wfn.org | 13 rural communities to share $38,000 in grant money

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Note #6307 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

14-December-2000
00451

13 rural communities to share $38,000 in grant money

Programs are intended to ease economic distress in rural communities

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE -- Thanks to a grant from the Rural Ministry Advisory Committee,
the little town of Beckley, WV, soon will have a desperately needed family
resource center.

	The Beckley center is one of 13 projects that will receive grants totaling
$38,000.

	The grants will enable community groups and local Presbyterian churches to
work together in establishing youth programs, community centers and other
initiatives designed to revitalize the nation's rural communities. The grant
program was mandated in "The Church Responding to Rural America," a report
approved in 1991 by the 203rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
(USA); grants have been awarded annually since 1992.

	"Economic stress in rural communities has not been alleviated since the
farm crisis of the mid-1980s," said Diana Stephen, associate for Rural
Ministry and Small Church Development in PC(USA)'s evangelism and church
development program area. "Rural people continue to struggle to maintain
community during these difficult times. Projects awarded grants are
collaborating with other churches and agencies in the community, offering a
sign of hope ... (and) helping to strengthen the community."

	Some of the grant money will be used to support a week-long series of
revival services on Edisto Island, a rural community off the coast of South
Carolina that will bring local churches together across cultural, racial,
economic and denominational lines. A parish nursing program in rural Lisbon,
ND, has been allocated grant money, as has a weekly after-school care
program for elementary school children in Old Washington, OH.

	"Of the 13 projects approved this year, five represent projects focusing on
the needs of children and youth," Stephen pointed out, adding that the
grants were approved by the Rural Ministry Advisory Committee on Sept. 15 --
"certainly timely for the PC(USA)'s ‘Year of the Child' (emphasis)."

	The committee members, elected by the General Assembly and accountable to
the National Ministries Division of the PC(USA), are involved in rural
ministries. The grant money comes from the budget of the evangelism and
church development office.

	The grant recipients:

* After School Program, Old Washington, OH, Muskingum Valley Presbytery
(Synod of the Covenant): $3,000 to provide a weekly after-school program for
elementary school children who are not related to any church.

* Presbyterian Outreach Respite Connection, Omaha, NE, Missouri Valley
Presbytery (Synod of Lakes and Prairies): $3,000 to support a program in
southwest Iowa that provides respite care for people who care for the
elderly.

* Nurses in Churches, Lisbon, ND,  Northern Plains Presbytery (Synod of
Lakes and Prairies): $3,000 to support a parish nurse program in Lisbon, a
rural community 75 miles away from the nearest healthcare facility.

* Plainview Migrant Council, Plainview, MN, Twin Cities Presbytery (Synod of
Lakes and Prairies): $3,000 to support the recently formed Plainview Migrant
Council, which supports Hispanic/migrant workers and combats racism.

* Renaissance Kentucky, Greensburg Committee, Greensburg, KY, Mid-Kentucky
Presbytery (Synod of Living Waters): $3,000 to be used in the revitalization
of the rural community of Greensburg, which has experienced economic decline
and rising unemployment because of its loss of textile manufacturing and a
depressed tobacco economy.

* Union Youth Choir, Slater, MO, Missouri Union Presbytery (Synod of
Mid-America): $3,000 to support outreach to youth.

* Building Self Esteem with Children at Risk, Morven, NC, Charlotte
Presbytery (Synod of Mid Atlantic): $3,000 to support an ecumenical project
for building self-esteem in children of a low-income community with a high
crime rate.

* Ecumenical Youth Ministry, Valatie, NY, Albany Presbytery, (Synod of the
Northeast): $2,000 for a program in the rural town of Kinderhook, which has
few programs for older youth.

* Native American Congregations, Buffalo, NY, Presbytery of Western New York
(Synod of the Northeast): $3,000. This proposal, a late entry, has not been
finalized.

* Yaquina Arts Ministry, Seal Rock, OR, Presbytery of the Cascades (Synod of
the Pacific): $3,000 for a creative-expression program for ill-served groups
such as abuse victims, the homeless and people living with HIV, AIDS and
cancer.

* 2001: Together in Christ: A Spiritual Odyssey, Edisto Island, SC,
Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery (Synod of the South Atlantic): $3,000 to
support a week of revival services on Edisto Island to bring local churches
together.

* The Trifold Youth Ministries Center. Marlinton, WV, West Virginia
Presbytery (Synod of the Trinity): $3,000 to support a youth/community
center in Marlinton, a small town whose population has been declining since
the 1970s.

* The Clear Fork District Family Resource Center, Beckley, WV, West Virginia
Presbytery (Synod of the Trinity):$3,000 to support a family resource center
that will draw the community together and provide emergency services.

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