouldn’t be interested in the book because he wouldn’t be able to relate to it so I just made the story up myself replacing the characters with people that were in the after school program that he knew. After this day I realized that he isn’t just going to be a perfect angel all the time and not after one day after implementing a new plan for him.
Another fourth grader from the after school program is Shydel. He is a particularly hard kid to work with. He is always putting up a fight about homework. One day he was having a particularly bad day and our director decided I was the lucky one to help him with his homework. I was thinking o boy. So I am sitting here trying to help this fourth grader with his homework and he just doesn’t want to do it. I try to get him to just read the questions and he just can’t, he can’t really read. He is in the fourth grade and he doesn’t actually know how to read yet. The school systems our so messed up in Camden. If no one ever taught me to read I wouldn’t want to do my homework either. I am sitting here realizing I can’t teach this kid to read with what little time I have with him. I do help him read the questions and sound out the words because he doesn’t know how. I think he understood most of the questions we did, we didn’t get a chance to get all of them finished. I hope he understood some of it.
I think to myself, does this after school program really make a difference? Is Urban Promise accomplishing anything? Then I look at my after school program director, which is my boss there. His name is Pookie (his real name is Edwardo, but he prefers Pookie and that’s what everyone calls him). He grew up in Camden, he went through the after school program at Urban Promise and now he is back running one of the after school camps (there is around five different camps throughout the city). This is what Urban Promise is all about, “building a city of promise one child at a time.” They want to have leaders from within the community, people that already know what it is like to grow up there. When it first started it was people from the outside trying to help. Now there are people that have came through Urban Promise that our in the leadership positions. Pookie is one of them and there are others also. They realize what Urban Promise is doing and they are trying to give back. I realize that I probably won’t change every kid’s life, but I can change some lives.
Changes
There has been one really big change in my life here in Camden over the last month. One of my housemates, Jason, has went back home to Michigan. He was having a hard time dealing with some issues in his life and it was decided that he would be better off leaving Camden and going back home to deal with these issues. He is staying with his mentor and friend in Michigan.
Ending Note…
Thanks for all the support I am getting from all of you it is very much appreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my experiences. Continue to pray for me and my time here. If you want to donate to Mission Year you can use the support envelope and follow the instructions on there. Make checks payable to Mission Year and put my account # 07-0065 on the memo line. You can also donate online @ www.missionyear.org/blog/matthewdonohue. I am roughly at 30% of my fundraising goal of $12,000. Thanks to all of those who support me, keep me in your prayers.
Trials are not enemies of faith but are opportunities
to prove GOD’s faithfulness
Matthew Donohue
January Blog / Jan 23, 03:55 PM
January blog
Happy New Year. Yeah I know it is like the end of January but I haven’t written a blog in awhile, so get over it, lol. My break was good and rejuvenating. It was good to see my family and friends, but I was ready to come back. I am just getting back in the swing of things here.
Hopeworks
At Hopeworks, my morning service site, a lot of the trainees are starting college classes this semester, which is awesome. They all had to take a test and receive a certain score to see if they could get in and I think all of them passed at least one subject. I’m super excited for them. Miles, a guy I have been working with on a regular basis, passed all of his college courses and has gotten an internship this semester two days a week. I don’t get to see him as much since he is still taking classes along with his internship but I am so happy for him.
Urban Promise
I have been hanging out with Jimmy, this 4th grader at the after school program, and helping him with homework and just playing games like battleship and guess who, I think battleship is his favorite. Also I have been hanging out with Johnny a 2nd grader. We both act goofy together and play fooseball and do the running man dance, lol it’s a lot of fun.
My Birthday
Also my birthday was the 13th of this month. My housemates bought me hot dogs, lol because I love hot dogs but not as much as people seem to think. Our next door neighbor Nestor painted me a picture which is pretty cool. Also Hopey got me these two peanut butter chocolate chip giant cookies which is funny because when we took the wrong bus I wrote about in my last blog we had to wait at a Wawa for about 30 min. and I bought one of those same kind of cookies, lol. I love my housemates :)
Well that’s all I have for ya for now, tune in next month C-ya later
Work for the Lord. The work is hard, the hours are long, and the pay is low, but the retirement benefits are OUT OF THIS WORLD! “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Cor. 2:9
Matthew Donohue
December Blog / Dec 17, 03:07 PM
December blog
Well it looks as if I am just blogging about once a month. It is hard to find the time to blog sorry guys :). So a lot has happened this last month. For Thanksgiving my team went to our church to cook and feed people all day. It was pretty cool to hang out with some of our church people.
Buy Nothing Day:
Buy Nothing Day was the day after thanksgiving. Buy Nothing Day is a day where you promote buying nothing. It is against consumerism and there were a lot of other people doing it, like The Simple Way and others. You can check up more about it at http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/ A lot of us got together and some of us wore costumes. I didn’t wear one though, did you think I would, lol. Seth from the Philly team was coat man and wore like 7 coats and was planning on giving them away during the day and he gave away all 7!!! Some other costumes were a blood drop and the guy promoted giving blood. We also had sister winter, a Christmas tree, a newspaper pirate, yellow pages princes and a high five ninja, lol, krazy kids, good times good times.
The Wrong Bus
So one day I was having a crappy day and kinda didn’t feel like working at the after school program. So me and a team mate get a bus to go to the after school program. Turns out it was the wrong one and we went the wrong way. So we got to go on a fun bus ride and it was a nice little break. It took us like 3 and a half hours to get to the after school program and we arrived just in time for ending program. I enjoyed my nice little break though it was just what I needed that day. God works in mysterious ways. :)
Pancakes and Canadian Bacon
So a few of us decided to make breakfast and take it to the homeless guys we hung out with on Urban Solitude. So we make pancakes, Canadian bacon and coffee, well Emily and Matt made everything I was just there So we get there and one of them is already gone, but its okay there are three new people. We give them the pancakes and they finish eating and then we are just sitting there talking with them when a couple of cops show up. Now if you didn’t know these were the three guys who were staying beside the abandoned AAA building and I have visited them a couple of times since the time I stayed on the streets with them. The week before this I visited them and one of them mentioned that someone had finally bought the building. So now a week later a couple of cops showed up. I was like oh no. The cops just told them they had to leave because they were trespassing on private property. They had been living there for about 4 months. They started gathering there things and I was just overwhelmed with a feeling of sadness and powerlessness. I felt like just breaking down and crying right there on the spot, but I didn’t because I don’t like letting people see me cry. So when I got back home I was telling my family that I live with in Camden about it and just started crying for like 5 minutes. I just felt paralyzed and kinda felt that way through out the day. Just pray for me and those guys
Other things
I am still working at Hopeworks and Urban Promise and couldn’t be any happier with my service sites. I love the kids I work with and my bosses too. The people you work with really make the experience.
Merry Christmas and a have a Happy New Year. :)
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