September '17 Update

Greetings from Lake Providence!

September has been a busy and a good month. Thanks to some generous donors, Together for Hope is expanding into a small building in downtown Lake Providence to open a Learning Center for a six-month trial period. 

This is a tremendous blessing for a few reasons. First, it will be a space out of which volunteers and I can teach evening and weekend GED and literacy classes. Currently, there's no place in East Carroll Parish for these services for students who need to attend classes in the evening. For as many students as I have attending and completing the GED prep class, I have an equal number of students who cannot attend because of work and family responsibilities which take them away during the day. In a night classes are needed, there are currently none available.

The second reason this is helpful is because it provides additional programming space for both Together for Hope and other community partners in the area. Currently, if I wanted to teach a financial literacy class or sponsor a parenting class, for instance, the only available space would be the Mission House. As one would expect, this can be uncomfortable for some people to attend a program in someone's living room. 

Other benefits to expanding into the facility is that it provides office space for Together for Hope and a more public face for the community to identify with the ministry. Many people in town know who  previous directors and I are, but not everyone is clear on what exactly Together for Hope does or works toward. This move could possibly make the ministry of Together for Hope much stronger and rooted in the community over the years to come. 

There are many large and small ways your congregation can help as this project continues to unfold. Please be in touch and look out for more updates! Thank you all for your prayers and continued support.