Grant helps community center open in former church
9/4/1998 By Michael Wacht* DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (UMNS) - Ten children, ages 5 to 13, gathered around the table for grilled cheese sandwiches. With three adult leaders, they held hands while one girl prayed.
She thanked God for the food and the community center. She asked God to remember people she knew who had died, including a 10-year-old friend with an undiagnosed heart condition and an uncle who committed suicide.
The children, from low-income neighborhoods in Daytona Beach, participated in a summer program at the new Madison Avenue Community Center, housed in the now-defunct Livingston Memorial United Methodist Church.
"The district gave us the facilities for one year to see if we could get something started," said Debbie Halcomb, the center's executive director. "Our vision is to have this be the place where people turn to for their needs, both physically and spiritually."
A $10,000 grant from the Florida Annual (regional) Conference's program to implement the Council of Bishops' Initiative on Children and Poverty is helping the center reach that goal. Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson had urged Florida churches to get behind the worldwide initiative. The congregations responded by raising more than $250,000.
The bishops' initiative is designed to help churches provide ministries that meet the physical and spiritual needs of children and families in poverty.
The money pays for utilities and operating expenses, said Don Hughes, executive director of Halifax Urban Ministries and applicant for the grant. The funds are keeping the center open and giving the board of directors time to find other sources of support, he said.
Just weeks after Livingston Memorial closed, a series of barbecues was held at the building to invite the community to make its wants known and to involve residents in planning.
With money and volunteers from five local United Methodist churches, the community center already offers a number of programs. It serves as a meeting place for a neighborhood watch organization and has several 12-step recovery programs, a transition group helping prisoners adjust to life in the community, a Thursday night Bible study, a Sunday night praise service and the children's summer program.
The services are badly needed, according to Hughes. The neighborhood around the center was "in transition downward," he said, with adult entertainment and bookstores just blocks away, and prostitutes and drug dealers conducting business in the parking lot. Playgrounds and recreation programs for children didn't exist.
The summer program, which ended Aug. 21, helped keep 17 of the community's children active during their vacations. Each day included lunch, Bible study, one-on-one coaching in reading, recreation and encouragement.
"You get to have some fun, and you have to read and do Bible study. If you do well, you get a reward," said participant Krystal Freeland, a fifth-grader.
Third-grader Shanice Mitchell enjoyed studying "the Fruits of the Spirit." She said her favorite fruit was strawberries: "They stand for joy, and joy makes me happy."
Many of the children will return for the center's after-school program, which begins Sept. 14 and includes tutoring and one-on-one time with volunteers.
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*Wacht is the assistant editor of the Florida Conference's edition of the United Methodist Review. This story first appeared in that publication.
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