PRESBYTERIAN HOME FOR CHILDREN
LOVELegacy of
Every year, the Presbyterian Home for Children honors a few of our partners in ministry with the “Legacy of Love Award” to express our deep gratitude for helping us serve the at-risk and homeless children entrusted to our care. In March 2024, the Home honored Brenda Blevins, owner of Blevins Tax and Accounting LLC in Huntsville.
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Doug Marshall, President and CEO of the Home, came to Huntsville to present the award to Blevins at her office as Board Members Janis Williams and Dr. Joyce Pettis-Temple looked on.
“When I joined the Home six years ago, Ms. Brenda Blevins was one of the very first donors I had the privilege to meet in person,” Marshall said. “Faithful donors like Ms. Brenda are the reason we are able to provide healing and hope to at-risk and homeless children and families. Ms. Brenda's compassionate heart ensures that each precious one in our care feels the embrace of our Lord right here at the Presbyterian Home for Children.”
As he presented the award, Marshall told Blevins, “We want to tell you we appreciate you, and we love you. And we know you love these children in this shared calling as we put our arms around these kids and give them big hugs in all kinds of ways.”
“I’m glad to do this,” Blevens said quietly as she accepted the award.
Williams said, “We are so grateful for the heart and support that Brenda Blevins has given to the Presbyterian Home for Children over the years. It is a special time for us to honor her for her continued devotion.”
ASCENSION LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
Ascension Leadership Academy kindergarten teacher Melba Strickland works with students at our private school located at First Presbyterian Talladega. Ascension achieved high test achievements this year. Read more on Pages 4-5.
PRESBYTERIAN HOME FOR CHILDREN 2024 Board of
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Mr. Mark Feagin
Birmingham, Moderator
Rev. Brandon Miles Florence, Vice Moderator
Mr. George Fritsma Trussville, Immediate Past Moderator
Mr. Newell Witherspoon Birmingham, Treasurer
Ms. Carol Copeland Athens, Secretary
Mr. John W. Haley, Esq. Birmingham, Legal Counsel
Ms. Lisa deShazo Mobile, Member At Large
Rev. Christie Ashton Huntsville
Mr. Ted Autterson Mobile
Mr. David Ayers Mobile
Ms. Millie Chastain Talladega
Dr. Jimmy Davis Talladega
Ms. Cathy DeLozier Birmingham
Ms. Paige Goldman, Esq. Birmingham
Mr. Jeff Hicks Montrose
Rev. David Jamison Enterprise
Mr. David Perry Birmingham
Rev. Madison Roberts Mountain Brook
Rev. Joseph Scrivner, Ph.D. Tuscaloosa
Dr. Joyce Pettis-Temple Huntsville
Mr. Scott Weldon Mobile
Ms. Janis Williams Huntsville
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Ms. Amy Dickerson, Hoover
Ms. Mary Otulana, Homewood
Rev. Robin Palmer, Madison
Ms. Christi Robinson, Huntsville
Ms. Brenda Uptain, Talladega
Mr. Chuck Williams, Hiram, GA Rev. Jonathan Yarboro, Wetumpka
The Presbyterian Home for Children is a Christian caring community for children and families in need; serving children and families regardless of race, color, creed, gender, national origin or disability. The ministry is governed by a Board of Trustees elected in part by the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley, North Alabama Presbytery and Presbytery of South Alabama.
Beginnings is published for the friends and supporters of the Presbyterian Home for Children. Children's identities may be disguised to protect the privacy of the individual.
Beginnings Editorial Staff: Cindy Fisher, Brad Fisher
P.O. Box 577
Talladega, AL 35161
Telephone: 256.362.2114
E-mail: info@phfc.org Website: www.phfc.org Volume 124 • Number 2 SUMMER 2024
Rev. Tom Lewis Madison
Ms. Regan Liggins Vestavia
Mr. John Myers Bay Minette
FROM THE PRESIDENT
One of the blessings of living and working in rural Alabama is I get the chance to watch things grow. I take joy from seeing flowers, lawns, trees, and rows of crops sprout from the ground and reach upward toward the light.
