Page 3 - OnThePath.Oct.2017
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By Betty Morgan
New Creations Life Center NChief executive officer
ew Creations Life Center was the vision of the founder
Sabrina King. Her caring and insight prompted the establishment of the orga- nization.
The inspiration for New Creations Life Center emerged from the aware- ness of the growing home- less population in Union County. The focus is the Least, the Last and the Lost. We are a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Our primary focus is the home- less by definition and their potential to re-enter and prepared to contribute to their community.
Court: Continued from Page 2
See About The Kids.” A great place for the kids to meet would be on a basketball court where Sharion, myself and my seven other sib- lings were born and raised, which is the basketball court in the St. Louis neighborhood. The first Meet Me At The Court meeting consist- ed of going through that St. Louis neighborhood inviting the kids to come and meet me on the basketball court. I wanted to start a meeting with the kids where they could have a platform to express themselves, encourage high self-esteem and get other ideas from them.
I had 10 kids at the first meeting and I explained to them what “Meet Me At The Court” was and what it would be about and the kids were so excited and ready for us to get started right away! I also explained
Statistics indicate that the rate of homelessness increases at a rate of 2 per- cent per year nationally.
The percentages of the indicators are alarming with 26 percent of this population suffering from severe mental illness and 66 percent that have been diagnosed with chronic substance abuse and sadly of the total population, 21 percent are our veter- ans. These alarming sta- tistics are noted for South Arkansas. In many cases, people are in and out of the homeless system, which includesshelters,hospitals, the streets and prisons.
Everyone accepted into this shelter would enter with an exit plan devel- oped. Our facility will provide services to meet
New Creations Life Center
“Hidden in plain sight”
Homelessness can be defined as an individual who lacks housing, includ- ing one whose primary res- idence during the night is a supervised public or pri- vate facility that provides temporary living accommo- dations; an individual who is a resident in transitional housing; or an individual who has as a primary res- idence a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human habitation.
A deficit of homeless shelters leaves an esti- mated 45 percent home- less Arkansans sleeping in vacant or abandoned build- ings, in cars and in other locations, including card- board boxes, abandoned or condemned houses and
other locations.
The number of homeless
people in the United States is estimated to be between 250,000 and 3 million. Unemployment, cutbacks in social service programs, a lack of affordable housing and the deinstitutionaliza- tion of mentally ill patients are some of the circum- stances that have led to people living in shelters or on the streets.
There is no fair stereo- type of homeless persons: they include the young and old, individuals and entire families and all races and ethnicities. Best estimates indicate that approximately 1 percent of the U.S. pop- ulation experience home- lessness each year — more than one-third of them children.
basic human needs such as: meals, laundry, case management and referrals. The use of telephones and computers for job search/ contacts will be encour- aged and directed. A via- ble address will provide stability necessary for job searches and the acqui- sition of social services. Newspapers, mail drop off, transportation, volunteer opportunities, identifica- tion and birth certificate assistance will be provid- ed throughout their stay.
Exit plans include career evaluation, education direc- tion or redirection, train- ing facilitation and life skill education. On exit, each person will be prepared
See CREATIONS, Page 4
to the kids that after each meeting, I would like to serve refreshments and let them give me their input as to what foods they would enjoy having served. Each kid is fed a hot, full course meal after each meeting we have.
The kids at the first meeting asked if we could meet every Saturday and I told them we would start out meeting every Saturday and if we needed to, we could meet every other Saturday. Due to several of the kids active in school activities who could not attend every Saturday, I changed the meeting to every other Saturday to be held on the basket- ball court ... weather permitting.
Four years later, the number of kids in attendance grew tremen- dously, exceeding 100. I would have to make several trips to pick all of my kids up in my own personal vehicle and then transport them all back home after each meeting or activity.
There have been two ministers who have let Meet Me At The Court
use their church vans on several occasions and we greatly appreciate and thank you so much.
Meet Me At The Court also does several mission projects in the com- munity. The kids and adults make up and design “love baskets” and fill them with fresh fruits and vegeta- bles and deliver them to the senior citizens in the community. We also sponsor a Thanksgiving soul food community dinner yearly, a school supply giveaway, mission and maga-
zines that we deliver to residents in the nursing homes.
This is a list of other projects that Meet Me At The Court does: Fisherman of Men — deliver fish plates in the community; Angel Tree — deliver Christmas gifts with Santa throughout the communi- ty; Easter Egg Hunt — annually; Keep El Dorado Beautiful (KEB); and Spring Cleanup during the kids’ spring break, which consists of pick- ing up litter, etc. on five streets.
Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas The Sentinel-Record, Saturday, Month 00, 2012 El Dorado NEWS-TIMES – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2017 – 3
The Right Choice!
GENESIS Childcare Learning
3081⁄2 Cordell Ave • (870) 639-3941 Children are a heritage from the
Lord, offspring a reward from him.
Center
Psalm 127:3
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