Hunger Study

The Hunger Study is conducted every four years and is comprised of two separate surveys. The first is a survey of agencies that receive food from Feeding America Food Banks. The second is a survey of clients who obtain food from these agencies. The data from both surveys will be analyzed and incorporated into reports that will inform policymakers and the public about the magnitude and scope of the hunger problem both nationally and locally. The Food Bank needs volunteers to go to their agencies on selected days and times to monitor client interviews. This year the Food Bank has been given six Microsoft Tablets that the clients will take the survey on. This data collection process will begin in May and last until August. If you want to participate or learn more about this opportunity, please contact Kendall Smith at execadmin@foodbanknla.org or FPC Outreach Coordinator Lauren Rogers at lrogers@fpcshreveport.com.

The Wild West

Evergreen Life Services’ 6^th annual Celebrity Waiter Dinner will take place at East Ridge Country Club on Thursday, May 9^th. The theme for this year’s event is “The Wild West” with some of Shreveport’s finest serving tables while dressed up to fulfill the roles of an epic Western. The night begins with a silent auction at 6pm followed by dinner. The program and live auction will begin at 7pm. Local group The Mix Band will serve as the evening’s entertainment. If you are interested in attending, individual tickets are $100 while sponsoring a table is $1,200. To reserve your seat, contact Debbie Orand, Director of Development, at 318-949-5524 or debbie.orand@evergreenls.org. The funds raised will go towards the overall mission of the Evergreen organization and help Evergreen to continue to build better lives!

Providence House Immediate Needs

The Providence House is in immediate, urgent need of baby wipes and paper towels.

You can bring them to church on Sunday and they will be delivered or if you want  to deliver them directly, they should go to the main lobby of the 814 Cotton building, NOT to the donations area.

Thanks very much for helping us meet this urgent need for our families.

The numbers are in from our first MLKHC clinic day!

First Presbyterian Church sponsored a clinic day at the Martin Luther King Health Center on April 9, 2013. Our $1000 investment in the clinic returned $39,059.06 in direct healthcare to our community! Below is a breakdown of these numbers.

• 19 patients received primary care visits – valued at $2,185.
• 26 patients received pharmacy services – 203 prescriptions were dispensed valued at $31,238.06. One of these patients was a referral from a local hospital who was being discharged, with six prescriptions, and received emergency medications valued at $591.13.
• 26 patients received medication management education and review – valued at $988.
• 11 patients received laboratory services – valued at $759.
• 21 volunteers provided services – valued at $3,859.

Total value of direct healthcare services provided: $39,059.06

First Presbyterian is sponsoring two more clinic days next month – May 14 & May 23. The Presbyterian Women also have two clinic days coming up with hopes for a third – April 18 & July 9 – and their clinic days are focused on women’s health. If you are interested in learning more about the work that the Martin Luther King Health Center does, feel free to stop by on one of our clinic days to get a firsthand look, or check out their website at www.mlkhealth.org.

Upcoming Training Sessions for Solar Under the Sun and Living Waters for the World

It was only two months ago that the Presbytery of the Pines sent 8 people, including 2 of our own members, to Haiti to bring clean water and health education to the people of Gonaives. This was done through the work of Solar Under the Sun and Living Waters for the World. If you want to learn more about this trip and the work this team accomplished, please check out earlier blog posts from February categorized under “Haiti.”

If you desire to become a part of this great mission, you can be trained in Solar School, Water School, or both. First Presbyterian Shreveport has several members who are trained in Solar; however, most of those from the Presbytery are trained in Water. The Presbytery currently sends a team on average once a year, but they hope to eventually have enough people trained to organize 2 or 3 trips a year.

Solar Under the Sun trains volunteers to design and install solar power systems with communities that lack reliable electrical power. Living Waters for the World teaches people to empower local leaders to build and operate systems that provide clean water and health education to their communities. If you are interested in attending one of the upcoming training sessions listed below, please communicate so with the Outreach Ministry. By attending one of these training sessions, you agree to going on trips to Haiti to put your skills into practice.

