Our goal is to help our college students feel like they are part of our family at Dalraida. Students are often looking for friends, connections, and a place to belong during these formidable years. We want our college ministry to teach them how to know and love God and His church and equip them. But we want the entire congregation to be part of this and stay engaged with the students.

Adopt-A-Student allows you an opportunity to serve a very important role in the lives of these students. Many of them–especially our freshmen–may not have any real connection with the local church. You may be the most valuable asset for our students to stay connected with the church and build their faith. This program allows you to match up with a student and become their support system and point of connection while they are with us through school. All we expect is for you to give them encouragement, guidance, and a family while they are here.

When you complete the sign-up form to be an Adopt-A-Student family, we will work to pair you with a student or students. We will do the best we can to pair families and students together based on preference or requests, but we may have to make some adjustments. 

Our students sign-up within the first few weeks of starting school in the Fall. 

We plan to have a kick-off dinner after pairing everyone together. More details will be sent to families and students who sign up. 

The purpose of Adopt-a-Student is to connect Dalraida families and students together. This is accomplished by your active role as mentor and guide. We want you to make an intentional effort to make these students a part of your family.  

When the students sign up they will give some personal information, favorite items, etc. that you can use to reach out to them.

Based upon our experience and feedback students need and have a strong desire for meeting together and face to face interactions.  Therefore, we are asking that you at least make attempts to   

• Call or text your students EVERY week.
• Invite your students to do something TWO-THREE times a month; (these do not have to be big events, see ideas below). These should not be going out of your way or incurring a financial burden to plan events all the time, but rather, inviting them to join you in your life and your family. 
• Provide care package TWICE a semester (midterm & finals week)
• Create opportunities to get your students involved with our Dalraida family
• Bring them to other church events
• Help them get plugged into other ministries at Dalraida.
• Introduce them to other members.
• Ask them to sit with you during worship occasionally

We want you to make an effort to include your adopted student in activities other than just church services. We are not suggesting a big get together or dinner each time, but just make an effort to include them in family events or other activities so you can spend time with them.

Here is a list of suggested activities you could do with your adopted student(s):

• Invite them to get coffee
• Visit them on campus to visit for 5 minutes
• Ask them to join you for a walk
• Ask them to join you at the gym
• Take them with you when you run errands
• Invite them to lunch or dinner (even after worship services)
• Ask to eat with them at the cafeteria during the week
• Invite them to your house for a movie night 
• Host an event with a few other families and invite your students 
• Do a service project together: write cards, deliver food, help widows/widowers 
• Show them around Montgomery
• Take them on a short road trip to a fun place
• Host a Bible study with them and some of their friends
• Join them at HUB
• Attend sporting events with them
• Invite them to any events your family does: plays, kids’ games, pumpkin patch, park days, etc. 

Part of the college experience is for students to figure out where they belong. Typically, our older students have been at Dalraida for a few years and are active in our ministry. Many of our freshmen who sign up may decide that Dalraida is not where they would like to be. Our Adopt-a-Student program is designed to help them make that decision and hopefully stay at Dalraida. But sometimes our students decide they do not want to participate any longer. We ask that you stay patient with our students through this process. It can be discouraging when they leave, but we hope that any time they spend with you will be helpful for their spiritual growth whether they are at Dalraida or not. 

If you have a student that starts separating from Dalraida, please let us know as soon as possible. We try to keep an eye on every student but we may not be aware of their absence. That is why we lean on families to help keep our students accountable. If you notice a student is struggling in any way do not hesitate to contact us. We will try to talk with them and figure out how to help. If they make the decision to leave, please remain an encouragement to them and still check in on them. You might be the consistent factor in their life that brings them back to Dalraida–or even the Lord’s church if they fall away. We rejoice with any student who is active in a faithful college ministry in town, and we want to minister to those who are not active or are struggling with their walk with God.