For school-aged children, it can often be hard to see the forest through the trees in the midst of low self-esteem, bullying, isolation, stress, demanding classwork, and other challenges. This internal struggle can take a toll not only on the children, but also on their families. Wake Harvest, a youth mentorship and development organization, was founded — perhaps unsurprisingly — by a mother in need.
“I was inspired by my son, who is now a rising senior,” said founder Jessica Rivera. “He was really going through some challenges in middle school. It was literally the worst three years of our life as a family. I reached out to the school in regards to support, and they literally gave me a list of mental hospitals, which was not what we needed — we needed programs. And he was not into sports at the time, so it was like if you’re not into sports, you’re kind of out of luck. I thought, there’s no way I’m the only parent in the world or in Raleigh who is looking for a support system — and so that’s actually how it started.”
The timing was right — Rivera had already decided to leave a career in hospitality and focus on youth suicide prevention and youth development after becoming a grief recovery specialist in 2013.
Founder Jessica Rivera, nicknamed “Sunshine,” firmly believes it takes a village to reach vulnerable youth and families in need.
“That’s actually how I decided I wanted to go into youth suicide prevention,” said Rivera. “Learning about the stages of grief, and how depression is one of the stages and one of the leading causes of suicide — the tie was there.”
Instead of continuing to search for programming to help her son, Rivera used her knowledge and experience to create exactly what her son (and family) needed.
“I was like, what if we did a youth mentorship program that met one Saturday every month? We can go to a different local business, and the local businesses can teach us about their industry and their road to success, and then the kids can get a tour,” said Rivera. “I was thinking of my son and how I wanted to give him hope for the future, and then I thought, how amazing would it be if we could give a whole bunch of kids hope for the future?”
Wake Harvest was born with a mission to show children different options of who they can become, said Rivera, sowing a seed in their hearts so they can “reap a harvest of hope and success.” Serving families all throughout Wake County, Wake Harvest offers a before and after school program, summer and day camps, a monthly youth mentorship program, youth development sessions (one-on-one and groups), and a special program for teenagers called Teen Quest.
“We have Teen Quest every Wednesday, which is just when teenagers get to come and hang out with us and interact with each other and play games and have deep conversations,” said Rivera. “We’re building a support system for youth. Our goal is to make sure that there’s no child home alone, and we’re also on a mission to prevent youth suicide. The majority of programs stop accepting children at age 12, and the teenage years are when children need the most guidance. It’s very important to us to be able to have a safe and fun place for kids to be who they are. Our youth mentorship program goes up to 18.”
Voted Raleigh’s Best Summer Camp by the News & Observer just last year, Wake Harvest’s summer camps are intended for ages 5 to 16. Camps run Monday through Friday throughout the summer, with a different theme every week. After recently moving to a much larger facility, equipped with a kitchen, playground, basketball and volleyball courts, and more, Rivera is hoping to reach more children than ever.
“We have so much more space, and we’re bringing on so many amazing team members that can help us with our kids and just make a difference,” said Rivera. “Every single day we do emotional regulation, so they give us one negative emotion they felt today and why and one positive emotion they felt today and why. We focus on social and emotional development; that’s a huge thing for us. So our whole team across the board is going to be working on that in every room that we have our kids in, and we feel like that’s a big deal for us.”
For those who can’t afford services, Wake Harvest offers a tuition assistance program to ensure every family has access to support.
“We don’t want families to choose not to send their families to Wake Harvest because of their financial situation, or for any reason at all,” said Rivera. “We never like to turn families away. Thankfully, we have a really wonderful support system of people who believe in our mission and everything that we’re doing. We want to help to cover the cost for all of the families in need — not just for summer camp, but also for before and after school programs, because the same children who are alone during the summer are the same kids who are alone after school.”
Garner resident Iris Costello’s child has been involved in Wake Harvest’s summer camps and youth mentorship program for the past two years.
“We love Wake Harvest and the opportunity they provide for each kid to be themselves,” said Costello. “Inclusion is so important at Wake Harvest. It is a very welcoming environment. Since getting involved, I worry less about my son fitting in.”
As an “electronic free” zone Monday through Thursday, Wake Harvest’s before and after school programs provide children the opportunity to socialize with each other, play games, be creative, and use their imaginations.
“Wake Harvest is not just a before and after school program that you can drop your child off in and we just babysit them until you get here,” said Rivera. “We’re working on helping our children with life skills and teaching them things. We tell families all the time, it’s not just youth development, it’s family development. We may have parents that will call about a situation that doesn’t have anything to do with Wake Harvest, but because they are a part of our Wake Harvest family, we are going to do everything in our power to support them in whatever it is that they need.”
To further support children in need, Wake Harvest is currently building a program called CROP: Children Reaching Optimum Potential.
“It’s basically a program that’s going to help our children take control of their mental health,” said Rivera. “It’s going to be a 10-week course where we talk about everything — we’ll have sessions on depression, emotional regulation, the stages of grief, and anger management is going to be in that fold as well. We want to work with our students and do an assessment in the beginning, an assessment in the middle, and an assessment at the end. Based on how this pilot program works for them, we want to roll it out to local middle and high schools so that they can do the same. Because for parents like me who had a son that was struggling, the school didn’t have support for these children. So we want to partner with the schools so we can reach the masses.”
CROP is slated to begin in the fall. In the meantime, Rivera continues to live for the success stories.
“I have a student who came to us with autism,” said Rivera. “He hadn’t fully been evaluated yet, but the parents let us know that he was recommended to be evaluated. When this child came to us, he didn’t speak — not because he didn’t know how to speak, but because he didn’t know how to socialize. By the end of the summer, he was talking and playing with all the kids. When his mom went to do his evaluation, they told her it would take several hours. She told me it took less than an hour. They asked her, ‘What did you do differently from when the doctor saw him and recommended he have an evaluation until today? Because this is not the same child.’ The only difference was Wake Harvest.”
Victoria Bond, the mother in this particular story, says the best thing about Wake Harvest is how invested they are with the children.
This past May, Wake Harvest celebrated the grand opening of its new location at 3331 Blue Ridge Road (St. Paul’s Christian Church).
“I would recommend Wake Harvest because they nurture, teach independence, and are constantly making sure that the kids can be themselves no matter what. My son had been going to other programs but was not evolving. He was able to experience so many firsts with this program. I knew he was in the right place when he would come home and tell me how camp was.”
Wake Harvest is for ALL children and families who need a safe space — working with students living with ADHD, anxiety, behavioral changes, or kids who simply crave connection and acceptance.
“We work with a lot of children who’ve been through trauma, children in foster care, children who’ve been adopted,” said Rivera. “I love helping them to feel safe, nurtured, and loved, and helping them with their big feelings and learning how to work on them, because sometimes they can be explosive. Helping by providing them with the tools and techniques to know what to do to cope in those situations — that is the most rewarding thing.”
For those who are interesting in supporting Wake Harvest’s mission, there are many ways to do so — from volunteering as a chaperone on field trips, donating snacks, water, or games, investing in the tuition assistance program, or assisting with transportation for the before and after school program. Visit their website for more information.
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