Author: Gary

The Alumni Group has been growing a lot lately.   Please join us at Grace Baptist Church room C215 on Tuesdays from 7 PM to 9 PM.  It’s a great group that will support you and fed you both spiritually and physically.   So many guys are coming from work, that we’ve started serving dinner.   Please join us.  Open to men and women and the families of those incarcerated.   Hope to see you.

Two weeks ago we had another clean-up day on “the mountain”.   A small group of volunteers shows up in 100+ degree heat.

We worked on the outside of dorm #1 to prevent any fire hazard and assess it for occupancy for our guys in the future.

Then we working on the inside of the future “recording studio”.

It was a hot day, but a good day.   Thanks to all of our Hollywood Impact Studios volunteers!

 

We are a little more than halfway through this semester.  We have a great group of guys, who are very involved and willing to learn whatever the subject.   Gary has completed his class and is now bringing in guest speakers.   This last week is was “Loop Group” leader Laurie P.  The guys really loved the information she gave them about her job in television.   Next week John A.  who will be coming in to talk about cameras and what it means to be a director of photography.   Thank you to both Laurie and John.

 Over the last few weeks, we have been doing a lot of cleanup and prep work up at “Miracle Mountain.”

It is so beautiful and peaceful up here.

Our volunteers all love coming up for a work day.  They all comment on how peaceful it is and how much fun they have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is great to hear the laughter coming from each work project.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has taken a lot of time and hard work to restore power to the mountain after thieves stole much of the copper wire.  God sent us two angels who just happen to know about re-wiring this old camp.  Brent and his side-kick, our very own Charles Roseland.  Thank you both so much!!!

We’ve had to do a lot of “El Niño” prep and sandbagging.   The good news is it’s working.

Tony, our head of security, is always on duty, and, praise God, we’ve not had any further break-ins.  We’ve also had a lot of prayer.   And God is answering those prayers.    Thank you to all of our HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS volunteers, you all are incredible!!

Much like our guys, the once old abandoned camp is being redeemed as it is being rehabilitated.

A lot has happened since our last post… the biggest, is an amazing new venture…. We are currently working with the County of Los Angeles to possibly take over an abandoned rehab camp called Warm Springs up in the Angeles Forest.

We are in the process of evaluating the property to see what it would take to turn it into HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS RECOVERY AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTER. Yes, it’s a mouthful, but if it’s God’s will then it will happen.

 

It has a full commerical kitchen, lots of classrooms, a mechanics shop, wood shop, dorms… and more.

The County of Los Angeles gave us “the keys” right before Christmas to begin the (3) month evaluation period.  So far everything looks good.    Watch for more news in future posts.  Hope you all had a terrific Christmas.

 

 

Classes continue to go well.   They guys are really enjoying Luke’s Photoshop class which is new this semester and of course Stan’s Editing Class, Branden’s Creative Directing Class, Charlie’s Jobs for Life and of course Cyndi’s World Views class.

We’ve also started our”Guest Speakers Class.  Last week John Ames taught camera and this week Derrick Warfel will teach screenwriting.

We are just about 75% through this semester.   The classes couldn’t be going better.   Thank you again to the Sheriff’s Department!

We just held our semester #18 graduation.     12 men completed the semester.  All very enthusiastic.  All did a terrific job and worked hard.

We want to continue to thank all of our volunteer instructors who donate their time to make a difference in these mens lives.   May God bless you all.

As semester #18 came to an end, we did our “End of Semester” shoot.    We interviewed  very special guest, Mr Henry Lozano who has serviced the citizens of this country as a non-profit executive for such organizations as Peace Corps and Teen Challenge.  In 2007 President George Bush asked Mr. Lozano to become Deputy Assistant to The President and Director of USA Freedom Corps.

Then under President Obama he oversaw the creation of the volunteer.gov website (which recent became www.serve.gov).

Mr. Lozano started out his young adult life going to down the wrong road of drugs and prison.   He credits Teen Challenge to turning his life around.   Look for his amazing story on our YouTube Channel hopefully within the next month.    It’s entitled “From Prison to The Whitehouse”.

Thank you to everyone for their hard work on this video.

 

In July we had the privilege of being part of SHEPHERD CHURCH PORTER VALLEY “Baptism At the Beach”as one of our guys asked to take this next step in his journey to follow God, as he wanted to be Baptized.

Hundreds of people showed up at Buena Ventura Beach in Ventura, California for some great food, great fellowship and wanting to take part in the festivities.   Many entire families came down to be part of the amazing event.

It was a great day of Baptisms at the Beach!

Thank you to all that attended and thank you to Shepherd Church Porter Valley for holding this event!   For more information about this church, visit their website:  https://www.theshepherd.org