FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH VISITS NURSING HOME
Sunday, August 27, our church will be visiting Mountain Trace. We will meet there a little before 2:00 pm for a devotion and music service. Come and show our shut-ins that they are still part of our church. Stop by the Loving Kindness Room and pick up a bag of magazines to take with you. For more information contact Sandra James, 828-736-3171.
Backpack Program
The Dorothy Edwards Circle wishes to thank everyone who participated in the backpack program. It's a ministry that helps parents provide school supplies and helps children feel wanted and as prepared as their peers. We at FBC love all children.
Gaye Buchanan
Circles of Hope Update
The long term goal of Circles of Hope Jackson County is to move 10% of the county’s population out of poverty. We have 9000 people in the county living below the poverty level making our goal 900 people. Our goal each year is to move 20 families out of poverty.
We work to help them get a living wage job or an education that will lead to a living wage job. The Circle Leaders (those living in poverty who must take a leadership role in their journey out of poverty) attend 16 weeks of training after which they are assigned an Ally who serves as a friend, cheer leader, and resource person. The Circle Leaders continue to come each week for the next year or two. We provide a healthy meal each week and child care.
We have been in operation only 3 years and are now ranked in the top 30% of the national Circles organizations. The first year we spent 6 months getting organized and then worked with only 5 Circle Leaders while we learned the program.The second year we worked with 2 groups of six each and this year we have 7 in each class. Only 2 of the 31 clients we have had in the program did not graduate from the 16 weeks of classes. 50% of our graduates have gotten better paying jobs. 30% now have stable housing, and 30% have gone back to school. One has started her own business.
First Baptist Church has been an integral part of this effort by allowing Circles to use our facility for meetings and childcare. We are very thankful for your continued support.
Ginger Fullbright
Ann Melton
Circles of Hope Volunteers
Ramp Building Crew
Thank you to our ramp building crew for loving our neighbors by helping them to access their home more easily.
Baby Shower for Julie and Zack Faulkenberry
Please join us for a baby shower honoring Zack and Julie Faulkenberry as we help them prepare for their new baby boy, Kuechly James. The shower will be Sunday, July 30th, 2 - 3:30 PM in the Mission Fellowship Center. The couple is registered at Babies R Us and Target.
Kitchen Stove Moved
We would like to thank Harold Messer and his hearty crew of men who helped to move an old--and very cumbersome!--stove out of the downstairs kitchen.
A Note from Meghan Beddingfield
Dear First Baptist Church,
I want to thank you all for your support, care, guidance, and love throughout the years. I feel so lucky to have grown up in First Baptist Church. It still feels like home to me and you all made a wonderful impact in my life. Through your thoughts, prayers, cards, and visits, First Baptist remains close to my heart always.
Love,
Rev. Meghan Beddingfield
MFC Carpet Cleaned
A huge thank you to Harold Messer, Arlin Middleton, John Dills and Guy Hall for their work cleaning the carpet in the Mission and Fellowship Center!
Back to School Supplies
Dorothy Edwards Circle is again collecting school supplies for children whose parents can't supply them. We need:
paper
pens
crayons
pencils
pencil sharpeners
small packs of tissues
composition books
regular sized backpacks
colored pencils
glue sticks
small staplers and staples
We will be concentrating on 1st Explorers students this year so it will be a younger group of students. Please place items in the box in the Loving Kindness room across from the choir room by August 11th. Thank you!
A Note from Circles of Hope
Dear Friends,
As always, your most generous donation to Jackson County Circles of Hope is greatly appreciated! You totally went up and beyond generosity! Our latest class is about to graduate from our in-depth program and that will be followed up with a community person to be their mentor for the next two years or so.
Through these classes and being matched with mentors of our community with past graduates has helped our endeavor to address underlying causes of poverty and helping people attain economic stability. Circles of Hope is completely funded by personal donations like yours and from small special grants.
Let us share with you a special message from one of our Circle Leaders in training:
"I am so excited that our lives are already changing in positive ways. Circles has given me back 'hope' that I had almost lost sight of for me and my son."
Truly, all of you are demonstrating your compassion for others. We thank you immensely and encourage all of you to stay involved with Circles of Hope; our community needs enthusiastic and caring people like you!
God Bless!
Sincerely,
Laura Wallace