LEADERSHIP&FAITH
TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES
Matching Grant Request
NAME OF CHURCH:
Satanta United Methodist
NAME OF PERSON MAKING
APPLICATION: Ryan Burrows
ADDRESS:
PO BOX 74, Satanta, KS 67870
TELEPHONE:
620-649-3416 or 620-649-7167
EMAIL:
rburrows@usd507.org
GRANT PAYABLE TO:
21st Time Satanta United Methodist Church
PROJECTED BUDGET:
$3,010
ANTICIPATED DURATION OF
PROJECT: August 4 through school year 2012-2013
AMOUNT REQUESTED FROM KANSAS
LEADERSHIP CENTER: $1,500
ANTICIPATED SOURCE OF MATCHING
GRANT MONEY: Satanta United Methodist
Providing leadership for healthier
Kansas communities
Our
purpose for this project mirrors the larger purpose of our faith-in-action
group: To free families from the cycle of poverty by supporting their children’s
education; providing underprivileged
families access to quality health care,
dental care, and nutritious food; and seeking to aid in their personal development. For many years,
our church has worked closely with United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries
by providing families in need access to a food pantry and clothing closet as well as help with utility bills
and rent. While these emergency services are a vital part of our ministry, we
have come to realize that they neither move the families we serve out of the
cycle of poverty or serve to create opportunities for a new generation of
leaders to emerge.
Thus, our newest project—an all-in-one back-to-school fair
that brings together all our efforts in these three areas. The fair will be
held at the Satanta United Methodist Church on Saturday, August 4, and will run
from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. In terms of education,
it is our desire to provide the children who attend our fair an opportunity to sign
up for free school supplies (for which we’ll use Kits for Kidz), to offer free
books to students to begin building their own home libraries (for which we’ll
use First Book), and to bring in local and
regional and/or local representatives from groups like Russell Child
Development and Parents as Teacher to give parents the tools they need to build
successful futures for our children.
The
fair will also focus on the field of health
care. With the thought that we must focus on the mind and the body, our
back-to-school fair will offer complimentary dental screenings, courtesy of a
local dentist office; lessons (including a physical activity) on combating
childhood obesity for the children who attend, courtesy of the Satanta District
Hospital; information on the health and dental clinics operated by United
Methodist Mexican-American Ministries; information on the services provided by
the Haskell County Health Department; information on enrollment in HealthWave;
access to and help with the NeedyMeds program; and a light, healthy meal courtesy
of members of our church.
Additionally,
it is our intention to foster the personal
development of the students and families we serve by allowing them the
basic human dignity of having good, clean clothing to begin the school year in
as well as basic hygiene items such as shampoo, soap, and deodorant. For the
fair, we will transform our clothes closet and food pantry into a mini “store”
meant to serve the needs of those in attendance. A local photographer will also
be on hand to take complimentary family photos, and we intend to offer
high-value coupons for children’s haircuts at our local salon. A natural part
of this process will include ensuring that those students who are participating
in fall sports and activities have the shoes and other equipment needed to
participate. This is something we have done in the past—up to and including
purchasing a baritone for a student in band—and we hope to be able to continue
to provide these avenues to success.
Finally,
because we believe in the transformative power of Christ, we will invite the
Gideons to be present to distribute New Testaments in both Spanish and English,
and we will have representatives from our church’s active Sunday school and
youth programs on hand to encourage the participation of all our community’s
children in these programs. We will seek, beginning in the fall, to actively
participate in mentoring these young people, specifically those in grades 6-12,
in a way that provides them with positive role models who are willing to help
them find success. This event will serve as a kick-off for our school-year
activities, which have included literacy fairs, coat drives, shoe drives, and
many other activities. For the coming winter, we are also exploring launching a
blanket drive through Church World Service. It our intention to get our
church’s youth involved in these programs so that we begin to show them what a
life of service looks like.
Who will be served by this grant?
The
short answer to the question is “The children of the Satanta community.”
The
longer answer requires some background as to who these children are. Our school
district’s “report card,” as reported by the Kansas State Department of
Education (KSDE), was home to 365 students during the 2010-2011 school year—the
latest year for which data has been reported. KSDE’s data shows that our
student population is just over 52% Hispanic and that just under 68% of our
students are classified as “economically disadvantaged.” During the 2010-2011
school year, our district was “on improvement” for failing to meet the
requirements for adequate yearly progress (AYP) as mandated by No Child Left
Behind. Test scores of students classified as English-Language Learners (ELLs) were
of particular concern. The 2011-2012 school year saw significant improvement in
these scores across grade levels, racial subgroups, and genders, and the
district’s preliminary data reveals that we made AYP this year. Nevertheless,
as our budgets have tightened and our number of ELLs has continued to climb at
the elementary level, there is continued concern that our recent successes may
not prove easy to repeat.
For
this reason, this grant request is specifically targeted at the portion of our
project that will provide school supplies to a minimum of 100 disadvantaged
students who attend Satanta Elementary School in the USD 507 school district.
The information on the following page reveals how we arrived at the working
number of 100 when planning for this project:
Satanta
Elementary School had 185 students in PreK-6 last year. Of those 185, 117
(63.2%) qualified for free lunches with an additional 6% qualifying for reduced
lunches. This means, simply put, that 63% (roughly 117) of the students who attend
Satanta Elementary are from households with incomes at or below 130% of the
federal poverty level.
Projected
Budget
School Supply Kits (www.kitsforkidz.org): $1,500 (100 at average
cost of $14.75)
Books (www.firstbook.org): $400 (about 200 books)
Hygiene items: $300 (soap, shampoo, and deodorant for
100)
Haircut coupons: $500 (100 coupons valued at $5 each)
Photography: $60 (100 – 5 x 7 prints from Wal-Mart at .58
each)
Food: $250 (for 100 participants, plus volunteers)
Total projected budget: $3,010
Community
Participants
Satanta United Methodist Church
United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries
Gideons International
Haskell County Health Department
Lark and Palmer Family Dentistry of Garden City
Parents as Teachers
Russell Child Development Center
Satanta District Hospital
Studio 113 photography
Vanity Salon
How
many individuals will be served?
We hope to serve no fewer than 100 elementary students
and their families.
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