Excited, young voices could be heard over a booming 70s-era selection of tunes Aug. 26 as teens came through the doors of the Vineyard Church in Shoreline.
The fourth Teen Night Tuesday (TNT) was about ready to get underway and a small crowd was already gathering at the foosball table.
Rose Swetman, executive director of Turning Point, a nonprofit group that partners with local agencies to serve low-income families, sat at a table near the entrance. Teens who filtered into the church’s main room eagerly approached her from all angles to talk about their recent camp experiences.
Tenth grader at Shorecrest High School Ruta Ghebremichael spoke about YMCA camp, soccer practice, and the outfit she would have worn if she knew about the ’70s night theme. She slipped comfortably between speaking English and Tigrinya, her native language from growing up in Eritrea.
Learning about one another’s diverse backgrounds is an important part of the TNT twice monthly “fun nights” according to Swetman.
“…The thing that we have observed is such a diversity of ethnicity, of religion, of cultures and so (TNT) provides a place for all these different cultures to come together and learn how they are different and not to be afraid of one another,” she said. “They come and they have a lot of fun and this place is wild and it’s crazy.”
The nights consist of organized games hosted by five adults, snacks, group discussions and sometimes themes. Admission is $1 or one can of food for the Hopelink Food Bank.
“It’s a good program. I’m proud to be associated with it,” volunteer Kellie Campbell said. “I wish more people would help out.”
Turning Point’s launch was part of Swetman’s 50th birthday celebration in October 2006. In less than two years, the nonprofit has organized or supported several youth development programs, including a co-ed basketball camp, a YMCA summer camp initiative, the 2008 Back to School Consortium, and the latest program, TNT.
“We’ve got other stuff cooking but we’re only two years old,” Swetman said. “One of our dreams this year is to expand our basketball camps to Mountlake Terrace. We’re told there’s not a lot of stuff going on there with the youth.”
In the future, Swetman said she would like to see TNT expand into Mountlake Terrace, perhaps meeting in both cities on a rotating basis. The expansion of other programs will rely somewhat on how successful Turning Point’s annual auction is on Nov. 8 at Vineyard Church. Last year, the auction raised $25,000, according to Swetman. Roughly $7,000 was used to send 13 kids to either YMCA Camp Colman or Camp Orkila this summer. She hopes this year’s auction will raise $35,000 to help fund the basketball camps, send more kids to YMCA camps and support TNT.
Programs such as TNT are a key part to helping adolescents make smart, healthy choices, Swetman said.
“They get to a certain age in adolescence were they definitely have a choice to make and if we don’t come together as a community we lose too many kids who chose to go into drugs, who choose the gangs,” she said. “I had nothing like this and I think that’s why I’m very passionate about providing kids with healthy assets and partnering with the whole community to bring those choices together.”
As a co-pastor at the Vineyard Church, Swetman said she feels like she’s in a key position to advocate for resources both in and out of the Christian community.
“Part of why we have a nonprofit is because I feel I have a voice in this community,” she said.
She hopes the nonprofit will help the young people it serves find their voices too.
The next TNT will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sept. 9 at the Vineyard Church, 17712 15th Ave. NE in Shoreline.
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