The Mississippi Conference (SEJ) — 2018
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4.F.I.G. Tree (Filling in the Gaps) - Helps low income families by subsidizing their basic necessities such as electricity, gas, water, and medicine. 5. Parenting Classes- Provides free education and counseling in parenting skills for low income families and single parents (usually court ordered). 6. Anger Management and Counseling Classes- Provides free education on managing anger, anxiety, and depression for youth and individuals of low income families (usually court ordered). 7. Free Medical Clinic- Provides free medical assistance to those individuals without insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid with the help of volunteer doctors. 8. Parish Nurse- this person serves as a source of referrals for services available and holds health fairs throughout the community. 9. Activity Center- This center is the focal point in our community where persons over 45 can take part in activities that support independence and encourage continued involvement within the community. 10. Additional programs- CPR and First Aid Classes, Health Fairs/ Screenings. 11. Thrift Stores locations are Brookhaven and McComb, Mississippi; Vidalia, Louisiana; and we are partnered with Edwards Street Fellowship Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. St. Andrew’s Mission has nine programs including a Free Medical Clinic, Food Pantry, Soup Kitchen, Activity Center, and a Business Mill, a small business incubator. We serve all age groups, dominations, and races in Pike County and the surrounding counties. These include the counties of Amite, Walthall, Lincoln, Franklin, Adams, Marion, and some parishes in Louisiana. St. Andrew’s is considered the largest organization in Southwest Mississippi providing needed services to over 1500 individuals each month. The mission shares we receive have relieved financial stress from our ministries utilities and program supplies. The program’s revenues and contributions have increased based upon our continued services along with the additional sales from St. Andrew’s Thrift Stores. We are constantly telling the story of St. Andrew’s Mission to Sunday School, Woman’s Groups, Civic Clubs (Lions Club, Exchange Club, etc. ) along with the local newspaper and radio stations. We recently started using social media, also. We visit not only the local Methodist Churches but all the local dominations encouraging individuals to support the Mission by giving back to their community through apportionments and/or private donations. St. Andrew’s Mission plans are to sustain the nine ministries that we have in place. Through our programs we are working to improve our community by focusing on individual needs. Our values of love and generosity are shown everyday here at St. Andrew’s through all the programs we offer freely to the community that otherwise they would have to pay for. We will continue to offer free medical assistance, free food for the disabled and elderly, and providing free utilities, internet, and business education to those at our Business Mill. The partnership with the annual conference allows St. Andrew’s the support to continue working in Southwest Mississippi communities. With the Mississippi United Methodist Partnership as our partner, we can continue to support each other in spiritual and emotional guidance. St. Andrew’s is given the opportunity to offer more assistance to more individuals and families over a broader area. During the 2017 year, we ran into some huge Building Code issues at one of our main locations. We are currently trying to come up with the fund needed to bring the building up to code. One of the main expenses will be updating all sprinkler heads. The other issues are upgrading the fire alarm system and ways of egress. This building is apart of our growing ministry the Business Incubator. This last year alone our tenants went from 4 to 15. We are excited about the growth of this ministry and how it is helping the community grow in small business owners. These projects will start in 2018 and run into a majority of 2019. A Word of Witness The last year has been extremely hard for our family. We were flood victims from the 2016 Louisiana flood, and we lost everything with no insurance. After the flood, we were forced to move to Osyka, Mississippi to live with my father. We had been there through the school year and into the summer when I found out my daughter was being sexual abused by my father. We moved out immediately. We were in