Partnership
with Nash Elementary School
~ Nash Neighbors
| United
Methodist TV News Story on St. Mark's Partnership w/Nash |
|
|
|
|
| |
Winner
of...
The 2004
Southwest Gas Corporation's
"Right
from the
Start for Children"
Volunteer Award
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
"In my family, we work really hard to take care
of each other. You have helped to take care of us, too. I think
that makes you like family. We are very grateful for
everything you have given us... I hope the help you gave us
makes you as happy as it made my family!"
-- Jasmine, Nash Student |
|
The "Nash Neighbors" program is a partnership
between St. Mark's UMC and E.C. Nash Elementary School
which began in late 2002 when St. Mark's decided
to 'adopt' Nash Elementary. Located in the Amphitheater
School District, in one of Tucson's lowest socio-economic
areas, Nash has a 95% 'free and reduced' lunch rate
and 50% student turnover. Seventy-two percent of
the students come from homes where English is not
their primary language. 'Nash Neighbors' seeks to
assist in filling the needs of these underprivileged
children, and to help the teachers and staff. What
began as volunteers in the classroom has grown into
a multi-faceted program, administered by the Nash
Neighbors Committee -- a sub-committee of St. Mark's
Missions Committee. The "Nash Neighbors" program
now consists of numerous projects with a
lot of opportunities for individuals and groups to
get involved. The projects are funded by individuals
who give (separate from their general budget pledge)
to the designated Nash Fund, along with contributions
from the Tucson Community Food Bank, various grants
and corporate sponsors and May's "Mission
Offering."
MISSION
/ VISION / VALUES STATEMENTS
Mission
Statement: Realizing school resources are inequitable;
we exist to help the Nash community realize others
care by providing intervention and support.
Scriptural Mission Statement: Mark 9: 36-37 (New
Living Translation)
36Then he put a little child among them. Taking the
child in his arms, he said to them, 37"Anyone
who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf
welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes
my Father who sent me."
Vision: To promote social justice while leading
by example.
Values: As St. Mark's Nash Neighbors, we will live
the example of Christ by reaching out to the Nash
community -- showing mercy and kindness, and seeking
justice.
NASH
NEIGHBORS PROGRAMS
On-site
Volunteers
The very
first effort in St. Mark's partnership with Nash
Elementary was a drive to put volunteers into classrooms
and offices where Nash staff wanted support. Volunteers
help wherever help is needed, from tutoring and
reading to children, assisting teachers in the
classroom and in the office, or helping in the
cafeteria. On-campus volunteering continues to
be one of the foundations of our Nash Neighbors
program, and we always welcome new volunteers.
Volunteer opportunities range from once a week
to once a month. To sign up, look for the Nash
table between services on Sundays beginning in
late August, or for more information, contact Cris
Mayerle, crismayerle@comcast.net. NOTE: All new
volunteers must have their fingerprints taken and
cleared by the Amphitheater School District before
beginning work in the classroom. The process takes
approximately 4 weeks to complete. You can get
further information on this requirement by contacting
Cris.
[ Return to Top ]
Backpacks/Supplies
To
help students begin the ‘07/’08 schoolyear
off right, we have partnered with a local non-profit,
GAP Ministries. This partnership with GAP will allow
us to provide EVERY student at Nash, approximately 650
children, with a backpack
and supplies at a fun Backpack Festival on Saturday,
August 4th from 10 am to 2 pm at Nash School. The festival
will be a time for the students to pick up their backpacks,
enjoy games and activities and the entire family will
be treated to a hot lunch.
 We already have MOST
of the needed supplies to fill the backpacks, but
here’s
how you can still help us make it a success for
the fifth year in
a row.
Ways to help:
- Volunteer to help at the Backpack Festival on Saturday,
August 4th
- Help purchase any of the remaining supplies listed
below
- Child
scissors with rounded edges
- Gallon-size
Ziploc bags
- Personal pencil sharpeners
Monetary
contributions can be placed in the collection plat on
Sundays or mailed to the church office. Please write
"Nash" on the memo line of your checks.
Donations of school supplies can be placed in the
plastic bin labeled "Nash" in front of the
Welcome Center on Sundays.
For more information, contact Nora
Fritz, bnfritz@msn.com.
Snack Pack Program
When you read the Nash story, you'll see we often quote the statistic
about the school having a 95% "free and reduced lunch rate" as
an indicator of the relative poverty level of the Nash family.
What is perhaps so obvious that we don't mention it is that that
statistic also speaks to the level of hunger those families must
endure. Many children eat consistently only because the school
feeds them, which occurs only when school is in session. What happens
to these families on weekends? They likely do not eat well. Imagine
doing homework, or worrying about AIMS tests, on an empty stomach!!
Nash Neighbors will be continuing the "Snack Pack" program
at Nash Elementary in the '07/'08 school year, a program that sends
home a backpack filled with food staples and snacks to 120 students each Friday
afternoon to help feed their families over the weekend.
The '07/'08 Snack Pack
Program will be funded by individual and corporate
donations, the Tucson Community Food Bank and the May
2007 Mission Offering. This year, we have asked people
to "adopt" a student into the Snack Pack
Program. The cost of adopting a student into the
program for the entire school year is $88,
approximately $3.50 per backpack for 26 weeks. We have
nearly reached our goal of adopting 120 students into
the program! Yu can adopt a student for a full year
($88) or half a year ($44). Contributions can be
placed in the collection plate on Sundays or mailed to
the church office. Please write "Nash" on
the memo line of your checks. If you'd like more information, or would like to be on the team
running the Snack Pack program, contact Jane Filbert at jbfilbert@aol.com.