Solar Under the Sun Training Sessions for 2013

May 2-5, 2013                                                                                                 September 12-15, 2013

All Solar School training sessions are held at Ferncliff Camp and ConferenceCenter in Little Rock, Arkansas. Each session runs from Thursday at 10:00 AM (registration & lunch) to Sunday at 10:30 AM.

For more information, go to www.solarunderthesun.org

Living Waters for the World Training Sessions for 2013

September 4-8, 2013
October 16-20, 2013

Water School training sessions are held at Hopewell Camp and ConferenceCenter in Oxford, MS.

For more information, go to www.livingwatersfortheworld.org

Greetings from St. Andrew’s Seminary, Bangladesh

One of the goals of the FPC Strategic Plan is to love our neighbor as self by intentionally finding and sustaining ways that we can engage as a community in God’s mission in the world, both locally and internationally. Specifically, to engage in ways that connect us – person-to-person, neighbor-to-neighbor – as we participate in this mission.

As part of our Action Plan, the Outreach Ministry is working to strengthen the relationships with our Outreach Partners, finding ways to connect person-to-person. During Holy Week, Jerry Shetler, Sarah Cooper Searight, and Frank Dodson sent greetings to our partners in the Church of Bangladesh on behalf of the congregation. Below is a return greeting from Rev. Shourabh Pholia, Principal, St. Andrew’s Theological College.

St. Andrews Theological College is a seminary for the Church of Bangladesh. Each year they train 40+ students to work with churches and Christian organizations in Bangladesh. Funds from a 2011 D. Thomason grant were used to establish a computer lab for the students so that they could connect to the internet and become more aware of what is happening around the world. You can learn more about the Computer Lab here: St. Andrew’s Computer Lab.

We will be in communication throughout the year with Les and Cindy Morgan and our partners in Bangladesh as we continue to strengthen our outreach relationships.  We will post those communications on this blog.

To, Frank Dodson,

The Moderator of the Outreach Ministry,

First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport, USA.

Respected Moderator,

Holy Week Greetings to you and to all. I am extremely glad to have a mail from you. It has encouraged and blessed us to walk in faith and to glorify Him. In our journey when we hear that faithful friends are with us then it is a blessings indeed and encouraging. Thank you for remembering us when we are no one to remember as we have nothing to share with you all except our love and prayer with you all.

We are glad you have sent people like Dr. Les and Dr. Cindy who are not only missionaries for the people of Bangladesh but they are more than that and that they have proved through their lives and their simple life style. We do glad to God for them. And waiting for them to meet soon in near future. Also requesting please do send some more friends to be with us when they are free. We are looking forward to meet some new friends.

Please convey our regards and greetings to all the members of First Presbyterian Church who are praying for us and helped us. We are keeping your church and the Rev .Dr. Jerold into God’s loving hand and believe that He will bless you all and heal Rev. Jerold for His glory.

Now I like to inform you that now our students have started a basic short course on Computer programs and also they have started an online English learning course introduced by Mrs. Sarah Hall a missionary from CMS.

Now they have started communicating through email, which is a great opportunity for them to communicate and for information.

And in near future 12 more students will use the lab for another online course offered by London Open University.

So, I am glad that you were kind enough to help us to access the opportunity. Thank you once again for your grant. Now we are continuing to use our lab and hope in future it will open many other ways of learning for our students. And believe that you will keep us in your prayer and support us with your presence in us.

May be in future there will be a change and a new principal from Malaysia will come to take over the responsibility. So, I am not sure  when it is going to take place but I believe that you will know it. So, please keep me and my family in your prayer so that wherever we are we can work for Him.

With prayer and best regards-

Rev. Shourabh Pholia.

