Boone Park Donations Welcome!

06/21/2009 - This outreach to the children of Boone Park Elementary School needs your help – preferably in cash! Again this year, PV members are trying to outfit pupils with their fall school needs, and can save by purchasing in bulk. So the request is for cash, placed in the envelopes attached to the clipboards in the Sunday morning adult Bible classes. Please give generously!

Boone Park Volunteer Opportunities

• Games
• Greeters/Registration
• Food
• Volunteer to actually be assigned to a child/family when they come to the event and take them around to get their backpack and school supplies. You'll then get to fellowship (play games and eat with that child/family until they are ready to leave). We want to build some relationships with these kids!

Volunteer to help us get ready for the Back to School Bash! We're having a "Stuff the Backpacks" night at PV in the CAC Cafeteria on Monday, July 27 from 6:00pm until we get everything done. We'll form an assembly line to stuff all the backpacks. We provide backpacks with all the school supplies needed for EVERY child that will attend Boone Park in the Fall. We'll order pizza and just work until it's done!

The teens are having a Car Wash Fundraiser on Saturday, July 18 to raise money for the event. You can volunteer to help with this event if you'd like as well. We'd love for you to make plans to bring your vehicle or vehicles the day of the event!

There will be 3 other events throughout the rest of the school year and if you can't make it to help with the Back to School Bash but are still interested in helping this school, pelasee sign our list and we'll be in touch when other evetns come along. If you just want to be in the know about what's going on, please sign up as well! We're planning a Fall Festival, Spring Testing Part, and we'll be helping with their Field Day again next May. We'd love any help with ANY of these events! You can list by your name what you're interested in.

Items Needed for Church Pantry

• Canned Fruits: Apple Sauce, Fruit, Dried Fruit, Fruit Cups, Fruit Snacks
• Meats & Meals: Beef Stew, Canned Chicken, Cup of Soup, Lunch Kits, Macaroni & Cheese, Pasta Meals, Peanut Butter, Ramen Noodles, Ravioli, Soups, Spaghetti-O’s, Salmon, Tuna
• Snacks: Cookies, Cheese & Crackers, Jell-O, Peanut Butter Crackers, Popcorn, Pudding, Pre-Sweetened Kool-Aid
• Breakfast Items: Cereals, Fruit & Granola Bars, Instant or Regular Oatmeal, Pancake Mix & Syrup, Pop-Tarts
• Vegetables: Canned Corn, Canned Peas, Canned Mixed Vegetables, Dried Beans, Rice
• Dessert: Brownie Mix, Cake Frosting, Cake Mix, Cookies, Jell-O, Popcorn, Pudding Mix

Foster / Respite Care Parents Still Needed!

06/14/2009 - As summer gets underway, and the economy keeps pulling families down, we are seeing more and more children in need of foster care!  Think of the children who eat free lunches and breakfast at school ... let’s all pray for them to be fed!

There are 750 children in Pulaski County in need of family foster care!  Siblings are especially close to my heart, I can't imagine my children being separated if something horrible were to happen!  So many of these victims are removed not only from their home and parents, but from their siblings as well.  Can you help?  Even for a short period of time?  (Some families only do it during the summer.)

Some of us full-timers are needing a break too. Would you please consider becoming a foster family or a respite family (a family that keeps children for a night to two weeks ~ a family that can give a break, keep the children during a vacation or fill in if there is an emergency with the foster family.)

There are some wonderful families at PV that have been thoughtful enough to keep our babies so that I can watch my kids play ball and devote that "Momma time" just to mine.  There are so many ways to serve! 

Please give me a call, 951-9082, or Sarah Wade at Searcy Children's Homes 230-3420, or Mary Carol Pederson at The CALL 823-0607.

STEP Ministries
Here are some current opportunities available in the greater Little Rock metroplex, with contact information and needs of the charitable and service organizations:

ENCOURAGERS: Serve one hour a week in a public elementary school, tutoring two students (30 minutes each) during the school day. Encourager programs exist already in 20 area schools. STEP will train anyone who is willing to make this one hour a week commitment for October, November, January-April.

SUMMER PROGRAM: Serve nine hours in a summer program in Eastgate (NLR), at Silver City Church (NLR), or at Mosaic Church (LR). Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (3 hours each) in the evening or in the morning, mentoring one-on-one as you go through a Bible Study and participate in other activities. Field trip once a week. STEP provides training.

MENTORING: Serve 1.5 hours once a week as you build an intentional relationship with one student. Programs meet at all three of the above locations during the school year. STEP provides training.

