Service Opportunities for 2007
“Year of the Child”

(This file is also available for download in PDF format on the Clergy Page.)

 AIM (Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers) – We continue to support this ministry and service to children of imprisoned mothers. 

Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers, Inc. (AIM) is a non-profit community-based organization that assists inmate mothers, their children and other family members in maintaining critically important family ties during the mother's incarceration.

For churches in the Atlanta area, there is always a need of volunteers to escort children on the visits to the prison and volunteers to make sandwiches.  For churches throughout the region, there is a real need for books for the library at the center.  The children are there for programs a couple of afternoons/nights each week.  For more information on AIM and its wishlist, please visit www.takingaim.net/wishlist.asp, or access the AIM newsletter through the women’s ministries page.  If you need assistance in coordinating book drives, or getting other items or supplies to AIM, please feel free to contact me.  (See commission list in this booklet.)

Dear John Campaign – This is the initiative of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children.  While the initiative is still in its infancy, the immediate focus is to educate the community on the problem.  There is a particular interest in getting community churches educated and involved in this campaign.  This is an ecumenical effort, and no single church or denomination is predominant.  For general information on this campaign, please log onto www.atlantaga.gov or www.juvenilejusticefund.org.  Also, if your church, pastor, or other church leader(s) would like to get involved in the church informational sessions, please feel free to contact me.

Ronald McDonald Houses – pop top collections.  One house pays its utility bills with the money that comes in from recycling these.  They really do make a difference.  If you don’t have a local house, save them and bring them to retreat; or get them to the regional office or women’s ministry staff at any point during the year for processing.

You can also sponsor a family for a night at the R. M. Houses for $15/night.  You can do this in honor or memory of someone or some occasion.

Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Child Box – We are continuing involvement in the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Child Box project.  We are getting incredible numbers of boxes sent from some of our churches and very wide involvement in this project.  It is a project which captures the imagination of families, youth groups, Sunday School classes, women’s groups, and individuals in churches.  For more information, check out www.samaritanspurse.org and click on Operation Christmas Child.

Church World Service Kits – Put together a small assistance package and make a big difference.  Basic materials such as soap, toothpaste, band-aids, paper, pencils, and diapers seem small; but they make a huge difference in an ongoing development program or when disaster strikes.  For instructions on assembling a layette, kids kit, or school kit, see www.churchworldservice.org/kits/index.html. 

“For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” ~ Heb. 6:10

Valerie J. Alexander, M.Div., M.A.
Service and Life Concerns Coordinator

---

Expanding the Table
My Sister’s Place in South Korea

Many of the immigrants in South Korea, especially the undocumented, have a hard time fitting into the society and earning a sufficient income.  Some women find that the only opportunity available to them is as “sex workers” around U.S. bases.  Their average age is 20 to 30, and they work in clubs, houses, or in the street.  Salaries for contracted entertainers are around $500 a month, but those without contracts make much less.  These women are often victims of violence, but any undocumented sex worker who reports harassment is deported.   With the U.S. military establishment of a “Zero Tolerance Law,” sex crimes are decreasing; but there are still as many as 500 a year, not counting the ones undocumented women do not report.

 “My Sister’s Place” is the name of a program established in 1986 and funded by the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea (PROK) to provide counseling, legal, and medical services for these women.  The women helped are both South Koreans (about 20% of sex workers) and immigrant women (about 80%) – especially Filipinos, Russians, and Chinese.  My Sister’s Place provides meals (as an opportunity to talk with the women), a day care center (because the children of sex workers are often left unattended), and an art program (as therapy and a way to earn income).  However, its main purpose is to provide counseling for the women.

 To help with this mission, please send your contributions to the Division of Overseas Ministries c/o Jane Sullivan-Davis, P.O. Box 1986, Indianapolis, IN 46206.

 

---

    REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES OF ATLANTA

                                 

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”  Matthew 25:35.

RRISA is an affiliate of Church World Service, and is the refugee resettlement ministry of the Disciples Home Mission in the Atlanta area.

RRISA seeks to partner with local congregations to provide assistance to refugees when they first arrive in Atlanta.  RRISA’s experienced staff provides orientation and special services, while volunteers from churches can offer more personal support.  Refugees who experience the welcoming support of a local church adjust more quickly and easily to their new home.  Church volunteers can provide a myriad of important services for refugees, the most important of these is friendship and prayers.  Church volunteer teams collect furniture, set up apartments, help with grocery shopping, and orient the refugees to the community.

Who is a refugee?

Refugees are persons who have fled their own country due to war, social unrest, or persecution.  The decision to flee is often made quickly and under the threat of death.

Ø      To attain refugee status a person must prove a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of race, religion, member in a social group, political opinion, or national origin.

Ø      Refugees apply for status in refugee camps, or at designated processing sites outside their home countries, where a representative of the US Department of State interviews them under Section 207 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act.

Ø      If accepted as a refugee, the person is sent to the U.S. through a national resettlement agency, such as Church World Service or Episcopal Migration Ministries.

