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Roy and his wife Vicky

Last month, SSDC co-founder and Core Leader Roy Andresen made a change in his role with the South Sound Dream Center, stepping down from an active leadership role to focus on some other things in his life. As Roy makes this transition, we want to honor this man of God for all he’s done over the years and thank God for the gift of his life.

“It was Roy who was the catalyst to me finally stepping out and starting SSDC,” Director Rick Cameron said. “We got  together for lunch and he stated that if I wanted to start SSDC that he would get behind me. Roy is a great man of God and I am going to miss having him around. I know we will all be grateful for all you gave!”

Roy has been an integral part of the SSDC’s efforts in Federal Way over the years, leading efforts at the Federal Way Drop-in Center, homeless outreach, and other ministries to the Federal Way community. He’s devoted countless hours to ministering Christ’s love to our community, and he will be missed. Roy plans to continue volunteering with SSDC when he can, as well as continuing his involvement with Pray Federal Way and the Reach Out Homeless Men’s Shelter.

Roy and fellow volunteer leader Jason Weichert

When we asked Roy about his favorite memories with the South Sound Dream Center, he told us, “I don’t just have one favorite memory, but here are a few of the things that put a smile on my face…

1. I love to see it when people realize how easy it is to be awitness for Christ. I truly believe it is just being your self, just the way God made you. Sometimes we make being a Christian way too hard; we just need to surrender to Jesus and let Him shine through us.

2. I have made so many new friends from those who come to volunteer as well as those who we go out to see each week.

3. I am thankful for the people who have found new homes, been set free from their addictions, and are now serving the Lord.”

Roy, we love you and are so grateful for everything you’ve done for SSDC and the community. Thank you!

But for many young people in our communities, dreams die early. Their reality is an environment of drugs, violence, and other harmful influences. Their families are broken. Their future is bleak. Often the only hope they have is of survival.

Through our Dreams 2 Reality program, the South Sound Dream Center is on a mission to change the reality facing many youth in our area and help them bring their dreams back to life.  Dreams 2 Reality (“D2R”) is a nine-week program targeting at-risk youth in the South Sound, providing them with mentoring, life skills training, pro-social activities, and a greater connection to their community. D2R also helps youth gain access to education and employment services, housing resources, mental health services, drug and alcohol assistance, and case management services.

Restoring Dreams, Changing Reality

SSDC’s Youth Outreach Worker, Michael Passian, knows firsthand the cycle of violence and destruction youth can find themselves trapped in, but even more important is his understanding of what is needed to bring them out. At the age of 12, Michael (also known by his nickname “Swiss”) was selling hard drugs, owned weapons and was involved in gangs.  Not surprisingly, these activities escalated over the next number of years, and Michael was put into juvenile institutions and group homes. His future appeared to promise nothing but incarceration or—even worse—death. But in October of 2000, Michael was radically changed by an encounter with Jesus Christ and his life has never been the same since.

Michael and the Dreams 2 Reality program use a curriculum titled Alive & Free, a highly successful violence prevention prescription developed by the Omega Boys Club/Street Soldiers-in San Francisco. Alive & Free works to keep youth alive (unharmed by violence) and free (from incarceration) by changing the beliefs, attitudes, values and actions that promote violence. Combined with the Alive & Free prescription is SSDC’s approach of meeting both practical and spiritual needs of youth and their families and sharing the love and hope of Christ.

Dreams 2 Reality youth are also engaged in community outreach efforts with the SSDC, in which participants have an opportunity to “get outside themselves.”  D2R groups adopt a city block, then get to work meeting the needs of people living in that area.  Froilan, a D2R youth, said, “[D2R] made me change the way I think because I got to go around helping people and it made me feel good about myself.” By engaging youth in acts of service, D2R helps youth find a new value system and break the pattern of self-destruction.

Staying Alive and Free

Just how effective has Dreams 2 Reality been? Since the program started in March 2011, more than a dozen teens have been actively mentored and are experiencing change in their lives. One of D2R’s greatest success stories occurred just a month after the program started. One Saturday, D2R youth were delivering food to their Adopt-a-Block neighborhood when a group of local teens approached them.  These teens invited some of the D2R youth to a party that evening, but because the group had plans to go to a car show that evening with their outreach leader Michael, they decided not to go.

That night at the party, violence broke out and the same young man who invited them to the party ended up shooting and killing another teen in an argument over a girl. The D2R youth were shocked by the turn of events and saw how God had used this program to intervene in their lives. The experience gave them a clear object lesson of what it means to be alive and free.

Will You Help?

As our Dreams 2 Reality program continues to develop, we’re looking for supporters who will help us reach out to more youth in our community. The needs are great and many are waiting for a mentor who can help show them the way out of their situation into a new reality where their dreams can flourish. If you would like to find out more about how to support this program, please contact our Program Assistant at natalie@ssdreamcenter.org or call our office at 253-288-1806.

“I viewed the church as a sort of fuel station where people could come get filled up if they wanted to. I was missing the ones that could not get to us. There were people who had run out of fuel and were stranded. God was asking us to go to them.”

That’s when Knox linked up with SSDC Executive Director, Rick Cameron, and the Adopt-a-Block ministry. Knox had a church of willing volunteers but, “was lacking a plan to be effective.”  SSDC not only had a plan for reaching the community, but provided all the training needed for effective outreach.

The result has been outstanding.  Knox says, “Our partnership has been a perfect fit and is changing our city! We have seen healings take place and had people give their lives to Christ. And even though it was not our goal in reaching out to our community, we’ve begun receiving requests about how to join our church on Sundays. All of this is a direct result of our willingness to serve them through the SSDC’s Adopt-A-Block.”

Pastor Micah and United NW are serving the Tall Cedars neighborhood in Auburn on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month.