Pure Love 2001—our 5th annual summer tour is on! Eunha Stein, who has been on every tour so far, is Director. She “felt called” to take responsibility for this not only because of her PLA experience, but also because of her love for younger brothers and sisters. Eunha is an STF graduate; she pioneered teaching abstinence in the Chicago Public Schools, and currently directs a very successful Washington DC youth ministry (a model for many in the nation).
Community Building:
This year the Pure Love summer tour will not be traveling across the nation. Our focus will be local. Yes, having hundreds of young people traveling across the nation speaking out for purity is one thing, but we need to think of building a grass roots abstinence movement. Concentrating on one location has its advantages. The impact would be even greater and more sustainable. Having the tour stay in one locale will enhance networking with local community services as well as political and educational leaders. As a consequence, the follow-up would be easier and more effective. Equally important, we must plan for the future. Remember that in the years to come, there will thousands of second generation children wanting to plug into these summer activities and having a tour of that magnitude will be nearly impossible. We need to start thinking about new models. Can you imagine if next year there was several "local tours" going on simultaneously? For the PLA, these local tours are a wonderful opportunity to not only to keep the PLA going, but also expand it and make it more successful. Local initiatives have the added advantage of allowing whole families to become more involved both in the PLA and in their community level.
Why Florida:
Miami was the obvious first choice for a Pure Love tour in this new “community building” style. The reasons we selected this venue has little to do with the shape of the state. It has everything to do with the foundation build over the past 4-5 years, including:
College Credits:
Unique to this tour, high school seniors and older will be able to earn up to three college credits for their participation in the tour. For every 15 hours of community service, including abstinence education programs, one college credit can be earned. To earn the maximum number of credits, which is three, 45 hours of community service is required. This will easily be fulfilled in our two-week program. Accreditation and registration will be through the Miami-Dade Community College and credits are transferable to any college in the United States.
The $600 Pure Love 2001 registration fee does not cover the college accreditation and registration fees. Course registration fees will be $20 per person (as this is a “batch registration”) and the cost per college credit is $49.65 per college credit for in-state students and $173.40 for out-of-state students. A course syllabus is being drawn up and students who want to earn college credits will be graded on attitude, attendance, written reflections, and oral presentations. There are a minimum number of 10 students needed to begin this class.
Family Tour:
Because we will not be traveling from city to city or state to state (and nation to nation), we want to invite parents and families to come on the tour—even if just for one week. Especially families in the neighboring regions may want to work this into their summer mobilization plans. A recent front page story on The Washington Times National Weekly Edition read, “Study: Doing Abstinence Homework with Parents Helps.” The study demonstrated that “a program that focuses on parent-child communication can make a [more powerful] difference in the child’s sexual attitudes” than abstinence education targeted only at the teenagers.
Families wanting to travel to Miami for the tour can contact the Florida Family Church if they want to arrange living accommodation with a host family from the Miami area. All the details of this new model of education have not been worked out. Some programs will be for teens and adults separately, others will be held together. This also depends on how many families want to make this a “family tour.”
The advantages of having the entire family attend may be many: it fits into the paradigm of the Settlement Age, Pure Love education can be more effective in a family setting, additional adult supervision, support, and transportation will be available.
Summary: