Yoga and Journaling | Session 1

PC: Maya Hill

In 2023, we are starting off the new year with several mental health workshops! Last Saturday, we held out first yoga and journaling session with Kathy Khang, a local yoga instructor. For these sessions, we wanted people to feel as safe and welcomed as possible. In turn, these sessions will be free to community members and their own guests.

First, Kathy led the group through a short breath work cycle to ease their minds. Then, she started with the journaling session. Kathy asked the group to write out what it means to belong in their opinion. After some shared their thoughts, they immediately went into gentle yoga. Their stretches included happy baby, downward dog, and child pose. No experience with yoga was needed for these simple and gentle poses!

Our guests explained they felt immediately better after the stretches. One of our past mentees explained that he had been experiencing back pain and after, he felt a lot of the pain was eliminated.

Thank you so much to our guests for coming and to Kathy for leading us through an amazing first session, Make sure to register for our next session on Saturday, January 28th at 10 AM!

Mental Health Kits

In 2022, TFD had a dream of creating healthy coping skills for Proviso youth. After experiencing many young souls lost to suicide, TFD wanted to become a space where mental health is normalized and honored. We exercised this through various types of mental health workshops like yoga, breathwork, group therapy, and art therapy. Yet, we wanted something that could provide our youth with healthy coping skills to deal with hard emotions It took many trials to dream up what our kit could look like, and at the end of 2022, we were ready to launch.

Our Big Bag of Feelings, was inspired by listening to our youth to see what they might want in the bag. We asked ourselves when we were younger, what may have aided us in our mental health journies. When you open the bag, you will first see a welcome card that includes everything included plus our creative partners, who happen to almost all be past mentees. Next, you will see a journal with journal prompts and pens. There is a feelings wheel, which helps identify what you are feeling with a matching keychain that allows you to write out said feeling. There are also many different fidget tools like a pop-it, stress ball, slug, flex rings, and more! As we launch more kits and hear more feedback, we will continue to update what comes in the bag.

TFD’s goal is to give away over a thousand kits to our local youth. This December, we were given the opportunity to hand out 150 kits to local high school students. We heard feedback like, “I needed this” or “I love what this says”. This January, we were also given the opportunity to visit two schools and hand out more kits.

None of this work would be possible without our friends and donors. We thank you for believing in us and the importance of our work. If you are interested in buying a bag, we have the option to buy a single kit or a Buy One Give One to sponsor a kit given away to our youth. Additionally, with a code, anyone from 15-22 who lives in the Proviso area can be given one for free. Reach out to our executive assistant, Maya (maya@thefirehousedream.org) for more details.

Day 2 Of Learning Photography

Learning photography is like learning a new language. It takes more than one day to complete. On day 2 of learning photography, our mentees went over what they had previously learned. We took a trip outside…while it was drizzling, but a little rain won’t stop us! Each group of 2 got to take a few photos that showed motion and freezing time. It was amazing to see our mentees put all the things they learned to use!

Photo Credit: @mariah_julianna_

Alt Chicago

Photo Credit: Jasmine

We did it again! We went on our second field trip with our 10 mentees! This past Saturday we took a trip to the city to learn how to build sustainable waste bins. Also, our mentees learned about reducing waste and having more sustainable options. Did you know that black and brown communities have fewer garbage bins throughout their town than white communities do? Alt Chicago is a black-owned, non-profit led by Jordan and Jon who specialize in building these waste bins out of wood from old pallets, this way everything is being reused and there is less waste. We cannot wait to partner with even more amazing non-profits and organizations like this one! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @thefirehousedream to see more behind the scenes from our mentorship.

Photo Credit: Jasmine

Thanksgiving Meal Giveaway & Prayer Walk

Photo Credit: Mya Rose

This past Saturday, Impact Church hosted their monthly prayer walk, as well as Thanksgiving meal giveaway near the Maywood Peace Garden on 17th & Madison. Impact Church does this prayer walk every month at different locations to pray over the community of Maywood for growth and a successful, healthy future. It is a very important part of what the church aspires to do to help their community and to support people within. TFD sent out Mya Rose and Saffron to document this through photo and help support the community. This prayer walk was a little different since they also had a food giveaway. They provided food and supplies that can help families for the upcoming holiday. They had a great turn out and were able to provide for so many people within Maywood. Even with the cold weather, everyone was bundled up and ready to help their community as well as being there for those in need. We can’t wait to join them for the next one!

Photo Credit: Mya Rose & Saffron Hurt