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2009 Community Centers & Cooperative Parish Grants

Grants totaling $130,000 have been awarded recently by the West Ohio Let Justice Roll Lead Team. Funding comes from apportionment dollars.

“Community Centers and Cooperative Parishes throughout West Ohio make the gospel real in the lives of the poor and forgotten,” said the Rev. Dee Stickley-Miner.

“Through the extension of hope the giver and recipient become transformed and for a moment, distinctions that divide people become invisible” she continued. “Through the use of apportionment dollars, congregations across West Ohio participate in those moments of transformation.”

West Ohio Community Centers & Cooperative Parishes Funded for 2009
Community Center or Cooperative Parish Purpose or Mission
 
Address: 3899 SR 12, Kansas, OH  44841
Tel: 419-986-5902
Contact: Kevin King
The mission statement of belaystation is to provide a safe community where people can discover their purpose in life, develop healthy relationships and grow in faith. Proposed ministries include marriage enrichment, 12 step recovery programs, family activities, personal/family counseling, divorce recovery, youth social programs, parent training programs and crisis pregnancy assistance.
C.A.R.E. United Methodist Outreach
 
Address: 395 East High Street, McArthur, OH 45651
Tel:  740-596-2394
Web:
Contact: Rev. Walt Goble
C.A.R.E. is a cooperative ministry involving all ten United Methodist congregations in Vinton County.  C.A.R.E. operates a food pantry distributing 394,799 pounds of food in 2006.  In addition 1883 articles of clothing and 109 major pieces of furniture were given away.  C.A.R.E. also provides Christmas gifts, school supplies, and garden seeds and plants.  As these services are provided, C.A.R.E. volunteers are given the opportunity to share God’s word.
 
Address:  946 Parsons Ave, POB 06063,Columbus, OH 43206
Tel:  614-445-7342
Contact: Rev. John Edgar
Volunteers and customers at the Free Store nurture one another’s faith as they work and shop side by side.  Each volunteer works with the model of servant leadership – moving beyond mere acts of charity to recognize the reciprocal gifts they receive while volunteering.  The Free Store welcomes hundreds of persons each week to enjoy hospitality of free coffee and pastries, a 40 minute worship on Tuesday mornings and another brief time of worship on Thursdays.  The central message in all our ministries is summed up with the statement: “God loves you just the way you are and God is not finished with you yet.”
 
Address: 3748 State Route 7,Chesapeake, OH  45619
Tel: 740-867-6628
Contact: Donald Moore
No one is turned away… Community Mission Outreach is a client choice pantry offering a variety of nutritious food in a setting similar to a grocery store.  Volunteers offer spiritual nurture as opportunities arise.  Over the course of a year, Community Mission Outreach will serve approximately 750 or more families.  No one is turned away, even if it means finding transportation for them or delivering food to their homes.
First United Methodist Church – The Life Well Free Store
 
Address:  857 Putnam Avenue, Zanesville, OH  43701
Tel:  740-452-7117
Web: 
Contact: Rev. Joy French
The top priority of the Free Store is to provide radical hospitality, creating space within ourselves and with the physical location of the Free Store to receive guests that come each day.  There is time for sharing and prayer during the worship on Tuesday mornings attended by both volunteers and shoppers.  It is not enough just to give items away, folks must have a felt understanding that what is given comes as a free gift from God’s abundance.  The Free Store provides goods, clothing, kitchen items and essential items for hygiene.
 
Address: 1324 North Superior Street,Toledo, OH  43604-2028
Tel:  419-243-1289
Contact: Rev. Morlon R. Harris
The Friendly Center provides more than twenty programs and services to help achieve the vision developed in 1923 that "No neighbor will go hungry, feel alienated, alone or powerless."  Many of our neighbors lack the resources needed to become self sufficient.  We help neighbors identify and set goals for positive social change, acquire needed resources and move to greater self-sufficiency in their lives. 
 
Address:  260 Mulberry Avenue,PO Box 171,Pomeroy, OH  45769
Tel:  740-992-0261
Fax: 740-992-7400
Contact: Rev. R. Keith Rader
God’s N.E.T. seeks not only to fulfill the physical needs of the youth attending (with food, school supplies, hygiene kits), but the emotional and spiritual needs as well.  We have a one-on-one mentoring program.  Mentors share their own testimonies and life experiences, and answer questions about faith in Christ and the church.  We also provide mission and service opportunities for the youth in highway clean up, nets for children in Africa, cards and visits to shut-ins, peer tutoring and mentoring.  Art, drama, and music and life skills are also practiced and taught at God’s N.E.T. serving youth in Meigs County ages 9-18.
 
Address:  PO Box 4,Athens, OH  45701
Tel:  740-594-3339
Fax: 740-594-3339
Contact: Cory Blackwell
We recognize Christ in every person – understanding and living out the identification that Christ draws between himself and “the least of these.”  (Mt. 25:31-46)  One of these ways is through the Transformation Station.  Too often simple giving of items to those in need undermines the recipient’s sense of dignity and worth.  The Transformation Station seeks to emphasize the person over the act of giving.  We actively invite the poor into the Station, welcome them as part of the community and work alongside them in the tasks at hand, developing relationships and affirming everyone in love.
 
