wfn.org | Church joins school in helping low-income children

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 11, 2004	News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
7 E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org 7 ALL-YE{101}

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A UMNS Feature
By Amy Green*

Bored with sending donations without offering hands-on help, the members of
St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Tucson, Ariz., were eager for a new
mission project.
 
They ended up with a far-reaching partnership with E.C. Nash Elementary, a
nearby school in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. The church
virtually adopted the school, sending volunteers into classrooms, organizing
donation drives for books and supplies - even donating a washing machine to
give children clean clothing. 
 
It is a perfect mission for a congregation full of retired teachers, says
Janet Camp, chairwoman of the church committee in charge of the project. St.
Mark's draws about 750 on an average Sunday. 
 
"It just blows my mind how much the school is doing not just to teach the
children but to assist the families," she says.
 
Nearly all of the school's students receive free or reduced-priced lunches,
and 72 percent come from homes where English is not the primary language.
Church members wanted to help, and they began in fall 2002 by sending about
50 volunteers into the classrooms to assist teachers and give reading and
math help. The project grew quickly. 
 
Church members began a books-on-tape program, offering recordings of
themselves reading books aloud to help children struggling with English
improve their reading skills. Nearly 200 books are available at the school's
library. 
 
The church launched donation drives for books, school supplies and backpacks,
collecting 500 books and 325 backpacks full of supplies for the start of the
2003 academic year. For the summer months, the church provides
"play-school-at-home bags" full of books and supplies to encourage continued
learning over the break. 
 
To help kindergartners with a study of the desert, a church member who is a
landscape artist designed a garden of plants native to the desert. Church
members helped plant the garden at the school in February. 
 
The church also donated a washing machine for children who can't afford many
sets of the school's uniforms. The congregation donated hundreds of socks,
shoelaces and belts for children. And it launched a printer-cartridge
recycling program to raise money for the school's computer lab.
 
The support means a lot to a school where parental involvement is sparse,
says Principal Rusty Farley. She points to the thank-you notes children wrote
for their donated backpacks as an example. 
 
"Several of them mentioned that they couldn't believe that a total stranger
would do something so kind for them, that there was someone other than their
parents and other than us who was caring for them," she says. 
 
The church has raised $5,000 in the past year for the school, including
$2,000 from the family of a church member who had been a teacher and died
suddenly in January. The family set up a memorial fund and gave all the
contributions to the school. 
 
"Our pastor really has a vision of wanting us not only to reach out and help
these people but enrich our own lives by increasing our compassion, if you
will, and getting to know more of the families down there," Camp says. "I
think it's a way to enrich both of our lives."
 
Eventually the congregation hopes to raise enough money to give laptops to
outstanding, needy children and even provide college scholarships. 
 
Melinda Sims is among those volunteering as a teacher aide, and she also
directs the church's books-on-tape program. She visits the school once a week
to give one-on-one reading help to first-graders. She enjoys watching the
children grow. 
 
"These are first-graders, so they can make some pretty amazing steps," she
says. "In some cases, I've actually seen that light go on."
 
The church has succeeded at extending its reach beyond the school, Farley
says. Its funds have allowed the school to expand its classes teaching
literacy and parental skills to adults. The school also works with the church
to help low-income families buy food and find shelter.
 
Perhaps most importantly, the church has helped boost morale among the staff,
she says. 
 
"We feel like we're not alone in this," she says. "We feel like we're not
trying to fight this overwhelming battle of poverty and ignorance and
second-language issues, that there are people out there helping us. From the
staff's perspective, to have an additional 40 to 60 folks to help us is such
a blessing." 
# # #
*Green is a freelance journalist based in Nashville, Tenn.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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