A Portable Vision/Audio Story…
In 12 years of schooling, he’d never taken a single art class. It was impossible to believe. His artistic talent and passion were so pervasive! His class schedule was always too loaded with essential special education courses. Finally, during his senior year, two of Brandon’s teachers (one a mentor with CM YFC) helped him enroll in Portable Vision, our artist mentoring program. At PV, our mentor team was shocked to learn that the only art materials Brandon* had ever worked with to that point were pencil and paper—gray over white. And so our team did the only logical thing we knew to do. We put vibrantly colored pastels in his hands.
And everything came to life.
He never stopped drawing—finger-painting, really. And he never stopped moving as he made marks on the huge paper surfaces we continually fed him. He would only occasionally pause to receive positive instruction from mentors, which he devoured, and then it was back to work for Brandon. Every Tuesday night was the same.
Brandon had never been exposed to positive Christ-centered community either, and so he consumed that too… along with the gospel message. He loves it when others take an interest in him. He loves being asked questions by curious and caring adults. Brandon lives in a single-parent home where mom works full-time and goes to school. He’s seen and experienced hard things. He’s a deep thinker, and he loves to be of help to others.
At our gallery show, Brandon’s work was stand-out. And at the same time, all of us were grieved that our formal program-opportunities for Brandon (Portable Vision) would end following his graduation. We’re praying he can still come to camp with us this summer.
Pray that Shane, the mentor who originally pursued Brandon, can continue to connect with him. We want to help him go to college for art and design. We’re trusting God in this adventure, and the stakes feel high.
In living color,
Matt Hebert (Ministry Director and Portable Vision Mentor)