Boone Park Elementary Update
You have helped Pleasant Valley provide all the school supplies for each of the 473 children who attend Boone Park Elementary School this fall. On August 2, 92 children and their families joined 65 members from PV at Boone Park to celebrate the new school year with games, food and fellowship. This is an exciting beginning to a new relationship between PV and Boone Park. We were able to cut our budget by 30% by taking advantage of bulk purchasing discounts, but we are still about $2,500 short. The church office will still accept your contributions to this effort. Just put "Boone Park" in the memo on your check.

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

Church Pantry Items Needed
Drinks: Sugar, Powdered Milk, Kool-Aid, Fruit Juices, Gatorade
Canned Meats (any kind): Tuna, Chicken, Salmon, Spam, Vienna Sausage, Beans & Franks, Beef Stew, Chili & Beans
Packaged & Canned: Rice (any kind), Beans (dry), Corn, Peas
Peanut Butter, Jelly, Catsup, Mustard, Mayonnaise
Canned Fruits (any kind): Mixed Fruit, Peaches, Pears, Apple Sauce
Pasta (any kind; boxed or canned): Spaghetti & Meatballs, Spaghetti-O’s, Ravioli, Mac & Cheese
Breakfast Foods: Cereals (any kind), Oatmeal, Pop Tarts, Granola Bars, Pancake Mix, Pancake Syrup
Desserts: Jell-O, Pudding Mix, Brownie Mix, Cake Mix, Cake Frosting, Cookies, Snack Cakes

~ Carol King

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