Ned Erickson: UPDATE Week of August 2

Another interesting and eventful week in the life of the Winston-Salem Fellows.

We are rounding third and entering the home stretch!!!

August is officially the beginning of our fiscal year, so it does feel like we have turned a corner so to speak. More on the fiscal front later in this blog.

PREPPING

C-Fil paints one of the guys rooms. It used to look like this...

Turns out I was the only one who loved the butterflies and squid arms. Alas. They are gone.

Over the weekend we said good-bye to our Wake Forest SNAP residents. It was great to share our building with them this summer. We wish them the best as they return to Wake. There may be one or two who are graduating who we might see again...we shall see!

Shelly Sizemore was great to work with. Go Deacs.

A donor has gifted us with six brand new mattresses and box springs. They were also delivered this week. This donor's generosity has thoroughly blown us away. We contacted him in the hopes to purchase the cheapest sets we could get our hands on - he came back with an offer we couldn't refuse. He said: "Tell you what, I'll get you my favorite mattresses and give them to you."

Wow! This is the kind of people we have in Winston-Salem. What a witness!

The guys this year are getting the upgrade. New beds! New paint! Next year - we are going to need to find a way to love our ladies!

GATHERIN

Monday night, we gathered at the guy's house for some burgers and hot dogs and worship and olympics watching.

It was sweet time as always.

One particularly sweet thing was that Wil Marks, one of our incoming Fellows, came to join us. He interviewed for his job the following morning.

Pumped!

SUMMER FUN

I introduced the Fellows to Bowman Gray a few weeks ago - they have returned EVERY WEEK SINCE! Ha!

Lia and I slipped to the west of town to enjoy some Wine Slushies at Medaloni Vineyards.

Spikeball continues to be a hit at Hanes Park

And speaking of hits, the last Disco Turkey game was this Friday.

What a city!

CHOPS

On thursday, I enjoyed two proud parents (Tripp and Patricia) as we got our ears blown off by their incredibly talented daughter Luisa and her band Car Hop at Gas Hill.

Their show sold out, so I had to use my connections.

What a fun show. Luisa is heading off to Berkley School of Music in a few weeks. I can say I knew her when!!!

SEND-OFFS

Speaking of send-offs.

this week we are wishing well some of our Fellows Alums.

Reiley Burris and Chanice Withers are moving to Washington D.C.

Jackson Wood will be heading to Williamsburg, VA.

J.M. Dixon is heading to Princeton, NJ.

We still have a few weeks with the last two dudes and I think Reiley will be coming through town at least once more. These are happy sad moments.

But we are so proud of these men and women!

On Sunday, we wished well 15 Redeemer High School Graduates as they prepare to go to colleges around the country.

It was a full Redeemer Day. Please pray for that church.

RECRUITING

Keep praying!

We should have some big news next week on the recruiting front!

GIVE

There is a rumor that one of our Fellows may have been doing some guerrilla street art.

You can give too!

This year's Fellows budget is $196,000

This includes everything. Housing, Program, Classes, Conference, Excursions, Experiences, Mission Trip. Because of how the budget is structured, more than $100,000 of it is covered by tuition and program revenue.

Which makes the Fellows Program quite possibly the best deal in town in terms of non-profit support need.

But it won't raise itself.

So please consider giving?

Consider a $25/month

or $50/month gift.

100 of these will get us close.

Here's how

Write checks to

Winston-Salem Fellows

PO Box 20514

WSNC 27120

or give online at