Address:  734 Sycamore Street,Hamilton, OH  45011
Tel: 513-894-9892
Fax: 513-894-9888
Email: chester4him@aol.com
Web: www.hamilton-living-water-ministry.org
Contact: Cathy Hester
A long-term program designed to help adolescent youth complete high school, develop self-esteem, set positive goals and develop skills and tools needed to reach their goals.
 
Address: 82 E. 16th Avenue,Columbus, OH  43201
Tel: 614-424-6203
Fax: 614-268-4623
Contact: Bob Erickson
 
The mission of the Hunger Network in Ohio is to end hunger in Ohio.  We are regularly in touch with every congregation in the West Ohio Conference, working with pastors and hunger-justice advocates to motivate others to address human needs.  Each congregation receives materials for developing ongoing “2 Cents-a-meal” programs among their congregations.  This program daily sensitizes and encourages families to become active in ministries committed to reducing hunger.  We also have direct advocates in continuous contact with state and federal public officials to lobby for public policies that favor the down-trodden and disenfranchised.
 
Address:  PO Box 603,6 Cambrian Avenue,Jackson, OH  45640
Tel:  740-286-1320
Fax: 740-288-4308
Contact: Rev. Robert Davis 
Located in Appalachian Ohio, Jackson Area Ministries (JAM) has many programs ranging from work camps, gardening, "Give A Way" program, and disaster response.  Almost every project we undertake enhances relationships.  From conversations with a person seeking financial assistance, to distributing seeds/plants, to visiting potential work projects, to consulting with leaders – all necessitate communication and relationship.  Within this context, all parties are reminded that these efforts are done in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Lima's Samaritan House
 
Address:  328 West McKibben Street,Lima, OH  45801
Tel: 419-222-4663
Fax: 419-222-8446
Director: Marilyn Cipollone
Our doors are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week to assist women and children.  For the cover or our official handbook, we chose the words of Mother Teresa, “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.”  The Samaritan House provides emergency shelter, outreach advocacy and supportive services, staffed by nine Christian women of different denominations.  It is the only shelter between Toledo and Dayton.
Meigs County United Methodist Cooperative Parish
 
Address:  260 Mulberry Ave, POB 171, Pomeroy, OH  45769-0171
Tel: 740-992-7400
Fax: 740-992-7400
Contact: Brian Dunham
In September 2003, the Meigs County Cooperative purchased an elementary school to create a county-wide community center (Mulberry Community Center).  The Mulberry Community Center houses:  Parish Shop – low-priced resale clothing store, protecting the dignity of people and providing much needed clothing; God’s Hands – a carpentry group helping those in need; Comfort Club – making and distributing quilts for disaster needs; New Horizons Preschool; Food Pantry – for emergency, holiday and summer food giveaways; Parish Nurse Program – providing assistance to all ages with physical, emotional and spiritual help.  We also have ecumenical services throughout the year, Christian concerts, and pastors available for counseling.
Monroe Street Neighborhood Center
 
Address: 3613 Monroe Street,Toledo, OH  43606
Tel: 419-473-1167
Fax: 419-474-5467
Contact: Rev. Karen M. Shepler
Monroe Street Neighborhood Center is committed to promoting self-sufficiency, enriching families, and developing ownership of the community.  We give out free food weekly to help families and individuals stretch their food budgets a little more.  Cooking classes also help individuals to learn how to combine items, make casseroles and other items that are economical and nutritious.  Our Dress Right program provides a person with 2 outfits for interviews for both men and women.  Literacy programs for adults and Reading and Math programs for children are also offered. 
Neighborhood Services, Inc.
 
Address:  1950 North 4th Street,Columbus, OH  43201
Tel: 614-297-0592
Fax: 614-291-6599
Director: Cheryl Carter
 
Neighborhood Services, Inc. (NSI) mission is to provide food, emergency assistance, friendly counsel, reliable referrals and faithful advocacy for needy neighbors in the Ohio State University area.  We provide consumer choice food pantry including fresh produce and bakery items.  A hospitality room is open to anyone seeking information, referrals or just companionship.  We have a back-to-school program providing children with new clothes and school supplies, plus the Summer Youth Program – a day camp for inner city elementary age children.  This provides families who cannot afford summer camp or child care an opportunity for their children to have tutoring, Bible school, music and art lessons, field trips, physical exercise and meals. 
ReStore Community Center
Address:  210 North Main Street, Ada, OH  45810
Tel: 419-558-1015
Fax: 419-558-1015
Contact: Rev. Pat Searfoss
Restore Community Center is a facility that exists to meet the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of people in the Ada community. Hospitality is provided through community meals, beverages, clothing, household items, food boxes, computer skills workshops, job and life skill learning and worship services. Plans are to add youth & senior citizen programs.
 
