Giving Kids a Helping Hand-up
Prescott Avenue UB of Dayton, Ohio, has found a number of ways to share Christ's love in its changing community.
Steve Dennie
January 1999
6:00
It's 6:00 in Dayton, Ohio. Pastor Ed Harvey opens the double glass doors at the front of Prescott Avenue UB church, and kids stream in. Some are carrying schoolbooks or other materials. They are laughing, carrying on, talking up a storm--happy to be there. They head straight down the hall to the classrooms.
They have come for the church's Wednesday night tutoring program. There is no Bible teaching, no devotional. They just spend the hour doing homework or brushing up on math, science, and other school subjectsÉand maybe getting in a few games of computer Solitaire.
A number of the kids initially came for the tutoring program, and now stick around for the Christian education hour, which follows at 7 p.m. So it's been a good evangelistic tool--draw kids to the church, share Christ with themÉand, in the process, make contact with their parents.
Tonight there are 23 kids--normal, fun-loving, chatterbox kids. They come from about 12 different schools, and range from Kindergarten to a 10th grader who already has a math scholarship to Wright State University.
The kids settle down in four different rooms. Blondezena Williams, the woman in charge of the tutoring program, has the largest number, about ten kids from Kindergarten through second grade. They gather around the tables in the front room, which, on Sunday morning, is an Adult Sunday school class.
Blondezena helps the various kids individually, never sitting down. One girl comes up to her with a paper on which she has written out the numbers from 1 to 50. Blondezena goes over it with her, pointing out the mistakes.
"Sometimes I'll give kids an assignment just to see how fast they get through it, so I know what to concentrate on for them," Blondezena explains. "She didn't get some of the numbers right, and sometimes she wasn't sure what number came next. I helped her know what follows."
About six kids in third and fourth grades sit around a single table in the next room with another teacher, and an equal number of junior and senior high kids are in the room after that. On the other side of the hall is the computer room, where the older kids come and go throughout the evening to work on math and English.
Some kids work intently, some goof off, others alternate between working and goofing off. Normal kids.
After taking the summer off, the tutoring program starts up again the first Wednesday in September, and they take the summers off. At the beginning of the school year, Blondezena sends a letter to each parent saying their child is interested in the program, and asking them to give permission by signing and returning a form. They also have a discipline sheet, which basically asks, "If your child gets out of line, what do you want us to do?"
"There is no bad language," Blondezena says.
Kim, her husband, smiles. "Every now and then. And they can get a little rambunctious."
Blondezena nods. "Yes, they act bad sometimes, or don't want to listen. Some don't do so well at something I know they're good at, or don't want to turn in their homework. We've had fights down here, though nothing serious--no bloody noses or anything."
Blondezena prints a syllabus each week for the other helpers to follow with the kids in the various grades. If kids don't bring homework, she is ready with assignments.
"Each time the kids come, I ask them what they went over that day in school. Some bring homework. Sometimes they want me to look over their homework, because a lot of the kids' parents work at night.
"Last year, we went through states, capitals, Great Lakes, oceans, continents. We had quizzes. We help them learn to tell time. I have the littlest kids do A-Z books. They learn the alphabet, sound out letters, and learn how to distinguish between consonants and vowels."
All of their materials are donated. They received a bunch of textbooks--math, science, health--from a textbook warehouse. They have workbooks, flashcards, SAT and ACT materials with practice tests. Blondezena found some dictionaries at a garage sale. After mentioning the tutoring program, the lady just gave them to her.
6:30
Halfway into the hour, Pastor Ed Harvey is sitting at one of the computers, trying to get a program to work. He has a Bible CD in which kids go through a castle looking for clues. By answering certain questions about the Bible, they can move to another level. But right now, he's having trouble getting it loaded. "I've got to take the CD-ROM out of that one," he says.
Pastor Harvey, thanks partly to his parttime job with a computer company, has acquired several computers and a bunch of parts. He assembles the computers himself. They have six computers set up now--mostly 486 and 386 generation computers--and the makings of a couple more computers sitting in his office. He has also collected a variety of educational software programs.
"I think the kids like to come primarily for the socializing, which is okay. At least it keeps them off the street," Ed says.
The tutoring began around 1991 with Pastor Harvey. "We did some minor tutoring as part of our outreach," he explains. "Friends from the air force base helped with reading and other subjects, and it evolved from there. There's still a lot more we can do, like helping adults get their GED."
Kim and Blondezena began attending the church about then, and Blondezena took charge of the tutoring program.
Of the 23 kids, 6 are white and the rest are black. That's representative of the racial mix of the church--75% black, 25% white--and of the community.
"It used to be the other way around," Ed says.
During the 1960s, under the leadership of Pastor Clarence Kopp, Prescott Avenue became one of the largest churches in the denomination, with over 400 people. But the neighborhood changed, and the church had trouble changing with it. An independent black congregation, led by Pastor Ahman Freeman, began meeting in the church's old sanctuary. The two groups eventually merged.
"It's a highly transient community in many ways," Ed says. "A lot of rental properties. People move in and move out. I can get something established with a family, and then they're gone. But there's a lot of potential in this area to reach people. Our biggest problem is resources, people as well as other kinds, to establish some of the programs people need."
6:55
Kim and Blondezena Williams grew up in Philadelphia, but met at Penn State University. The military brought them to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. Kim now works as a civilian at Wright-Patterson in an intelligence capacity, doing research on Russian industry. They are a sharp, talented, very capable couple.
Kim spends the entire evening in the computer room, standing at a whiteboard helping kids with math. The kids write multiplication problems on the board and solve them. One girl tackles 673x32. Kim helps her understand how to carry numbers, writing a little "1" or "2" above a column. All of the Algebra students get sent to Kim.
At 6:55, Sister Wood enters the room. "Computers all need to be turned off now," she announces. "It's time for Bible study." The kids quickly finish what they're doing, and Kim goes around shutting down the computers.
Blondezena has a folder for each kid, and keeps their work in it. "What I'll do from now to next Wednesday," she says, "is go through their work, check it, and put an apple or star on it if they do a good job--they really like the feedback.
"We have the kids for a few hours a week. We pray with them, then they go homeÉand we keep praying for them."
Inreach/Outreach: the Broader Picture
Blondezena Williams heads up Prescott Avenue's multi-faceted Inreach/Outreach Program, leading a large team of dedicated volunteers. There are seven aspects of Inreach/Outreach: the tutoring program, a food pantry, the church nursery, local missions, overseas missions, benevolence assistance, and financial counseling.
Food Pantry. The church keeps a room stocked with food and other items for people in need. Blondezena says, "If they have a need, they can call the church, and the secretary will relay the message to someone who works with the food pantry. We get information about them--name, address, how many are in the family, whether or not they have a church. Then another group in the church can talk to them."
Every Christmas, Prescott Avenue gives the tutoring program kids a bag filled with fruit, candy, cookies, a pencil or pen, and other items. This year, they packed 32 bags. The people also provided items for gift baskets which were distributed at a nursing home.
To keep the pantry stocked, people bring food the first Sunday of the month. It's mostly canned goods. But they also keep things they've found that new couples and others sometimes need--towels, soap, detergent, baby items, toilet paper.
Benevolent Fund. Prescott Avenue is ready with cold cash to help people with medical emergencies, house payments, food, light bills, and other needs which they just can't afford themselves. They will help the same person 2-3 times a year, but they don't give people money. Instead, they'll send a check to the person owed money. If an electric bill needs paid, Blondezena gets a copy of the bill and sends a letter to the power company with the account number, check number, who to contact, etc. She's meticulous.
Financial Counseling. The financial counseling hasn't gone very far. However, they're proud of one couple who were in trouble and received counseling (they use Larry Burkett materials). They worked through the couple's financesÉand now they have their own home and are doing well.
Missions Giving. The missions giving at Prescott Avenue is divided according to a well-thought out formula.
- 29% goes to United Brethren missions. (In addition, they participate in the various special offerings from the Department of Missions, like the VBS project and Thank Offering.)
- 9% goes into the Benevolent Fund.
- The rest is divided among various local missions, which they view as partners in ministry: a Christian school, a Christian radio station, Child Evangelism Fellowship, The Gospel Mission, homeless shelters for men and for families, and other groups. The Brannon family, serving with TEAM, also receive funding.
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