Music Performances from the Christmas Party

We had so many great acts from so many talented teens!! Here are just about half of them. Enjoy!

Live Music at the Christmas Party

Clayton, Jayson, Joel and David on guitar and Joseph on the drums

It's hard to get video from a phone that works well, but this is basically Joel's solo during one of the performances at the Christmas party

Seth and Jayson wow the party crowds with Canon in D

scenes from the party - Joseph, Jayson and Bree

Sam McCumber, Non-Toxic alumni, newly arrived home for the holidays from Florida. And what was one of his first stops? The Non-Toxic Teen Center Christmas Party!

Paul-Peter, a YFC intern from Germany, spends Wednesday nights with up at the teen center. He also will be playing his violin for us this Sunday for Non-toxic's Christmas party!

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Nick and Jayson at the teen center tonight

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Making Christmas wreaths at Non-Toxic with Ken

December's Winners

Eric McShane and Joseph F.

Eric took 1st Place in the December 8-ball Tournament.

Congratulations Eric!

It was Eric's first win after placing 2nd and 3rd several times this year.

Joseph F. came in 2nd place and Nick L. came in 3rd. 

The tournament was fun; and we even got to see Jerry (You know who you are!) play.

The Grand Championship game will be held later on this month.

Lodge kitchen improvements

The top cabinet doors are on! It is amazing how much homier they make the place feel. And neater is nicer.

More improvements at the lodge

The cabinet doors go on! Dave puts the doors on the upper cabinets - hopefully the lower cabinets will get their doors next week.

The lighting left a little to be desired. But you can kinda get the picture.

Fire in the fireplace

The new fireplace is up and running! So now both rooms can be nice and toasty. Dave will be tweaking it a bit to assure it puts out heat and not smoke.

Work on Bear Claw Lodge

Dave installing the chimney/pipe for the wood stove in the addition of the lodge. Clayton is on the rooftop assisting.

Lodge update

Dave works on installing cabinets to make a kitchen area where things can be stored neatly and out of the way. Cabinet doors should be able to go on tomorrow morning.

This is part of our teen volunteer group that went up last week to help build an addition onto the lodge. More pics are on their way.

August Girl's Night

In August we'll be back in the swing of things with Girls' Only Night on Sunday, August 10! We'll be making friendship bracelets and cotton candy, singing crazy Kaoroke, watching videos and of course, there will be yummy snacks!!

Premiere Couture is offering a special little gift to each girl that signs up ahead of time!! Bring your friends and have some fun with us at Non-Toxic!!

Guys Only Night - Girls Only Night

Well, the guys were pretty jealous of the awesome Girls Only Night a while back so Dave decided to have a Guys Only Night this Sunday at 6pm. All teen guys are invited to join Dave for "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" shown on the big screen, great snacks, unique games and a general all-around good time.

The second Girls Only Night will be Sunday, June 1 - details to come. (But be assured it will be super fun!)

Edgerton Gear

We are really excited about Edgerton Gear's unique fund raiser for Non-Toxic! Edgerton Gear announced a couple of weeks ago that they will match donations to Non-Toxic raised by their awesome employees up to $2500! They've already done an awesome job - details to come!!

We'll be posting the article for the Edgerton Reporter soon.

Non-Toxic's 15th Anniversary Celebration

We had a fabulous time last weekend...great people, great food. It was fun. We feel incredibly blessed.
BUT
The Band was AWESOME!!! Bop Ritual is made up of a group of brilliantly talented musicians.
I have a very short video that shows them playing, but my camera is not good at picking up sound so if you wanna hear what they really sound like, head over to www.myspace.com/bopritual and check them out.










We had some girls there that were great sports and got up and danced a bit.

Edgerton Reporter's Awesome Article on Non-Toxic

Jason Francis, writer for the Edgerton Reporter, did a fabulous job researching and writing up this article.

If you click on the article twice, it enlarges it and makes it much easier to read.

