Dear Friends of RabunYES,
It is time again for our Quarterly Update, now driven by the seasons. This has been a particularly hot and humid summer in Rabun County with not much letup in the heat. But our programs continue rolling forward serving youth in Rabun and beyond. Our kids are already beginning to prepare for school. Summer camps have wrapped up and college freshmen already are being told to arrive for their orientation week on campuses. As always, we value our donors’ and constituents’ time, such that we never email people more than once per season and always keep our Updates brief. Below are the highlights of this Summer’s activities:
- Those parents contemplating beginning homeschooling should take advantage of RabunYES and its wealth of information in this area, everything from how to begin homeschooling and how to acquire teaching materials. Whether just starting or continuing into the next grade level: Go to www.RabunYES.org in the “Contact” page and leave name, email address and a contact phone number and “homeschooling” in the message section. An expert on this topic will provide specific information addressed to your child’s situation.
- Sales tax holiday reminder for parents buying back-to-school items: Georgia’s very brief tax holiday ends on Monday, Aug 1st. For those traveling to Florida, there is a longer tax holiday with one more week left, ending Sunday August 7th.
- RabunYES sponsored eight (8) Scouts from Rabun County to experience personal skydiving training at I-Fly’s facility in downtown Atlanta. The Scouts also received fluid dynamics training as part of their STEM requirements to earn BSA’s “Up-and-Away” NOVA award.
- We await the Georgia Power fundraising results (along with three other recipient organizations from Rabun & Habersham Counties) from a June shotgun team tournament. Proceeds will go toward providing future summer camp scholarships for Rabun youth with financial needs (ex. 4-H camps, scout camps, etc.).
- The RabunYES Board has reached out to leaders who educate youth with intellectual challenges, specifically Avita Community Partners, to determine how we can pair up teenagers having learning issues with mainstream teens. RabunYES is willing to fund experiential learning skills for youth who could use exposure to such fun activities while also exposing mainstream youth to the benefits of helping others the same age. We are in the early phase of developing this program. However, our Five-Year Plan mandates it get started in 2022.
- Our 2022 offer to church and civic groups continues, namely personalized training seminars; “Guide for Young AdultsEstablishing Careers” and “Family Budgeting in Challenging Times.”Both seminarsare available in 90 minutes sessions. Contact RabunYES to schedule a seminar on these important topics at no cost. The budgeting seminar can be arranged in Spanish to include a Spanish language Q&A session. This offer will expire roughly around Thanksgiving as RabunYES will be developing new seminar topics for 2023.
- During August, RabunYES is assisting a PhD candidate at UGA with research material for a dissertation concerning rural educational resources & challenges. We will be making ourselves available to the candidate, with the first meeting taking place on August 3rd.