[ Return to Top ]
Teacher Appreciation
We believe that the morale and welfare of Nash teachers
is an essential ingredient for classroom success
and have therefore created a Teacher Appreciation
program that reminds the staff how much we love and
appreciate them. Previous school year Teacher Appreciation
events included providing fruit baskets for all teachers,
filling coffee mugs with goodies for each teacher,
ensuring that each member of the staff received a
Valentine treat, and closing the school year with
a week of events that included estimation games,
scavenger hunts, and other activities rewarded with
small mementos and gift certificates. The Teacher
Appreciation program also outfitted the Teachers'
Lounge and restroom with tablecloths, coffee makers,
attractive photos, and many other items to make it
more comfortable and pleasant. Our Teacher Appreciation
Project Champion is Dana Bugbee. You can contact
her through drbugbee@earthlink.com.
[ Return to Top ]
Holiday Help
Since 2004, individuals from the St. Mark's
community have "adopted" families at Nash
Elementary at Christmas through the Holiday Help
program. Adopted families receive gifts of food,
clothing, household items and toys through this Nash
Neighbor's program. This year, the holiday season of
eleven very grateful families was brightened by
friends and members of St. Mark's. Thank you to all
who participated in Holiday Help 2006! Beginning in Sept.
'07, you will
see Nash Neighbors gear up to support our Nash partners
for Christmas 2007, so we can assure them a bright
holiday season. Our goal is to have as many Nash
families as possible actually "adopted" by
a St. Mark's family to further our goal of personalizing
Nash needs to our St. Mark's congregants (see our
committee values statement). Marsha Dean has agreed
to shepherd this special project. If you'd like to
help her with our holiday planning, or get on the
list to support a family at Nash this coming Christmas,
please contact Marsha at mdean@eller.arizona.edu.
[ Return
to Top ]
Kinder-Desert-Garden | See
pictures |
Since the Kindergartners study the desert,
our Nash partners expressed a vision to have
a desert garden on-site. St. Mark's member,
Clay Thompson
(an award-winning landscape architect), provided the design for a native
desert specimen garden, and district approval was secured. The "Marks
Brothers" (a men's fellowship and mission group from the church)
and others interested worked with Nash to bring the garden to fruition.
Garden layout, topography, and irrigation installation took place on
January 31, 2004, and initial planting occurred on February 7, 2004.
Since original plans for the garden were for a 3-year period, additional
plantings in the garden occurred in early 2005, and the final occurred
on March 25, 2006. Dave Farnsworth is our current Project Champion
for the Kinder-Desert-Garden. If you are interested in helping with
this project, please contact Dave at Farnswd@comcast.net.
[Return
to Top ]
Play-School-at-Home
To promote continued learning during the summer months,
St. Mark's has provided Nash children with 'play
school at home' bags for all five years of our partnership
with Nash. These bags are filled with school supplies
and books to encourage children to "play school
at home," thus keeping up their skills. This
is a recurring project that culminates with bags
of supplies being distributed to the children at
the very end of the school year. To continue the
cycle again for each school year, we are always seeking
sewers and looking for sturdy fabric (1/2 yard for
each bag) and thread donations. Our goal is to provide
625 "play school at home" bags to Nash
children near the end of each school year. We are
currently looking for a coordinator for this project.
If you're interested in coordinating this project,
please contact Carol Cecilia, ccecilia@gainbroadband.com.
[ Return to Top ]
Printer Cartridge
Recycling
St. Mark’s UMC collects empty inkjet printer cartridges and sends
them in to Empties4Cash for $2.00 per cartridge, on average. Collection
boxes are in the church office workroom and on the rollaway donation
cart in the courtyard each Sunday, as well as on the Nash campus. The ‘06/’07
school year has earned just over $800.00 for the computer lab at Nash.
Contact Jodi Lucio at justjodi2@qwest.net for more information
[ Return to Top ]
Group Projects
If your group is looking for a one-time, occasional, or on-going service
project, please consider helping Nash. So far, Sunday school classes,
men's and women's groups, Disciple classes, etc. have helped with
projects such as organizing on-going clothing drives for the Amphi
Clothing Bank, providing emergency food and hygiene items, painting
the 3rd-grade hallway, building a 'picture library" to assist
in teaching vocabulary to non-English speakers, and buying uniforms.
Contact Carol Cecilia at ccecilia@gainbroadband.com, for a listing
of available service projects
[ Return
to Top ]
WANT
TO HELP? HERE'S HOW TO VOLUNTEER!
The
committee oversees a large number of projects that
need coordinators for the '06/'07 school year.
Do you hear a call to be a part of St. Mark's inspiring
mission at Nash Elementary? The Nash Neighbors
Committee is an excellent way to support Nash,
without necessarily going to the school site. Nash
Neighbors organizes all of the church's efforts
for the program via monthly meetings at the church.
Please consider sharing your time and talents by
serving on the Nash Neighbors Committee, or as
a volunteer in any of our special project areas.
Contact Carol Cecilia at ccecilia@gainbroadband.com,
for more information, suggestions or questions.
[Return
to Top ]
|
For additional information, please contact
our church office at 520.297.2062 or e-mail us.
|
1431 West Magee Rd., Tucson,
AZ. 85704 - 520.297.2062 - fax 520.297.1058 
