Servias Ministries Blog

From the counselor:

We had a 3rd grade student who we found out was desperately in need of tennis shoes. His teacher said that he was wearing some old dress shoes that ended up being 2 sizes too small. We got him a new pair, and now that we know his size, I’m going to get him another pair. After that, we checked on his brother, and ended up getting new shoes for him as well! They were both THRILLED to have brand new shoes that fit! Mrs Chavez took pictures of the older brother when he got it. I can’t them to upload on my computer, but I’ll email them to you on my phone. 

We have another little girl who rides her bike to school, and it recently broke. Mom has historically been resistant to help, but we are in the process of checking with her to see if we can replace the bike for her. 

These are a few examples of what your contributions provide.

He likes his new shoes!

Thank you for your continued support of this ministry. You are making a tangible difference to those in need… some in dire circumstance.

Last week, Mr. Jewell got an email from a mom whose family is in a very difficult situation without income and transportation. He said they have never reached out asking for help until last week. They have a new baby and are being evicted. Mr. Jewell was able to purchase diapers and a few things to help with the baby. 

We had an elementary family with 2 students that were home sick last week. We were able to provide them with a Crest card to get medicine for the kids. 

We had a family move back into Bethany after being in another school district for a year. All of their children were in The Village program while they were here, and we had built a great relationship with the mom. I happened to be walking by the office on Monday when they came for their first day back. Mom and Dad were both with the kids and talked about how excited they were to be back in Bethany because of the community they had here. I was able to walk them to class and introduce the parents to the kids’ teachers, and you could tell how relieved they were to be back. Each of the kids Villagers were able to track the kids down one of the first days they were here to welcome them back!

There is another family that has been very resistant to any assistance in the past. There was a recent situation that involved Officer Holcomb going over to the house for a visit. As he looked around, he found that their fridge only had a few slices of ham in it- no other food. Our elementary counselor was able to provide giftcards to the family, and the mom was very receptive and appreciative. 

You probably remember my own student that you assisted in getting glasses for in the fall. She got sick at school yesterday, and we weren’t able to reach her mom to come get her. Officer Holcomb and I took her home, and the living conditions broke my heart. It was one of those situations where you feel so helpless because you can’t “fix” it all for the kids, but knowing that she’s in our care during the day makes a huge impact. We have been able to put some accountability in place that has helped with her attendance. The little girl wants to be at school, and she is happy and has friends when she is here. While we were at her apartment yesterday, I was able to get a field trip permission form signed for her and we have been able to pay for her to get to go to a baseball game with her class. 

Many of our elementary teachers used giftcards to buy Valentine cards and candy for their students to get to pass out to their classes during the parties. I know there are so many other families that are being assisted that I don’t know the details of. Several times a week I get a text or email from a teacher asking for a giftcard to be able to help either their Villager or another student in their class. What a blessing that we don’t have to stop and problem solve each situation- they see a need and we are able to immediately hand them a card to meet that need. 

In a high school community group that I help with on Sundays, we were talking about the importance of community involvement as members of the church. I was able to share a little bit about this program and how cool it is that God uses us to be an extension of his grace to these families. It was also incredible to hear from some of the students in our group share about ways that they are able to be the hands and feet of Christ at school. Your generosity is a gift to the families, but this has certainly been one of those months where I have been able to really step back and see how much it is blessing US by giving us opportunities to pour into families that we wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. We are so grateful for how have given so graciously to our school community! 

We are providing beef protein to the kids in need!

We have purchased one-pound packages of hamburger meat from the local food market.  Additionally, a rancher in the state has tithed his beef to our ministry. Kids receive distribution each Friday to take home.

Generally, food pantries had provided mostly carbohydrates, canned fruit and vegetables, to be distributed.  The latest recommendations from the RFK supported food pyramid places protein at the top.  We agree.

We appreciate your support in providing the families in need with animal-based protein.

Below are pictures of the freezer we fill for this purpose:

We help where ever there is an unmet need:

We are so grateful to Servias Ministries for helping some of our students make college more of a reality.  This generous gift allowed 14 students in the Fall and 11 students in Spring to take college classes in high school. The students who received the concurrent scholarship were able to complete a total of 75 college credits.  The generosity of your organization allowed economically disadvantaged students to take college classes who otherwise might not be able to afford concurrent class fees. Again, the support of the community is invaluable in helping our students realize their full potential.   It takes a village to help support our young people and build brighter futures. 

Judie Meier, M.Ed.

Piedmont High School Counselor 10th-12th grade Ph-Z

Go Wildcats!

Just in from the grade school counselor:

I wanted to update you on the gift cards. We used several over the holidays. I bought several coats for kiddos and some shoes. We had a family we provided both Target and Crest Food cards to so that they could have Christmas. The Mom was at the school for a meeting for her daughter, who has special needs, and she mentioned that she had told her children they would not be able to afford Christmas this year. I provided this family with cards so that they could purchase presents and food for the Christmas holiday.  

Thank you for supporting those in need!

From the counselor (last week before the snow storm):

Now that it is finally getting colder, we have distributed more of the coats! 

I just heard about a middle school student that needs new shoes. His PE teacher had noticed that the only shoes he has for school is a pair of worn out crocs. When he talked to the student about trying to wear some tennis shoes for PE (for safety reason) the student told him that he didn’t have any other shoes. I haven’t gotten it taken care of yet, but I’m going to try to go to Target and see what I can find for him! 

Our Target gift cards allow the counselor to act quickly on the student’s behalf.

We have increased the inventory of food cards for the school counselors and teachers to hand out in the coming week. We want all the families in need to enjoy a Thanksgiving. We also delivered 20 coats of various sizes to be handed out as the cold weather arrives.

We appreciate your financial support allowing us to help those in need.

From one of the counselors:

I have a single Mom who had to flee a domestic violence situation, I believe the ex was put in jail over it and she has been living paycheck to paycheck this year. I provided them grocery cards and target cards for clothes as the 2 boys have very little clothing options and were wearing the same clothes 2 times a week.

I had another Mom of a special needs child who had just had a baby who just found out her thyroid cancer had returned. Her children’s father was deported and told he could not return for 20 years. I provided her with pull-ups and diapers.

I purchased some snacks for food insecure students to keep in the classroom so that they had access to food during snack time. 

I have purchased 4 pairs of shoes so far this year, also for kids that were wearing shoes that were either way too big (an older sibling’s shoes) or were worn completely through. 

Another Testimony:

We had a meeting with a parent yesterday. One of the issues we discussed was that we have recently been having an issue keeping the his shoes on- a lot of this is due to shoes not fitting him properly because of medical braces (AFOs) that he has to wear. This causes him to run around his classroom and the school with nothing but socks on. His mom is trying so hard to get her feet back on the ground, but there have been a lot of set-backs. Most recently, the child has had some significant health issues causing her to have to miss quite a bit of work to stay home with him. In his meeting yesterday, we discussed getting him adaptive shoes that are designed to be worn with his AFOs. The student’s physical therapist was in here and knew that Target sells the type of shoes that would work for him. We were able to get online and let the PT and the student’s mom pick out some shoes for him and get them ordered for them. 

Thank you so much for giving US the gift of being able to meet a big need on the spot!