Ø      The United States only accepts a fixed number of refugees each year as determined by the President and Congress.

How can my church help?

Partner with RRISA to co-sponsor a refugee family. 

      1. Donate funds towards rent and utilities for up to three months, while the adults look for work.

2. Provide help with immediate needs of resettlement such as setting up an apartment, donating furniture and household items in good condition.

3.  Stock a pantry with culturally appropriate food items, cleaning supplies, and toiletries. 

4.  Welcome an arriving family at the airport.

5.  Help orient the refugee family to the community.

6.  Tutor individuals in English language skills. 

7.  Introduce refugees to MARTA.

8.  Provide employment networking.

Call 404 622-2235 ext. 226 or ext. 239 for more information.

RRISA

Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta
4151 Memorial Drive, 205D
Decatur, GA  30032
404.622.2235 (phone)
404.622.3321 (fax)
www.rrisa.org

---

Continuing Support of Sisters and Brothers in Kenya

 Pray for Phyllis Byrd, our mission partners who visited with our region last year, and please continue to support these vital projects:

Mathare Valley Community Health Project

The National Council of Churches of Kenya, a long-standing partner of Global Ministries, operates the Mathare Valley Community Health Project, which serves disadvantaged people of the Mathare Slum, one of the poorest neighborhoods of Nairobi. The project focuses on providing health services to all underserved people, especially women and children. The project’s major focus is HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention.  Kenya has the ninth highest HIV prevalence rate in the world. UNAIDS estimates that in 1999, about 500 Kenyans died of AIDS each day. Census Bureau projections estimated that by 2005, there would be about 820 deaths per day in Kenya from AIDS. Highest rates are in urban centers and slum areas (75-80 percent). The oldest slum in Nairobi is Mathare, built in 1954 for laborers who worked in rock quarries for Asian employers.

The main objectives of the Community Health Project are to:

• Promote preventive and curative health services to the community, with a focus on reducing HIV/AIDS rates
• Promote reproductive health within the community
• Reduce youth vulnerability to HIV/AIDS
• Build capacity for a sustainable health program

Support for this important work enables the Mathare Valley Community Health Project to fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic through intervention and prevention programs.

Narok Conservation and Drought Recovery Program

NCDRP is a community-based organization founded in 2001 to fight against poverty, environmental degradation, and HIV/AIDS and to address gender issues among the poor and marginalized Maasai people.  Ask Georgia Disciple Delores James about the well-digging project!

Water well drilling                     $3500/well
Community AIDS education     40 classes/year@$25/class
Teaching Materials                   $5/class
Teacher Transportation            $20/class

Riamukurwe Parish Destitute Children’s Care Center

This small group of congregations in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa determined in 1997 that “to be a relevant Church in Africa means to give hope to those who have been rendered hopeless.”  They looked around their community and resolved to start a ministry to the destitute and orphaned children they found there.  Today, the Center has a new dormitory and, between the day program and residential program, serves 100 children ranging in age from preschool through secondary school.  They are limited from expansion by the lack of a reliable source of water.  They have a permit to drill a well and only need funds for drilling.  They are also in need of all kinds of books, from children’s literature to high school textbooks.  As their first senior class graduated in the spring of 2005, the Center was planning to start a vocational school to give them further training.

Water well               $3500 or $35/child                 Library books           $10 each

Dandora Primary School and Clinic, Nairobi

Dandora School serves 625 children living in the poorest community in Nairobi, the Mathare slum.  Despite poor housing, lack of proper nutrition and health care, these children perform in the middle range of standardized tests.  The school houses a small clinic, staffed by a nurse and a lab technician.  The clinic turns away 5-6 people per week because of lack of funds to test them.  The Dandora School Clinic asks for funds to provide free, community-based HIV testing to its high-risk population.

HIV Testing kits                  $300/100 tests (3-month supply)
HIV Lab Technician            $100/month

Wan’gu Primary School in Nairobi

This is a Church World Service Safety Zone School located beside the Nairobi city dump in the Mathare slum.  Its 2000 students and 26 teachers contend with odor, vermin, and an unsecured school yard, making them prey to violence from the neighboring community.  The school is a pilot site for the CWS Safety Zone School project, aimed at bringing together parents and community organizations to create conditions conducive to good health and learning.  They need a fence to separate the playground from the dump and discourage harm.

Total             $4500 @ 300 yards x $15/yard

Contributions can be made through Global Ministries Office
of Resource Development, P.O. Box 1986, Indianapolis, IN 46206.
Make checks payable to Division of Overseas Ministries
and note the particular project you are supporting. 

---

Why Should I Use a Blessing Box?

            The Blessing Box is first a spiritual discipline.  It’s a tool to help us recognize how God is blessing us every day.  It’s a small cardboard box that you can put on your kitchen counter, on your desk at work, or on the table by your bed – anywhere that’s convenient for you to put in a coin when you see a blessing in your life. 

