Dec 2024 - A Letter from our Exec Council

Dear Friend,

About 30 nervous and excited elementary school children arrive at the Chase Center on a bus. In just a few minutes they will perform “I Am a Promise,” before 500 guests at the annual UPW banquet. As they enter the huge foyer, they see familiar faces across the room.

“Mr. Elijah!” “Miss Leah!” “Miss Miya!” “Mr. Dajour!” Their voices echo, and they run to spend time with this year’s interns before the show. Smiles, hugs, and laughs fill the banquet hall, and nervousness subsides.

After five years without year-long interns we feel so grateful for these four. No other role at UrbanPromise is quite like the interns’, and they serve children in ways the full-time staff cannot do alone. Elijah, an intern from Delaware County, PA, who served this past summer, expressed how “every day [he] is curious to see God’s hand move” but without reflection “it is easy to pass it by.” The “crucible,” as Elijah describes, is the UrbanPromise Internship offering space to see and be the hand of God for the children in camp.

Dajour, who is from Wilmington, believes an intern is “an older person doing something good;” a “bridge between the gap” of “an adult that has it all together, and an adult still growing and learning.” Dajour models the strength to admit mistakes, to respond with an apology and commit to change. Children respond to that model, taking ownership over their actions without fear, knowing they can and will receive grace and truth.

Miya, from Toronto, understands that camp provides “the reliability of a safe space, always” and if homelife is not so “consistent” this group of caring, dedicated adult leaders provides essential stability for their development and happiness.

Leah, who grew up in Philadelphia, sees camp as a space where she can be the “middle ground” for each child. Camp is a space to be a friend, a mentor, a listener, and a sacrificial guide.

Elijah experienced this personally when he met Dylan. He found that most days, in camp, he had to pull Dylan aside to address his behavior, it wasn’t easy. But through hours of spending time with one another, Elijah asked about Dylan’s best friend. To Elijah’s surprise, Dylan immediately responded–Jesus! It took sacrifice and patience, but Elijah finally connected with Dylan. Now when they see each other in camp, Dylan will ask “Who is your best friend, Mr. Elijah?” and Mr. Elijah responds faithfully every time “Jesus!”

The other interns have experienced stories just like Elijah’s. Leah observes, “it is like a family”, and Miya is struck by how “each of us fit together like a unique puzzle piece.”

Dajour believes that “[the interns] are the hope for new things to come” and children need to see “God moving” through people that “come from all over” to love their city!

This group of four young people are hands and feet of Jesus, who came to serve rather than to be served. They embody what it means to radically love children in Wilmington, by sustaining meaningful relationships that bear heavenly fruit.

This Christmas Season, when Love itself came to earth, your gift is a means of God’s love in the lives of children in Wilmington. $35 sponsors a single child in an after-school camp. $100 each month gives warmth, light, and hot showers in the staff house. $500 offsets tuition for children in UrbanPromise School and UrbanPromise Academy. $75 provides transportation for interns as they minister in the city. $1,000 supports one intern for one month. Your contribution is profoundly important as these interns lay down their lives to love Wilmington and the families in the city. Thank you for entering into the community with us!