Non-Toxic in the Gazette - Great Photos

The Janesville Gazette was kind enough to do an article on Non-Toxic

Teen center celebrates 15 years of positive activity

By STACY VOGEL ( Contact ) Monday, April 14, 2008

EMAIL COMMENTS PRINT

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Edgerton youths socialize at the Non-Toxic Teen Club on the city's north side. The club has managed to survive for 15 years.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

A group of Edgerton youths practice a pool trick shot at the city's Non-Toxic Teen club on Saturday night.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

In addition to game tables, the Edgerton Non-Toxic Teen Club also offers kids a quiet place to socialize, as well as play video and board games.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Joseph Flood, 12, watches intently while volunteer Kyle Schliem makes a move during a 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe game. The pair were playing at Edgerton's Non-Toxic Teen Club where Schliem is a board member.

EDGERTON — Sometimes, it’s hard for Dave Flood to believe he’s run a teen center for 15 years.

“When we started, some of these kids weren’t born yet,” he said, looking at the two dozen teens at Non-Toxic Teen Center, 512 N. Main St., Edgerton, on Saturday night.

For a decade and a half, Flood, 45, has been inviting Edgerton teenagers to spend weekend nights shooting pool, playing air hockey and spending time with friends in a positive environment instead of finding ways to get in trouble.

This Saturday, the center will invite the community to an open house to see what it’s all about.

Flood had a vision to create a teen center while attending Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He’d commute by train from Rock County to Chicago, and he was saddened by the teens he saw through the windows with nothing to do.

“Your heart just kind of breaks because they’re not in trouble, but you just kind of wonder, ‘Is this their lives, hanging around on street corners?’”

A few years later, Flood left Dallas Theological Seminary, where he was working toward a master’s degree, to open the teen center in downtown Edgerton.

“We had one pool table, one foosball table, that was it,” Flood said.

Today, the center is at a bigger location with more activities. Teens gather around four pool tables, an air hockey table, a foosball table and musical instruments available for their use. A smaller room offers a snack bar and board games.

Non-Toxic has expanded beyond its building. In 2006, the center bought 16 acres in Rusk County for a campsite, and it plans to start holding teen retreats there this summer.

Saturday, teens occasionally picked up paintbrushes to work on a wall mural depicting the cabin up north. They hope to finish the mural before the open house.

Elsewhere, about 20 teens milled around the pool tables or bought snacks as rock music blared in the background.

In winter, the center sees up to 70 teens on Friday and Saturday nights, Flood said.

Cheyenne Krull, 14, said she comes to the center for the same reasons as everyone else: “Pool, friends, hang out.”

Jayson Williams, 15, said he wouldn’t have much to do on weekends if he didn’t come to the center.

“This is the only place I ever see my friends,” he said.

The teens also are looking for positive adult interaction, Flood said. He hopes more adults become interested in the center through this Saturday’s open house.

Several of the center’s adult volunteers were once teens hanging out at the center. Kyle Schliem, 32, has been coming to the center since it opened when he was 17. Today he sits on its board of directors.

He wants the center to stay open until his daughters, ages 6 and 9, become teenagers, he said.

“I’d like to see them come here when they get older,” he said.

JUST THE FACTS

The Non-Toxic Teen Center is open free of charge to teens ages 13 to 19 from 6:30 to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The first Saturday of the month is a pool tournament.

On Wednesday nights, founder Dave Flood runs a teen Bible study from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

The center is run entirely by volunteers and funded by donations.

For more information about the center, call Flood at (608) 751-6101 or (608) 884-0312. Visit the Web site at www.nontoxicteencenter.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Open house to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Non-Toxic Teen Center with refreshments and live blues and jazz music.

When: 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Where: 512 N. Main St., Edgerton.

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Published at: http://www.GazetteXtra.com/news/2008/apr/14/teen-center-celebrates-15-years-positive-activity/

Friday Night Scenes

Here are the winners!

From left to right: Seth 4th place, Joseph 3rd Place, Nick 2nd Place and T.J. 1st Place

Congrats to the winners of the 8-Ball tournament this month. There were 25 names put in so it was quite the contest this last Saturday. All four will get points for their wins to earn their way into the Grand Champion Tournament in December.

8-Ball Tournaments are held the first Saturday of every month, starting at 7pm sharp.

Greetings From Non-Toxic!

Welcome to our new blog! Visit our blog at least once a week to find out about upcoming events, things that are going on now, tournament winners, fun photos and just all-in-all good stuff!