Address:  101 Huffman Ave, Dayton, OH  45403
Tel: 937-252-4467
Fax: 937-254-5227
Director: Pastor Beth Holten
The Choice Food Pantry serves residents that fall not just below the poverty line, but 200% of the poverty line.  Through the Choice Food Pantry, we seek to alleviate hunger for people living in poverty in our area.   We provide food for three meals a day for five days for each family member.  We also minister with the Hispanic/Latino population through English as a Second Language classes, Las Amigas – a women’ s support group, and extending hospitality through forms translated into Spanish and as much as possible having a bi-lingual staff person available. 
 
Address: PO Box 2154, Zanesville, OH  43702
Tel: 740-450-7650
Fax: 740-450-7590
Contact: Pastor Gay E. Blau
 
Due to the reputation of West Main (an area known for prostitution, theft and drugs) those who come to serve from the local churches and community are reminded that Jesus went where others did not want to go and talked with people who were viewed as outcasts.  We use the phrase “livewell, @thelifewell,” as we present the John 4 account of the woman at the well.  We teach and are reminded that God’s love never runs dry.  Our ministries begin with children, providing role models and a safe environment for children and teens.  Bible study, life skills and fine arts round out our programming.  Through our service to the children, parents are beginning to understand we’d like to relate to them as well.  Some parents have even begun to volunteer.
 
Address: 444 Floyd Street,Toledo, OH  43620
Tel: 419-242-7401
Fax: 419-242-7404
Contact: Rev. Steve Anthony
 
Toledo Area Ministries (TAM) provides opportunities for congregations to live out their faith in the world.  TAM provides resources to congregations to be involved in local mission including Feed Your Neighbor (13 food pantries a, cross the most depressed areas of the city), Love INC (a network for all Toledo area congregations linking them with social service agencies), CROP Walk for Hunger, and advocating for public policies which improve the quality of life for residents in Northwest Ohio.
 
 
Address: 4852 Walnut Road, Box 4, Buckeye Lake, OH 43008
Tel:  740-928-4683
Fax: 740-323-0389
Contact: Pastor Carol Kirk
 
We are beginning a series of educational classes for the area community.  We address spiritual education with worship, children’s ministry on Friday afternoon, Friday Night Alive Teen Night, Videos that Teach, and community Bible study.  We address physical education with morning classes, nutrition classes, and a health minister.  We address emotional education with marriage classes, financial classes, and parenting classes.  We address academic education with after school care with certified teachers assisting in reading, writing, spelling, comprehension, and math skills.
WeeCare Outreach, Inc.
 
Address:  PO Box 509,Chillicothe, OH  45601
Tel:  740-775-7222
Fax: 740-775-8267
Contact: Lori Squibb
Teen pregnancy, poverty, low self-esteem and little hope in what the future can hold are rampant in southern Appalachian Ohio.  Walnut Street Church has pledged itself to make a difference.  WeeCare Outreach works with pregnant and parenting teens at the high school and college level.  We offer teaching, support, tutoring, and preparation for pregnant and parenting teens.
 
Wesley Chapel Mission Center
 
Address:  80 East McMicken Avenue, Cincinnati, OH  45202
Tel: 513-721-6204
Fax: 513-721-6204
Contact: Becky Costello
Wesley’s Chapel Mission Center’s Youth Program extends radical hospitality to children in grades 5-8 by recognizing where they are and responding to their needs.  Our youth coordinator serves as a shepherd to these children as they are encouraged to explore their feelings and beliefs – a sometimes difficult task as these youth are hardened by their surroundings, but receive clear guidelines, relevant consequences and warm relationships at Wesley Chapel Mission Center.
 
Address:  3730 Delphos Avenue, Dayton, OH  45417
Tel: 937-263-3556
Fax: 937-263-9582
Contact: Robert C. Walker or Donald L. Hayashi
Our primary mission is to respond to families and individuals in crises.  This ministry serves as a ‘safety net’ for families due to declining human and social resources in Montgomery County.  Wesley Community Center has learned the art of partnership as we leverage resources with other compatible organizations to increase ou, r response to families with needs and to provide self-sufficiency resources.  After we have received persons with hospitality and responded to their need, we share the power of God’s love by spiritual-based support groups, Bible studies for all ages, and a community based worship through Project Reach. 
Westside Free Store Ministries Youth Center
 
Address:  3030 Sullivant Avenue,Columbus, OH  43204
Tel: 614-233-5829
Fax: 614-474-1596
Contact: Marla Flewellen
Our intent is to create a loving, non-threatening atmosphere where God’s love is shown through adult Christian volunteers.  The Free Store Youth Center offers a place of ‘safe sanctuary’ for young people who are at loose ends after school.  Various activities of music, crafts, drama, tutoring, table games and more are offered.  This is another alternative to after-school care when so many after-school programs in the area are full and have waiting lists.