Reality Ministries

We had a great Meet Up on Juneteenth. We went to the the special events that were happening Downtown Durham, Inc.

Reality LOVES Special Olympics NC which includes the Unified cheerleading team! They are in Minnesota for the USA Games today!! Holly (pictured center of Kayla, Leah, KeeKee and Neema ) got to go to their send off dinner and it was amazing! The governor Josh Stein was there and gave all of the athletes an official award which was very cool. Lots of excitement and energy in the room and the best moment was when all of the athletes were gifted trading cards with their faces on them! Go Team SONC 📣 we are cheering you on from Durham!

Really Cafe: Available spots in Durham and Chapel Hill. Check out our website to RSVP to our next hosting day!

Today the fishing group took a field trip to Bass Pro Shops it was a great way to beat the heat!

Retreat Snapshots: I saw Dani’s lips moving, but I couldn’t hear her. I turned the engine to the boat off and called out to see what she was saying. “Oh, nothing. I’m just singing to the cat fishies... ‘I’m gonna get ya!’”

From Tammy Rodman our Volunteer Coordinator.(Pictured left of Suvya)…

I have the pleasure of introducing and welcoming those who choose to become a part of our community through volunteering.

I love to see those who come to Reality for the first time fall in love with the community, and to see the relationships grow.

Also, one of my favorite parts of being here is my weekly turn at desk duty. This gives me the opportunity to interact with our participants, parents, caretakers, and volunteers as they come and go. I get to have those one-on-one conversations with individuals, laugh, share in their excitement, and sometimes the hard things of life, all while making sure our friends are headed in the right direction to their next destination.

Check out our website to learn how you can become a volunteer!

My name is Grace (pictured left of KeeKee and Abbie), I’m the Program Coordinator.

One thing I love about my work at Reality is the gift of unexpected, deeply meaningful friendships. There’s a kind of quirkiness and authenticity to the human connection here that feels rare and really special to me.

Another thing I love is watching plans go awry, only to see something even better unfold because of it.

I am greg (pictured center of Lee and Mary) and I work as the Director of Formation and Culture…
Something I love about my work at Reality is our commitment to allowing God to breathe life into our community through Scripture, and specifically the creative work of examining how we are engaging stories from Jesus’ life and opening them for all of us to learn together.

We want to create diverse points of encounter with the stories - not only because we have such vast differences in our community in our life experiences and how we communicate and styles of learning, but also because we really want to position ourselves to learn from each other and be receptive to God’s word alive in each of us.

So we stay with stories for many weeks, we tell and re-tell them in different ways - emphasizing activities that are embodied and tactile and connect with people’s experience in the world, we use images and art and invite participation along the way. At the root, our way of discovering Scripture grows from a trust that God is really present with us and we can meet God through exploring these stories together - it is really creative work to think about how we can shepherd our wider community into meeting God - into seeing that God is with us through the Bible story and through one another.

Check out this podcast from one of our community parents!

Mom, You Got This Podcast - Eve Connection - Erica Ryder Mom, You Got This Podcast Raising a Child with Special Needs: Navigating the Journey with Erica RyderListen Now Raising a Child with Special Needs: Navigating the Journey with Erica Ryder Taking Care of Mom: Self Care for Moms of Kids with Special NeedsListen Now Taking Care of Mom: Self Care for Mo...

I’m Alisa (pictured in denim/orange) Coordinator of Family Support.

That looks like me coordinating intakes for new Reality participants and managing the waitlist of people hoping to join us. It’s also providing support for parents and caregivers through weekly support group coffee chats, monthly resource meetings and a newsletter. I also talk with many parents on the phone when they are wanting information about a particular resource or I’m meeting at someones home or in my office for a one on one or sending a list of providers or summer camps.

Underlying all of this is the hope that parents and caregivers recognize that they are invited to be part of this community, that they belong and can find support here.