            You might put in a coin for the friend who called you unexpectedly or for someone who offered a helping hand.  Maybe you will put in a coin for the robin on your windowsill who reminds you of the beauty of God’s world or for the meal that filled your stomach and the fellowship that filled your soul. 

            You will be amazed at how many ways God blesses you once you start to say “thank you” by putting coins in the box.  As you practice the discipline of gratitude by doing something physical every time you think about your blessings, you will find you recognize more blessings.  As the box gets heavier, you will see the generosity of God in a very tangible way.

            The blessing box is also a tool for the spiritual practice of giving.  The coins collected from the Blessings Boxes are brought to fall retreat (or sent to the regional office) and are dedicated.  The region sends them to the Church Finance Council; and they support women’s ministry of the Christian Church as well as ministries of the wider church.

            Our prayer is that, in using the Blessing Box, we will see God’s blessings surrounding us each day and we will see the world through new eyes – God’s eyes. 

Be joyful always, pray constantly.
Give thanks in all circumstances,
For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

---

The Women’s Endowment Fund was established in 1990 to provide an opportunity to contribute to a permanent fund that benefits the work of women in the church. Funds are invested to keep pace with inflation and to produce a steady stream of income for spending.

Why Have a Women’s Endowment Fund?

Women of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have always been very active, committed and ready to provide excellent leadership. Now more than ever the important component of women’s efforts in the church are:

 Leadership training
 Outreach ministries
 Faith development 

The Women’s Endowment Fund was created to provide for the needs of programs for women, and to offer a legacy beyond one’s lifetime.

Planning a specific gift for the Women’s Endowment Fund (WEF) will help provide funds for programming of vital importance to women now--and in the future.

Who Administers the Fund?

The Women’s Endowment Fund is a permanent fund of the Christian Church Foundation.  Distributions are allocated by a rotating committee including representatives from International Christian Women’s Fellowship and Office of Disciples Women. A professional audit is made annually and a written report provided to the related women’s organizations, and others upon request.

How Can You Support the Women’s Endowment Fund?

 Include it in your will. Designate a percentage or a dollar amount.
 Create a planned gift. The Christian Church Foundation, one of the general units of the church, has numerous gift opportunities available that not only benefit the donor’s wishes, but also can create a source of income for the donor. Call 800-668-8016.
 Establish a named fund ($1000 minimum)
 Make an outright gift.
 Designate Women’s Endowment Fund as beneficiary of insurance / IRAs.
 Transfer stock.
 Encourage others to include WEF in their estate planning.
 Gift Annuities
 Charitable Trusts

Can you apply for a grant through this fund?

Yes, grants for leadership training, outreach ministries, revitalization/transformation, scholarship support, and faith development for up to $5,000 are available through the Women’s Endowment Fund.  Applications are accepted twice a year.  Applications are available at www.discipleswomen.org.

Questions: Contact Deborah Wray, Christian Church Foundation
Toll Free 800.668.8016 or dwray@ccf.disciples.org

---

Five Women Who Made A Difference

There are 5 permanent funds in our region which honor well-loved women who made an impact on the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Georgia.  These funds are a testament to the way these women used their God-given gifts to God’s glory. 

Ruth Thompson Barbee was the founding minister of Sandy Springs Christian Church.  She served as president of the region (then known as the state convention) and president of the GA Christian Women’s Fellowship.  This fund provides a full scholarship for a Georgia woman to attend the IDWM Quadrennial Assembly, and helps to bring overseas guests to Quadrennial.

Anne Johnson Beach served thirty-eight years in Christian ministry with the Christian Church in Georgia – serving in the areas of women’s ministries, youth programming, leader development, and lay leadership.  This fund, invested with the Christian Church Foundation, provides growth and quarterly dividend interest which comes to the region to support regional ministry in Anne’s name.

June Marken Doster served the region from 1984 to 1998 when she passed away.   In her portfolio were women’s ministry, men’s ministry, evangelism, and church development.  This fund was established to assure the securing of outstanding speakers in evangelism to lead regional seminars and workshops.

Billie Hillis served as the volunteer managing editor of the Christian Messenger for many years.  The fund established in her honor and which now exists in her memory, helps to assure that publication and distribution of the regional newsletter will continue.  Even though Messengers Angels help with prayers and love gifts, escalating printing costs and the desire to publish more issues make this fund a particular blessing.

Carol Donley Lavery served the region in a variety of capacities for many years culminating in her joining the staff of the region to work with youth and young adults.  She nows lives in Florida where she serves as a chaplain in a retirement village; but she comes back to Georgia as often as she can.  The Lavery Fund was established to continue the Ministry of Outdoor Education in the region.  This permanent endowment helps to provide funds to continue the improvements to Camp Christian.

Sadly, all but one of these remarkable women are now gone from us; but these funds remain as Permanent Funds through which we can honor and remember them.  A donation not only commemorates the woman so honored, but continues within the region the work to which each woman dedicated herself. 

Contributions may be made payable to the Christian Church in Georgia, 2370 Vineville Avenue, Macon GA 31204.  Please designate the fund to which you are contributing.