SPECIAL EVENTS: Several times a year, STEP provides an event for the students and mentors. There is always a need for food donations, preparation, and service.

CHRISTMAS STORE: STEP, in partnership with River City Church, Silver City Church, Hispanic Church of Christ Churches in Pulaski County, assemble the Christmas Store, where parents who participate in the above ministries may purchase (at greatly reduced prices) gifts for their own families. For this effort we need donations of new toys (not wrapped.)

Contact Carol Martin

Groups can provide meals

• One time
• Once a month
• Once a quarter
• Once a year

If your group is interested, or for more information, contact Carol Schran at 758-1650 or Kim Clatworthy at 258-2839.

River City Ministry
River City Ministry is a place where churches, organizations, businesses and individuals unite in Christ to meet the real needs in the hearts and lives of those in the inner city. River City Ministry is a 501c3, faith based human service and community organization solely dedicated to the poor, the oppressed, and the outcast of our society. River City Ministry is staffed by six individuals, over 150 volunteers and is overseen by a Board of Directors

The mission of River City Ministry is to meet the felt needs of urban residents in Little Rock and North Little Rock in the name of Jesus. We seek to build capacity in individuals and families so they may provide for themselves. We are also helping to grow the Christian community in the urban area.In 2006: Clothing bus provided clothing to 2674 individuals.Cafeteria served 7357 hot meals to people in need.Dental clinic served 403 people and families who otherwise could not afford treatment.Vision clinic served 179 people and family members who otherwise could not afford treatment.Medical clinic served approximately 780 uninsured patients.Medical staff administered over 3541 prescriptions to people who otherwise could not afford medication.Social Services assisted over 700 people with mental health services and resources.The Christmas Toy Store provided over 500 children an opportunity to have Christmas gifts. Currently, our biggest need for volunteers includes Doctors, Dentists, Dental Assistants, Nurses, PAP workers (those who fill out paperwork to order medications from drug companies), and workers for Reception area. We could greatly increase the number of people we see if we had more medical volunteers. For instance, many days we may get twenty to thirty phone calls a day from people in pain needing dental work. Currently, we are only able to see around 30 people a month due to shortage of volunteers. You need not volunteer a great deal of time to make a difference. Many of our medical volunteers work one 4 hour clinic every 4-6 weeks. Any amount of training, skill, and time is needed and appreciated. Please email Janan at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us at 501-376-6694 Monday through Thursday.

~ Crystal Musticchi Hogg This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Arkansas Rice Depot
We love to have groups of children work at Rice Depot. The jobs vary, right now we are putting labels on sacks of cookies and labeling canned veggies. Another task we will have is to sack up toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, deodorant and shampoo into gallon zip lock bags that we give out to families affected by tornadoes, fires and other disasters, and to children in school on our Food For Kids program.

We are always here during the week, and we work the 4th Saturday of every month. During the fall we’ll add another Saturday; usually it will be the 2nd and the 4th Saturday of each month. One Saturday a month we do a big food giveway in Altheimer Arkansas, and that’s a lot of fun as well. That may be a big of a long drive; as well as a culture shock for kids this young, but something your older teens might want to consider. We usually do a back to school give away there in August, so you might want to keep that in mind for the future.

We have a big fund and food drive going on; sponsored by Wal-Mart and Windstream Communications.

Wal-Mart and Windstream have each pledged $30,000 and will match all financial gifts up to the combined total of $60,000, for a potential $120,000 windfall for our Food For Kids Program.

In addition to our hope that churches will allow children’s group to collect funds after church, or have something like a bake sale, there is a food drive component.

Wal-Mart has agreed to allow us to collect food outside of Wal-Mart stores on September 8th. It works like this. The store will furnish a table, and Windstream will furnish banners and flyers. You set up right outside the doors (for big stores we’ll have a table at both doors). As people go into the store the children hand them a flyer and ask them to “shop to stop hunger” or to “buy food for a hungry child”. The flyer explains the program on the front, and on the back is a list of foods that we can use. Shoppers buy some food and donate it at the tables on their way out.

Your group just tells us the hours you wish to work, and we’ll do the rest.

If we do a good job this year, we think Wal-Mart might make this an annual event for us. If this is something you think the kids might like to do, it would be a great help to us. We are trying to feed 18,000 students each week by sending food home in their backpacks. I’ve already spent over $50,000 on food, and it’s enough to get us through a month or 6 weeks. We must have donated food to be able to reach all the children who otherwise go hungry at night and on the weekends.

~ Laura Rhea, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

(PV Singles have assisted with cleaning and service duties here in the past. Contact Kelly for more opportunities.)

- Kelly Caldwell, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it