Evergreen’s Timeless Cafe & Tearoom

 

Evergreen’s North Central Louisiana division operates a unique restaurant called the Timeless Café & Tearoom located on Main Street in Minden, LA, and they were one of several gracious recipients of the 2012 D. Thomason Grants. The café exists to offer vocational training to the individuals Evergreen serves as well as to generate revenue for the programs Evergreen offers. Serving delicious sandwiches, salads, soups, and desserts, the café is open Monday-Friday, 10am-2pm, and also during special downtown Minden events. If you are ever in the area, this is a wonderful place to stop for lunch and to see the great work that Evergreen continues to do in their ministry!

How we can help: Safe House

The Safe House Domestic Violence Program is a service offered by The Providence House. Established in 2009, they serve Caddo, Bossier, Webster, and Red River Parishes. They offer a 24/7 telephone crisis hotline, emergency safe shelter, housing for up to 2 years, safety planning, protective orders and legal advocacy, counseling and support groups, classes and training for jobs and life skills, and case management.

Those who come to the Safe House might be seeking legal help, such as a temporary restraining order, or resources for their families, while others are seeking shelter. 100 beds are located in the facility; however, no more than 50 or so people usually reside there at a time. Half of the space is devoted to singles rooms and the other half to families. There is a kitchen that provides meals three times a day, and lounges for relaxing, rooms for counseling, and playrooms for the children. The typical stay is 45 days, but people often stay a bit longer if they are really taking advantage of the services offered to them or if they are in immediate danger.

Outreach opportunities and needs:

• Volunteers needed to babysit while parents are in counseling sessions or doing case management. One rule at the Safe House is that parents must be watching their children at all times, so often people miss their meetings because they are taking care of their children. If you are interested, please contact program director Patricia Mulvaney at 222-7887
• Follow Providence House on Facebook to stay up to date with happenings and donated items they need
• If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the domestic violence crisis hotline at 226-5015

Your donations to The Hunger Game have been totaled, and FPC donated…

During the season of Lent, First Presbyterian took part in a Virtual Food Drive benefiting the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana. The Hunger Game, as we called it, went along with our theme of hunger during those 40 days. Our contributions have been totaled, and First Presbyterian Church donated $5,567.41 to the Food Bank! This money will provide over 40,000 meals to those in need. Thank you all for your support and participation! Below are several other ways we can continue in our partnership with the Food Bank:

• Volunteers needed Mondays-Thursdays, 8am-12pm to sort and pack senior boxes. You can drop in without notice and stick around for however long you can. If you can help out for 30 minutes- great! If you can help for 4 hours- great!
• Volunteers needed to help out with the new garden on site. They will begin with a winter garden, and the fresh produce will be distributed with the senior boxes. Please contact Martha Marak at mmarak@foodbanknla.org if interested.
• Volunteers to deliver senior boxes once a month. You can do this on your own schedule. Please contact Gene Haynes at ghaynes@foodbanknla.org if interested.
• Continue bringing donations to our food barrel (located in the church’s gathering area)

 And don’t forget about the Community Bowl Painting Party tomorrow (4/4)!

MLKHC Clinic Days

“A typical MLKHC patient is an African American female between 31 and 64 years old who resides in Caddo Parish and earns less than $12,000 per year. The annual services provided to this typical patient are valued between $10K and $15K.”

–MLKHC Annual Report (May 2012)

 

The Martin Luther King Health Center, serving the community since 1986, is the oldest free clinic and licensed pharmacy in Louisiana. They currently hold 13 monthly clinics and see nearly 200 patients a month who are insured or underinsured. Last year alone, nearly $1.2 million worth of medications were donated and distributed to their patients.

First Presbyterian Church is sponsoring three clinic days at the Martin Luther King Health Center this spring: April 9, May 14, and May 23. In addition to sponsoring these clinics, we would like to have members of our congregation volunteer during these clinics. Non-medical volunteers would help by signing people in, directing traffic in the clinic, and organizing mail outs. The clinics last from 8:30am-3:30pm, and we will split up the days into shifts, the first 8am-11:30am and the second noon-3:30pm. We will need 2-3 volunteers for each shift. It would be great to have some sort of First Presbyterian representation, so please contact our Outreach Coordinator Lauren Rogers at the church office if you’re interested.