VOLUNTEERS WELCOME!
Would you like to help with ESL once a
semester, once a month, or once a week? Would you like to teach or
help with the children? No foreign language knowledge is needed or
expected. Just bring a smile and a warm heart. Please attend our ESL
informational meeting Wednesday, August 12 at 7pm in the Senior
Center to find out how you can help this wonderful outreach program.
We'd love to have you! For more information call Kelly Archaimbault at 214-315-9338.
ESL Summer Connect Finale was a huge success! We had a great turn-out on the last Monday night of July, which was our ESL Summer Connect Finale. We had speakers from Head Start, Medicaid, North Dallas Shared Ministries, and DART all providing valuable information for our ESL students. We had the pastor of the local Burmese congregation, Hsa Twel, and Fady Mofaq, one of our newest Iraqi refugees, both translating, so it took a while, but everyone seemed to enjoy the presentations. Then Claudia from Medicaid spoke about all of the available insurance options for children, pregnant women and adults. This was great information for our families. Claudia is in the Park Lane apartment area a few times a week and she invited everyone to seek her out and ask her any questions they may have regarding medical coverage. The students were thankful for her desire to help.
Bruce Simpsen with ORLC and NDSM (North Dallas Shared Ministries) spoke about their food pantry, clothing pantry, financial assistance, and medical assistance. None of our students knew about NDSM, so they asked a lot of questions are were really excited about the ministry. They were especially happy to hear that NDSM helps with school uniforms.
Patricia with DART did a great presentation on how to use the bus and trains and gave all of our students schedules specific to their apartment complexes with instructions on how to get to ORLC, WIC, Fiesta, and Target. The presentation was awesome. At least 20 adults attended the presentations.
With the onset of rain that we were Blessed with the last week of July, the children had to stay inside the church for our last night of the Summer Connect program. Several of our weekly volunteers helped with the children. They put together puzzles, made foam doorknob hanger crafts, colored, and played games on the white board. After the presentations the adults joined the children in the choir room where the children all received school supply packets which included binders, paper, pencils, pens, scissors, crayons, and glue. The parents took any and all that were left. All were very excited to receive the supplies. Upon dismissal, everyone received a cupcake. Children and adults alike stood patiently in line to receive the sweets. The night was a great success and we were so happy that it all ran smoothly. In total we had approximately 20 adults, 30 children, and 10 volunteers. Our participants were from Burma, Iraq, Sudan, and Pakistan.
ADULTS: Hazim, Pastor Karim, Missie Favinger & Kelly Archaimbault
John 4:35. . . I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!
They are ripe for harvest.
One Sudanese woman came specifically because she had seen Hazim Moeen go so many times to church and wanted to her children to join a local congregation in the area. Her family has been here for years, so she was interested in the ORLC congregation. What a blessing it was to have Bruce Simpsen there to discuss our church with her. Jesus' prayer to the Father for "oneness" in the Body has been further answered as the Holy Spirit has partnered us with our local church and local resources to reach out into our communities through these type of programs. To God be the Glory!