wfn.org | Health offices creating '4-H club'

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7061 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

21-February-2002
02072

Health offices creating '4-H club'

Consultants will share experience, expertise on disability issues

by Jerry Van Marter

"Help! I need a curriculum for children and adults with developmental disabilities."

"Help! I need information about making my church more accessible to people with disabilities."

"Help! My presbytery is meeting in a church that's not handicapped-accessible. Don't they get it?"

"Help! How can our church begin a ministry with people who are deaf?"

"Help! What do I say to a child who asks, 'Why me?'"

Presbyterians and Presbyterian congregations with questions like these have a new way to seek out the answers they need.

The Office of Social Welfare Organizations and the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) have hired four part-time consultants to work with individuals, congregations and groups in the PC(USA) that are committed to improving their ministries with people with disabilities.

* Rev. Raymond Meester, consultant for hearing

Meester is pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, NE, a congregation that has developed an extensive ministry with deaf people. Meester's ministry grew out of personal experience: His parents and four uncles and aunts were deaf. In 2000, he took a three-month sabbatical to study deaf ministry. He has served on many community and state-wide boards and commissions whose work is related to deafness, and he is now a co-moderator of Presbyterians for Disabilities Concerns (PDC). He can be reached by mail at 880 S. 35th Street, Lincoln, NE 68510; by phone at (402) 477-3401; by TTY at (402) 477-3429; or by email at Raymond@HeritagePres.org.

* Rev. Sue Montgomery, consultant for mobility/accessibility

The pastor of Nickleville Presbyterian Church in Emlenton, PA, Montgomery has also served since 1983 as a chaplain at Polk Center, a residential facility for people with mental retardation. She is a wheelchair athlete and an avid hand cyclist. She was honored with the PC(USA)'s Women of Faith Award for her work with people with disabilities, and is a member of the PDC leadership team. She can be reached by mail at P.O. Box 16, Knox, PA 16232; by phone at (814) 797-1226; or by email at suemontgomery@penn.com.

* The Rev. Rick Roderick, consultant for visual disabilities

Roderick is a parish associate at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Louisville, KY, and works for the state as a technology specialist. He is a teacher of Braille and of Internet note-taking, and is a researcher of blindness issues. He produces Braille resources for the PC(USA), primarily for the Office of the General Assembly. He serves on the PDC leadership team, consulting on accessible technology. He can be reached by mail at 2215 Westridge Road, Louisville, KY 40442; by phone at (502) 412-3179; or by email at Richard@iglou.com.

* Milton Tyree, consultant for developmental disabilities

A member of Springdale Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Tyree has spent more than 20 years designing, developing and implementing services that enable people with disabilities to participate in all aspects of life. He now works for the Human Development Institute at the University of Kentucky. Tyree can be reached by mail at P.O. Box 22638, Louisville, KY 40252; by phone at (502) 326-9746; or by email at mtyree@aol.com.

For more information, call PHEWA at (888) 728-7228, ext. 5800, or PresbyTel at (800) 872-3283.
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