wfn.org | Center For Whole Life Is a Model Presbyterian Mission

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

21-May-1997 
97206 
 
             Despite Volunteerism Controversy, Center 
          For Whole Life Is a Model Presbyterian Mission 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
                                  
CHICAGO--Despite some controversy surrounding the Presidents' Summit for 
America's Future, the Center for Whole Life in Chicago, a unique 
Presbyterian mission project, is a prime example of the good that can come 
from private charity and volunteerism. 
 
     As the nation's leaders laid plans for dramatically increased 
volunteer efforts during the three-day summit, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 
representatives to the gathering departed with cautious optimism.  They 
also, however, expressed concern over a national volunteer effort that 
comes at a time when government is cutting back its own programs of service 
to the needy and is asking churches and others to fill the gap (see article 
#97204 in the May 23, 1997, edition of "NEWS BRIEFS.") 
 
     Conducted by Chicago's Fourth Presbyterian Church for decades, the 
Center for Whole Life operates ministries that benefit the residents of 
Cabrini Green, the nation's oldest and largest public housing project. For 
example, the Cabrini tutoring program is more than 30 years old and has 
about 500 children and roughly 550 volunteer tutors. 
 
     Another ministry, called Cabrini Alive, meets on Saturday mornings. 
Volunteers are transported to Cabrini to renovate the apartments there. 
Workers return to the church in the afternoon and are served lunch. 
 
     Encouraged by the success of these programs, the congregation decided 
to expand their outreach efforts and created the Center for Whole Life, the 
church's first off-site mission program, in 1993, according to the Rev. K. 
John Wilkinson Jr., an associate pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church. 
Presently, more than 130 people, most of them Cabrini residents, come to 
the Center weekly. 
 
     Guided by the ancient African proverb "It takes an entire village to 
raise one child," the Center provides families, toddlers and preschool-aged 
children educational programs, weekly prayer meetings and Bible study, 
instruction in parenting techniques, supervised play and recreation, 
exercise classes, career counseling and self-esteem-boosting activities.  
 
     Tereatha Ackbar, Center for Whole Life director, told the Presbyterian 
News Service that one of the most important lessons she's learned from 
operating a volunteer center is that you have to meet the needs of both 
those seeking and those offering help. 
 
     "Volunteers have needs, too," Ackbar explained. "They're not the same 
as the community in which you're serving, but they also have needs and you 
must meet them. Volunteers have a need for organization. If a volunteer 
comes into a program, for example, and it seems to be poorly run, then you 
may lose them." 
 
     Even so, Ackbar said, she believes people are apparently beginning to 
realize that if they don't take the initiative in helping others, it will 
affect them sooner or later. She said she sees this "altruistic spirit" 
particularly among young college graduates, who comprise a significant 
portion of the Center's volunteer population. 
 
     "People are saying every day,  I want to help, but I'm not sure I know 
how,'" she said. "That wasn't necessarily the mood of the country during 
the '80s." 
 
     Ackbar said the Center is always in need of mentors, but people need 
not be Chicago or Illinois residents to help. Donated items such as used 
computers, sewing machines and age-appropriate books that feature 
racial-ethnic people are particularly needed. For more information, call 
Ackbar at Fourth Presbyterian Church at (312) 787-4570. 

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