Holiday Newsletter | Giving Tree

FaithWorks’ Friends, As the holiday season quickly approaches, we want to thank you for your continued support and encouragement this past year and wish you blessings for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. FaithWorks continues to meet many needs in our community, both physical and spiritual, thanks to the generosity of our donors. This has been a difficult year for our families and children. We have families who are suffering from trauma, homelessness, unemployment, and illness. FaithWorks is blessed to be a place of “hope” and “shelter” for many of these families. FaithWorks relies on your gifts to meet the urgent needs of the Shidler-Wheeler community. For twenty years, your kindness, generosity, and prayers have helped families and an entire community to move forward in unexpected ways. Education has become a priority for our families. Opportunities for homeownership have changed a generation for the future. Parenting classes are offering useful tools to assist parents in raising resilient children. Our youth are learning to serve others rather than being served. They are choosing to attend Bible studies and church with our youth leaders. I love how one of our clients referred to FaithWorks. She said, “I had lost faith, but I found it here.” Through a morning Bible study, she found encouragement, prayer partners, and gained a clear understanding of Jesus’ faithfulness. None of this is possible without your continued support. Your investment in this ministry has changed a community through meeting their physical, educational and spiritual needs. Year- end giving guarantees that existing programs and ministries may continue. Monthly giving allows us to meet immediate needs and to assist families in crisis. Please consider giving to FaithWorks this holiday season. Blessings, Sally, FaithWorks’ Staff, and Families of the Shidler-Wheeler community

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Faithworks Giving Tree

Below is our Giving Tree Opportunity which outlines specific needs for our community during this holiday season. Please consider how you can give.

FaithWorks of the Inner City Giving Tree

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October Newsletter | Fall Update

Fall Greetings from FaithWorks, This past weekend was our annual community fall festival. Over 200 hundred families and children attended. It was a wonderful event filled with music, hotdogs, carnival games, face painting, a photo booth, pumpkin painting, and a family pumpkin carving competition. Thanks to a local car club, our families also got to enjoy a display of custom painted vintage cars. Our thanks to FaithWorks’ volunteers, donors, and students from Crossings Christian School for donating pumpkins and candy for this event. This upcoming weekend our teenagers will be attending the first ever FaithWorks’ fall retreat at the Central Oklahoma Camp and Conference Center near Guthrie. Students will be treated to various activities, including a hayride, s'mores, a scavenger hunt, and Bible studies. On Sunday they will travel to Yukon to attend Trinity Baptist Church Sunday services. Please pray for these students and leaders as they fellowship together and learn more about Jesus. November brings preparations for our children and staff Thanksgiving Dinner, as well as putting plans in place for our Christmas festivities. We will, once again, host the FaithWorks’ Living Nativity on Friday, December 2 from 6-7:30 p.m. We will also continue the tradition of hosting Christmas parities for our children and teens, as well as passing out the traditional red and white sacks to all Shidler students. This is all possible due to a bequest made by our precious friend, Doris Dahl. For many years Doris provided funding for the Shidler Christmas gifts and activities. Upon her death, she requested that those funds continue to be made available to FaithWorks. For the past seven weeks FaithWorks has hosted its first parenting class. This summer FaithWorks received a grant which included materials and training for the Raising Highly Capable Kids parenting program. I can not say enough about this program. Our parents are loving it! We meet each Tuesday evening for 13 weeks. We serve dinner and provide child care for our families. This program does not make our parents feel guilty about their parenting style, but instead is empowering them to see how their past has given them strengths they never knew they had. I believe it is one of the best programs FaithWorks has ever offered. Our class is comprised of couples, husbands, wives, widows, single mothers, and a teen couple with a ten-month-old daughter. This is the piece that FaithWorks has needed to help our families grow and become stable. In closing, although things may sound “rosy” at FaithWorks, there are still many traumatized children and families who are struggling with overwhelming issues. Please continue to pray for our staff and these families. Thank you for the funding to continue our programs and to meet the needs of our community. Blessings, Sally

An excerpt from our most recent staff meeting: The question posed was “What have you learned from working at FaithWorks?” “It is not all about Me.” “I have learned to love kids better.” ” I have become a better listener, and know that is important to our kids.” “I have learned that the way kids act is, most times, not about what is going on here, but what is happening at home.” “I have learned to pray for them, a lot.” “I have learned this place is sort of magical; it teaches you things you couldn’t learn anywhere else.”

August Newsletter | Tutors Needed!

Dear FaithWorks’ Friends,

Last week, FaithWorks hosted a Back to School lunch for the Shidler Elementary teachers and staff. We had not been able to do this for the past two years due to Covid. It was refreshing to see teachers eager for the school year to begin. It has been a long time since our students have had a “real” school year.

Speaking of school, I want to give you an update on the current situation with Shidler Elementary and thank you for your prayers and support. I was able to meet with two of the OKCPS school board members, as well as Dr. McDaniel, OKCPS Superintendent. They came to our Center and listened to the history of our community and the progress that has been made over the years through our partners. I believe they left understanding the importance of Shidler Elementary to our community. Next week, the bond resolution will be presented to the OKCPS board for approval with hopes of having the bond issue on the November ballot.

I would like to remind you that FaithWorks is also trying to return to “normal” by bringing back the Power Hour tutoring program. We would love to have forty tutors engaging with forty Shidler students on Thursdays throughout the school year. This program has been a part of FaithWorks for eighteen years. Many Shidler students have been impacted by this reading/mentorship program. Power Hour will begin on Thursday, September 8 at the FaithWorks’ Community Center with required tutor training beginning at 2:15 p.m. and students arriving at 3:00 p.m. Applications are available online at faithworksokc.com/volunteer. You can also contact Natalie Stinchcomb, natalie@faithworksokc.com for further information.

Wonderful things are happening at FaithWorks…due to twenty middle school and high school students needing transportation to church on Wednesdays and Sundays, FaithWorks is in need of a second twelve passenger van. Please be in prayer that funds will become available and that a safe, reliable van can be found. We are beyond excited about the interest and commitment of our students to our youth program. Great things have happened over the summer, and we are very excited to see what happens this fall with this group of young people.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for a safe, smooth start for fall programs

• Pray for our staff and our four new employees as they begin a new year

• Pray for funding for additional staff and students

• Pray for funding for increasing food costs

• Pray for our children and youth- for their safety and desire to know God

• Pray for Mr. Ayala, principal Shidler Elementary and his staff

Needs:

• Power Hour tutors

• Childcare workers and food prep workers for our new community parenting classes

• Funding for an additional van/additional staff/food costs

I am thankful for your continued partnership with us.

Sally

Volunteer at Power Hour

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Upcoming Events

• Monday, August 29th: FaithWorks' Annual Golf Tournament

• Tuesday, September 6th: FaithWorks' Fall Program Begins

• Thursday, September 8th: First day of Power Hour

Register for Golf Tournament