At the Presbyterian Home for Children, we’ve done our share of growing and reaching toward the light. Whitfield and Robinson Cottages on our campus are very close to being completely renovated so we can double the number of homeless children and their mothers we can serve in our Secure Dwellings program. These families are being left behind because there are not enough programs in the state like ours.
The Home is also working with a national nonprofit organization to help provide safe, secure placement options for children who have recently migrated to the United States from all over the world and are seeking opportunities for reunification with family. The program is called Caminos, the Spanish word for journey. Learn about our new Caminos director originally from Puerto Rico, Adalis Ortiz-Vega, in this edition of Beginnings. She and her staff will assess the homes of parents, family members, or close family friends to ensure they are safe placement options for the youth in the Caminos program, many of which have a physical or intellectual disability, have been trafficked, or have a high risk of been trafficked.
Meanwhile, we’re helping families in crisis over seven counties in central Alabama stay together. Our Family Bridges program provides intensive in-home services to help families who have the potential to stay together or to reunite by helping parents establish a safe, stable setting to raise children. You can read about our expansion of Family Bridges in this issue.
The Home has touched the lives of children in some of the poorest counties in Alabama through our outreach in Wilcox and Marengo counties, and we share information about an added weekend backpack program in this edition of Beginnings.
Ascension Leadership Academy, the K through grade 12 school affiliated with the Home, recently celebrated a significant milestone –reaccreditation from Cognia, the nation’s leading accreditation agency. An article in this issue will tell you more about how Ascension is serving our students and the community.
You can also read how our unique arrangement with the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind was recognized with grants from the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama for technology upgrades to Union Village, a permanent supportive housing community for individuals who are deaf, blind, deafblind, or multi-disabled.
Our support for all these services has grown with an invitation to join the Synod of Living Waters in a covenant relationship. The Synod of Living Waters is a regional mid-council of the Presbyterian Church USA with jurisdiction over the presbyteries in the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Through the covenant relationship, the Synod will help the Home be a primary resource for the well-being of children and for nourishing families.
You can be a part of helping us grow and reach toward the light. Stay in touch with the Presbyterian Home for Children through Beginnings and through our social media and give as your heart calls you. With God’s help – and yours – we will continue to help some of the region’s most vulnerable young citizens become the people God meant them to be.
In Christ,
Doug Marshall President
Brothers who benefit from our Wilcox County ministry at FS Ervin Elementary School in Pine Hill.
The Home’s private school, Ascension Leadership Academy, finished the 2023-2024 school year with several major wins. They graduated another exceptional senior, saw record increases in student performance, achieved a challenging reaccreditation from a leading organization, and was named a winner of a national curriculum award.
Parents, staff, and the community honored the students’ accomplishments and growth in achievements during the end-of-the-school year awards ceremony on May 23 at First Presbyterian Talladega. It was followed by a graduation commencement for senior Phaethon Brown, who finished his time at Ascension with 48 college credit hours completed at Central Alabama Community College through our dual enrollment partnership. He will continue his education at CACC this summer and fall and will complete his associate in science degree in December. Brown maintained an Ascension grade point average of 4.105 and a CACC GPA of 3.785 for his college classes.
Ascension students were recognized for learning growth through high performances on standardized assessments in the awards ceremony. As part of their continuous improvement process, Ascension uses the Northwest Evaluation Association MAP Assessment to analyze instruction and measure student achievement. MAP, which stands for Measures of Academic Progress, is used with other data points to show where a student is on their unique learning path.
As with all norm-referenced assessments, scores around the 50th percentile are considered average scores, and all schools and school systems strive to have most of their students reach and exceed this goal. The MAP assessment has two levels of achievement above this 50th percentile range. In reading, language arts, and math, High Achievement requires students to score at or above the 80th percentile, and High Average Achievement requires scores at or between the 60th and the 79th percentile.
On the MAP, a majority of Ascension students ranked from Average to High in reading, language, and math. The 7-11 graders had huge results, attaining MAP’s High Average or High Achievement scores. 90% of students earned these scores in reading, 83% in language, and 63% in math.
More than half of the K-6 students attained high average or high achievement scores for reading and math, and in grades 3-6 for language usage. Linda Harris, Director of Education and Assistant to the President, said “the accomplishments demonstrate the high quality of instruction and talent of Ascension’s teachers and students.”
National school examiners agree that Ascension provides a strong education for students. Cognia, the nation’s leading education accrediting organization, recently awarded Ascension reaccreditation after a rigorous evaluation process that includes a period of self-assessment, an evaluation conducted by trained third-party evaluators and an improvement
phase focused on the results of the evaluation.
Harris said she and her staff hoped to achieve a score of at least 300 on Cognia’s Index of Educational Quality or IEQ, which is their accreditation measure of overall performance. A score of 300 would meet Cognia’s expectations for accreditation, and it would be higher than the Cognia Network average of 253.
“We are exceptionally proud that we received an IEQ score of 326, 73 points higher than the Cognia Network average,” Harris said.
There are 30 standards organized around the four Key Characteristics considered critical to the success of any educational institution: Culture of Learning, Leadership for Learning, Engagement of Learning, and Growth in Learning. These standards are rated by a strict rubric of one to four stars, with four being the highest.
Of the 30 standards, Ascension rated four stars on 13. Ninety percent of Ascension’s standards rated above the Network average, and the school’s rating on the summaries for each of the four Key Characteristics exceeded the Cognia Network average.
“From using digital programs to individualize learning, to providing intensive tiered interventions for struggling students, to accelerated
course offerings, the school has created a supportive and inclusive environment,” the Cognia report said.
“We are very pleased with the results of our review, and our Cognia accreditation has been extended to June 2030,” Harris said.
In addition to receiving reaccreditation, Ascension was named a winner of the Imagine Nation School of Excellence Award by Imagine Learning, the largest provider of digital curriculum solutions in the U.S. More than 38,000 school systems were eligible for the award. Only 220 schools were honored.
Imagine Nation School of Excellence Award honors schools and districts across America for their exemplary implementation of Imagine Learning solutions and commitment to student learning, according to an announcement from Imagine Learning.
BACK TO SCHOOL 2024
Help us continue the tradition of educational success by giving to Ascension Leadership Academy!
FUN!
Students
Enjoy Fun Activities Over the Summer
The children and youth celebrated the end of the school year in May with a swimming trip to the awesome pool at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega, which is a great partner with the Presbyterian Home for Children.
A group of Ascension students also went to the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) program sponsored by Central Alabama Community College Talladega Campus in June to have some fun learning experiences even when school is out for the summer!
FAMILY BRIDGES GROWS TO HELP MORE FAMILIES IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
The Presbyterian Home for Children’s innovative Family Bridges program is growing again. The State of Alabama Department of Human Resources recently awarded the Home an expanded contract that allows the program to serve 16 families in need in East Central Alabama, a growth of 23%. The Home now will be hiring an additional family support specialist.
This marks a steady increase for the Family Bridges program that got approved for a contract that increased families we served by 30% in 2021. The program was first created by the Home in 2016 as a way to grow services for families and children throughout the seven-county community surrounding the Home’s Talladega campus. Our first contract allowed us to serve 10 families at a given time.
Family Bridges offers assistance to families who have the potential to stay together and/or reunite by helping parents establish a safe, stable setting to raise children. Family preservation and reunification works best with families that are motivated to stay together.
Services are provided across a large geographic area spanning Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Randolph, St. Clair, and Talladega counties. Intensive In-home services is a dynamic process that focuses on achieving success by working within a safe, stable family setting in a timely manner for children.
The Home’s staff of Family Support Specialists work with parents and DHR to help families stay in their homes or reunify. They offer parents techniques and strategies for behavior interventions, counseling, crisis intervention, networking, and support aimed at the preservation, reunification, and strengthening of the family.
Family Bridges is accessible 24 hours per day, seven days per week, and hours are flexible to meet the scheduling needs of the families.
Ascension Leadership Academy
JOHNNA MCGOWAN TAKES A KEY ROLE IN LEADERSHIP OF FAMILY BRIDGES
The Presbyterian Home for Children has named a new coordinator of the Family Bridges program.
Johnna McGowan has been named Coordinator of Family Bridges, which provides intensive in-home services to help families in Talladega and six nearby counties who have the potential to stay together or to reunite by helping parents establish a safe, stable setting to raise children.
McGowan and coworker Elayne Funderburke have served as Family Support Specialists in the program for six years. Before her work with the Home, McGowan worked as a bookkeeper as she raised her daughter, “but I was always the one people went to when they needed support and encouragement,” she said. When her daughter grew up, McGowan returned to school and earned a degree in psychology and criminal justice from Jacksonville State University. She worked as a counselor at Highland Health Systems in Anniston before coming to the Home.
At Family Bridges, Family Support Specialists are contracted by the Department of Human Resources to work with families whose children have been placed in foster care, or their children are at risk of being placed in foster care. Family Support Specialists offer parents techniques and strategies for behavior interventions, crisis intervention, networking, and support aimed at the reunification, preservation, and strengthening of the family.
WHY WE WEAR GREEN
The Presbyterian Home for Children’s program staff is dedicated to spreading awareness and supporting mental health for the children and families in our care and do so during Mental Health Awareness month in May and year-round. Our dedicated staff from the Secure Dwellings and Family Bridges programs work to highlight the importance of mental health and its role in breaking the cycle of poverty and generational trauma that we see impacting our clients daily. Our team provides stability and care while teaching our clients new life skills that foster positive changes in the lives of the families we serve. During Mental Health Awareness Month, they wear green to show their support for mental health awareness. Together, we are creating a healthy, supportive network that empowers families to thrive.
“We teach them the skills they need to help with parenting, conflict resolution, anger management, whatever they need,” McGowan said. They work alongside counselors to help parents deal with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues.
“Many of the people we work with have a generational history with DHR, and many struggle with substance abuse issues,” McGowan said.
The Family Support Specialist visits the families twice a week for six to nine months. Families must agree to participate, she said.
Some homes are in town, but some are up long dirt roads. McGowan has shared space with dogs of all sizes, as well as a bearded dragon and a room full of snakes. The snakes were in cages in another room, and McGowan said she asked the homeowners to close the door.
McGowan said she likes the variety and work culture at the Home. “I don’t like helicopter bosses,” McGowan said. “I don’t have that here. I’m trusted to do my job, and if I have questions, I find who I need to ask.”
Our team Johnna McGowan, Elayne Funderburke, Elivia Santana, Shandra Thomas, and Sharon Moore.
SECURE DWELLINGS EXPANSION NEARS COMPLETION
The Home is almost finished with renovations to two cottages on the Talladega campus that will allow the expansion of our successful Secure Dwellings program.
If you’re wondering why we’re expanding our Secure Dwellings program, just ask Temika Henley. She and her three kids recently moved into an apartment at Ramsey Cottage after living in their car for a month and a half.
Temika’s husband died in a car accident three years ago, when she was pregnant with twin girls. She kept it together for a while, with a job and an apartment for herself and her three small children. But when her twins got sick in the winter, she missed too much work and they let her go. Then she and her kids were evicted from their apartment. Birmingham shelters were full, so the family lived in their 2004 Chevy Trailblazer.
“I tried to stay in safe places, but we were exposed to the elements, gunshots, just unsavory people,” Temika said. “I couldn’t sleep most nights. I’d sit in the driver’s seat and keep an eye out.”
Then she heard about the Presbyterian Home for Children. “To God be the glory, you had a space for us, and we were able to come and find safety here,” Temika said. “This campus is so safe and secure and quiet and peaceful, and the atmosphere is just – you can feel the presence of God here.” Her plan is “to find employment, get everybody in school so we can obtain some help and get back on our feet.”
Temika said, “The staff is patient, kind, understanding.” And she appreciates the donors and volunteers who support the Home.
“They’re definitely needed and appreciated, because you guys keep us going, keep us going with love,” Temika said of volunteers and donors. “We love it, and we appreciate it very much.”
This summer, the Home was given a generous donation of mattresses and outdoor furniture from the nonprofit High Socks for Hope for our moms and kids to enjoy at Whitfield Cottage and other cottages on campus.
High Socks for Hope was founded by Tuscaloosa native David Robertson, a Major League baseball player with the Texas Rangers. He started it in the wake of the deadly 2011 tornado that caused over $1 billion in damage to Tuscaloosa to provide aid and furnishings to those impacted by disasters or have immediate housing item needs.
While the nonprofit’s name comes from David’s habit of tucking his high socks into his baseball pants for good luck during games, his wife, Erin, is a key member of the nonprofit team along with Managing Director Judy Holland, pictured above with the Home’s Director of Finance and Operations Carl Martin.
Their furnishing contributions will provide a cozy place for our Secure Dwellings families to rest and a welcoming space for children to play and grow.
PHFC ADDS DIRECTOR TO OVERSEE NEW CAMINOS® PROGRAM
The Presbyterian Home for Children has added a key leader to the team who will usher in our new Caminos® program that helps ensure unaccompanied immigrant minors coming to Alabama are being placed in safe surroundings and receiving necessary services.
Adalis Ortiz-Vega has been named program director for the Home’s new Caminos® program, and she considers the job a calling that fits with her passion for giving children in need the right tools to be healthy and happy.
“I want to be there for kids as they are growing into adulthood and help those who have been traumatized and be a part of their healing,” she said. “They are our most vulnerable population, and they need us. We need to protect them as much as we can.”
The Home is joining the national Caminos® program to fill a growing need in Alabama to ensure private homes are safe for unaccompanied immigrant children who are placed with relatives living in communities throughout the state, primarily Jefferson, Marshall, Mobile, and Baldwin counties.
The Home will do this work through a contract with nonprofit Everstand in Baltimore, Maryland, and the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide in-home placement support.
Ortiz-Vega, a native of Puerto Rico, comes to the Caminos® program with a wealth of experience working with bilingual youth and teens as a licensed mental health counselor and therapist in Florida, Nebraska, Texas, and New York City. She will be based out of the Home’s Caminos® office in Hoover, which is located with the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley. As she gets the program started, Ortiz-Vega is hiring bilingual social workers to go into the homes and make sure the living conditions are safe.
“Young and vulnerable children from all over the world face continued exploitation, abuse, and trafficking in the United States,” PHFC President and CEO Doug Marshall said. “Currently, there are very limited resources to protect these
children in Alabama. Many of these children have a physical or intellectual disability, have been trafficked, or have a high risk of being trafficked. The Presbyterian Home for Children is opening the Caminos® program because we believe all of God’s children deserve the love of Christ in a safe, welcoming, home environment.”
Ortiz-Vega has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Universidad del Turabo in Puerto Rico and master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Bellevue University in Nebraska, as well as a master’s in pastoral counseling from Liberty University.
Ortiz-Vega had challenging childhood herself, having witnessed domestic violence and abuse with her own parents, fights, shootings and drug deals at the bar her family owned. She came to the United States for her education and – as a mother of two little girls – vowed to help other children fulfill the right to have a healthy homelife and “live in peace, feeling protected and loved.”
“These immigrant children have experienced trauma before, during, and after their journey,” she said. “They have experienced domestic violence, physical abuse, sex trafficking, family separation, death. They have been threatened for money. Gangs try to recruit them. And there is trauma here, including racism and language barriers.”
Ortiz-Vega’s vision is to establish the Home’s Caminos® program with the highest quality standards to provide the youth with strong roots to continue growing. The program will safely unify them with the family member located by ORR and prepare them to be part of their new community.
“They will be here anyway, and they were not safe in their country,” Ortiz-Vega said. “Our home visits will make sure they are safe and happy. That is my wish.”
STAFF UPDATES
The Presbyterian Home for Children has announced several staffing changes made to strengthen the leadership team as we continue to grow. Elizabeth A. Ponder, MA has been named Director of Development. Wes Harry has come on board as Manager of Facilities and Maintenance. Johnna McGowan has been promoted to Coordinator of Family Bridges. Adalis Ortiz-Vega has joined the Home as program director of the new Caminos® program. And Cindy Fisher, Director of Communication, has taken on an additional responsibility as Director of Mission Outreach. “The Home is well positioned with talented and dedicated staff to help ensure that we continue to provide hope and healing to at-risk children and families who need us most,” said PHFC CEO and President Doug Marshall.
ALUMNI RETURN HOME
The Presbyterian Home for Children welcomed home former residents for our annual Alumni Day on June 22 for a full day of catching up and playing games together on our Talladega campus.
Our alumni also mingled with new residents who are finding safety and security on campus from our trained staff through our growing Secure Dwellings program (read more about Secure Dwellings on Page 8).
Longtime Home leader Sharon Moore, who is now Vice President of Transitional Housing and Family Bridges, said it is great to see former residents return and share how they’re doing now raising their own children and how the Home helped them have a successful adulthood.
“We always look forward to welcoming our alumni back to their ‘home,’” Moore said.
Alumni attendance was strong this year, even with the hot weather and how so many travel from long distances, Moore said.
The Home currently has nine mothers and 15 children in the Secure Dwellings program. The moms and children at Alumni Day enjoyed the games inside the gym and sprinklers, portable pools and bouncy house in the grass outside the gym.
“I know it brings a great deal of joy for the alumni to see all of the children and the current moms being cared for at the Home as it continues to be a special place of healing and hope as it was in the lives of our alumni,” Moore said.
Mark your calendar for Alumni Day 2025 on Saturday, June 21, 2025
GRANTS COVER COST FOR NEW
EQUIPMENT AT UNION VILLAGE
The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama recently awarded two grants to the Presbyterian Home for Children for technology upgrades to Union Village, a permanent supportive housing community for individuals who are deaf, blind, deafblind, or multi-disabled.
A $10,325 grant from the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama was used to install WiFi-enabled thermostats and a signaling door annunciator for all 10 tiny cottages in Phase 2, and a signaling door annunciator for one Phase 1 cottage. A grant for $6,300 installed keyless entry equipment for all five cottages in Phase 1 of Union Village.
“We are thankful that the EyeSight Foundation of Alabama saw how their grant could help improve the lives of the residents of this unique program in Talladega,” said Doug Marshall, President and CEO of the Home.
Barbara Evers, executive director of EyeSight Foundation, said Union Village is an ideal housing option for those with vision challenges. "Union Village offers a supportive, safe living option for people with vision challenges,” she said. “It’s an impressive place, and the EyeSight Foundation is proud to play a small part in it!”
The Home has partnered with its neighbor Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind to offer Union Village that is operated on a separate and secluded part of its campus for AIDB consumers since 2017.
Phase 1 of Union Village is currently home to nearly 30 residents who live in five large cottages. Six tiny cottages (two 500-square foot homes per duplex) were added to the four existing small cottages at Union Village in 2023.
Each new cottage is fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. They include zero-step entry, minimal thresholds and other features. AIDB provides full wrap-around support services to Union Village residents such as advocacy, job coaching, case management, transportation, assistive technology and more.
Rental income from Union Village provides an additional funding source for PHFC, which serves at-risk and homeless children, youth, and families in addition to young female adults in crisis and families in crisis. Program participants come from across the entire state of Alabama.
The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama was created in 1997 after the sale of the Callahan Eye Hospital in Birmingham to the University of Alabama at Birmingham. ESFA awards grants in several categories, including education regarding preventive and routine eye care and vision screening, eye care for the needy, low vision and rehabilitation service, and research.
CALHOUN PRESBYTERIAN APARTMENTS FOUNDATION GIVES LARGE DONATION
Calhoun Presbyterian Apartments Foundation (CPAF) in Anniston has made a large donation of $280,000 over three years to the Presbyterian Home for Children to be utilized for deferred maintenance on the infrastructure at the Home’s Talladega campus.
Home President and CEO Doug Marshall said the gift is a blessing for which the Home is “incredibly grateful.”
“We put a lot of love into our beautiful and historic campus, and these funds will help us continue maintaining our facilities and allow us to even better fulfill our mission of providing hope and healing to at-risk children and families who turn to us in their time of need,” Marshall said.
CPAF said they chose to give funds to the Home because what PHFC does is “incredibly valuable and necessary to our area.”
“When we think of all the people that you have helped and the vast number of people still in need, we feel not only deeply grateful for your courage and vision but also strongly compelled to help support your good cause,” the foundation said. “You represent all that is good, ethical, and moral in an organization that is designed to help those in need. You can be assured that your efforts are greatly appreciated not only by us but by the members of this community. We look forward to seeing the continued progress you will make in the near future.”
and Larry Dawson.
CPAF board members Lin Veasey, Larry Dawson, Nancy Whitley, and Jerry Parris recently visited the Home to present Marshall with the first installment check and get a tour of facility improvements being made on campus to double the Home’s Secure Dwellings program that provides housing for homeless children and their female caregivers.
After the check presentation, Marshall said all of the CPAF board members have been “faithful mission partners of the Home over many years and each with a deep love of children and families.”
LET US LEAD A PHFC DAY AT YOUR CHURCH!
The Presbyterian Home for Children led the Sunday service for First Presbyterian Birmingham on Mother’s Day for what the team called PHFC Day. We filled in with a minister giving the sermon, readers as liturgists, and we even brought a flute player to provide the music for PHFC Day.
Home President & CEO Doug Marshall says the PHFC team enjoys traveling to churches throughout the state and beyond to share the good news of the Lord and to bring more awareness of what we do to provide hope and healing to at-risk children in need at the Presbyterian Home for Children.
Marshall gives sermons regularly, as does Carl Martin, the Home’s Finance & Operations Director, who is also an ordained minister. The Home’s communication director, Cindy Fisher, is an accomplished flutist and enjoys sharing her talent with choir leaders and congregations. For example, Marshall recently led worship at First Presbyterian of Sylacauga on June 23.
The Home can provide our “PHFC Day package” or a speaker or a flute player at any church looking for help leading a Sunday service when the ministry team needs a break or is out of town.For more information on any of these opportunities, contact Suzanne Cornett in Donor Relations at scornett@phfc.org.
Board members of Calhoun Presbyterian Apartments Foundation presented the first check to Home President Doug Marshall, right, during a recent visit. PHFC board member Rev. Tom Lewis, left, joined CPAF members Jerry Parris, Lin Veasey, Nancy Whitley,
SECOND PRESBYTERIAN LEAVES LEGACY WITH UNION VILLAGE DONATION
The Presbyterian Home for Children has accepted a generous donation of $300,000 from Second Presbyterian Church in Homewood for construction of an additional tiny cottage duplex and related infrastructure in our Union Village development.
Union Village is a permanent supportive housing community located on a separate, secluded part of the Talladega campus that serves nearly 40 individuals who are deaf, blind, deafblind, or multi-disabled with housing in cottages that are affordable and safe.
The funds are coming from Second Presbyterian’s sale of their church property on Columbiana Road in Homewood. Second Presbyterian Church is in the process of merging with Edgewood Presbyterian, which is also in Homewood. The churches will officially merge in a ceremony on World Communion Sunday on Oct. 6 at Edgewood Presbyterian.
Mary Clyde Teague, a lead session member of Second Presbyterian, said the congregation is “happy” to give the donation to Union Village.
“It gives us such joy to be able to do this,” Teague said. “We are thrilled the sale of the property can make a difference in the lives of others. It’s just joyful.”
Several session members from Second Presbyterian attended the September 2023 dedication of a second phase of Union Village, which solidified their decision to donate a portion of the sale of the property to the worthy project, Teague said. “We wanted it to be a part of our first fruits,” she said. The church originally pledged $250,000 for the duplex, but when construction costs increased, Teague said they had no problem giving another $50,000 from the profits to ensure it would cover the costs. “It felt good to be able to do that!”
Of the Union Village duplex, PHFC will name one tiny cottage after Second Presbyterian and the other after Tom
and Patti Winter. Tom Winter served as a longtime pastor of Second Presbyterian while Patti was a popular Youth Director at Southminster and later Children's Director at First Presbyterian Birmingham. Both passed away in the last two years. Teague said Second Presbyterian was an impactful church during its heyday, with hundreds of members who were known in the community for building houses through Habitat for Humanity and serving meals at First Light. Donating funds to a meaningful mission like Union Village allows Second Presbyterian to live on through its legacy and continue giving back to those in need, Teague said.
Union Village began in 2017 as a partnership between the Presbyterian Home for Children and neighbor AIDB to serve consumers who are deaf, blind, deafblind, or multi-disabled and in need of safe, affording housing. Each new cottage is fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. They include zero-step entry, minimal thresholds, and other features. AIDB provides full wrap around support services to Union Village residents such as advocacy, job coaching, case management, transportation, assistive technology, and more.
GOLFERS DONATE TO THE HOME
We are grateful to Heritage South Credit Union for donating the $5,600 raised in their Heritage South Credit Union Charity Golf Tournament at the Sylacauga Country Club! Golfers got to hear about what we do at the Home through a speech from our President Doug Marshall before the tournament got started. Marshall introduced the Home with a story of David Brown, who recently graduated from Parris Island as a Marine, and his brother, Phaethon, who graduated from Ascension Leadership Academy in May with a 4.105 GPA with plans to become a Navy SEAL. Together with Heritage South Credit Union and these golfers who care, we are able to provide healing and hope to the precious lives entrusted to the Home.
VOLUNTEERS SPREAD LOVE, HOPE THIS
Summer is always busy on the Presbyterian Home for Children’s campus with dozens of volunteers coming to share the love of God through hands-on work, and this June has been no exception.
Volunteers with church groups from all over the Southeast have spent hours over many days getting their hands dirty helping with various projects on the Talladega campus. One of our strongest partnerships is with Student Life Camp and YM360 at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center also in Talladega, which refers volunteer groups to the Home during their summer camps.
First Baptist Church of Zebulon, Georgia, brings groups every summer, and this year, the crew felt a special bond working on Whitfield Cottage that is being renovated to take in more homeless children and their moms through our expanded Secure Dwellings program.
Charles Horde, youth pastor at First Baptist Zebulon, said the team helped drop off furniture at Whitfield and felt a sense of peace and serenity when they entered the cottage that is being renovated to house moms and kids in apartments when completed.
“Doug was talking about how (moms) would come in here with nothing, with garbage bags, with all their worldly possessions in it, and probably more importantly with their children,” Horde said. “And being a parent, that's a tough thing to think about. Where is my child's next meal going to come from or where are we going to be able to lay our head at night?”
When Horde entered Whitfield, he said he could picture these mothers and children escaping turmoil and chaos to find peace in a cottage at the Home.
“As Doug said, it's the peace that passes all understanding. In the midst of chaos, in the midst of things that are going on, there can be peace. And this is an example of that,” Horde said.
Besides working at the cottages, volunteers from EPIC Youth Group FBCZ and Baptist Tabernacle in Tallapoosa, Georgia, tackled cleaning and organizing projects in the barn, kitchen, playground, and chapel, and also spruced up campus with some amazing landscaping.
About 60 volunteers from First Baptist Church in Satsuma, Grace Church of Bainbridge, Georgia, and First Baptist of Greeneville, Tennessee, worked tirelessly to plant 100 flats of beautiful plants generously donated by Brighter Days Plant Farm, Inc., a wholesale plant nursery located in northern Jefferson County. The owners, Jeff and Stacey Tarrant, attend Cahaba Springs Presbyterian Church in Trussville.
Volunteers also spruced up Union Village, where they had the pleasure of meeting one of our residents, Jim Bob Rutlin. He shared his inspiring life testimony, the impact Union Village's stable and clean living environment has made in his life, and offered some very impactful insights for life on both earth and heaven to our hardworking crew.
By serving at PHFC, these volunteers are truly being the hands and feet of Christ, learning about His teachings, while strengthening their faith.
MEMORIAL GIFTS
ABARBARA ARMENDARIZ
George Fritsma
HERBERT L. & NELL S. ARNOLD
Martha Schoonmaker
BROBERT H. BAKER III
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
CATHERINE "KAY" BARNES
Janet Brown
CARROLL BARRETT
Ellen Barrett
LYNDA BEASON
Marimae Coleman
John & Sue Shaver
EDITH MANLY BINZEL & MARTHA KEY KELLER
Leland & Martha Keller
JESSIE LEE MCCULLOUGH BOND
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
THE REV. DR. BENJAMIN S. BOOTH
John Leach Jr.
Anne Whitfield
BOBBY S. BUTRAM
Johnny & Jane Dill
JANE & PAUL BYRNE
Gregory Coe
C
DREW TODD CALDWELL
Robin Emerson
BEVERLY SABOL CHASE
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
CHAD RYAN CHRISTIAN
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
FRANKLIN CORYDON CLAPP
Barbara Clapp
D
BUTCH K. DAMSON
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
ANN DELONEY
George Fritsma
LYNDA VAN DEVENDER
Peggy Willich
JUANITA DUKES
Nancy Moss
VIRGINIA S. DUKES
Gilbert Dukes Jr.
BETTY DURAND
Ed & