Florida: Carver Heights Ministries, Inc., Leesburg

Summary

Expansion of a ministry for disadvantaged children and their families.

Description

Carver Heights Ministries, Inc. began in December 1999 as a Leesburg District United Methodist Church mission, became an official United Methodist Volunteers in Mission and Florida Conference program within the first year. Churches of other denominations partnered with us also during our first year and local businesses gave financial support.

Major accomplishments include being an open door for very successful community involvement.
We have connected with Lake County Public Schools with interaction between us and children's teachers and advisors making it possible to know academic standing of each child.

We have helped many children to raise their grade point average as much as two points.

We have been able to minister to the needs of minority single parent families.

We have helped chidlren of degradation to find self esteem.

We have been a catalyst to bring together church, civic, social, and government groups to work in ministry to those in need.

We have enabled hundreds of people to serve in mission as volunteers.

We have changed lives for better of children, youth, adults, and total families.

Our mission is to offer Christ in a neighborhood setting through several Bible based ministries using Wesleyan theological disciplines.

An Advance gift would allow Carver Height Ministries, Inc., to broaden its base of operation to a larger geographical area of service to those in need. It would help in the education of children, youth, and adults to offer the promise of a better future. It would help to avoid hunger, provide eyeglasses, hearing aids, healthcare, and medicine to people living in poverty. Many people use the emergency room at local hospitals for medical treatment, but are unable to buy prescriptions that have been ordered. The Advance would help us to see that people could afford the needed medicine. So many of our children do not do well in school because the parents are functionally illiterate and unable to help them with their homeword. We can offer programs that would enable adults to be better prepared to help their children with schoolwork. The children whom we serve receive free lunch and breakfast at school, but do not always have the advantage of a nutritious evening meal so they look forward to the meal that we serve when they arrive to school. We need to continue to supply pencils, paper, etc. for school for many of the children because they would not otherwise have these required items.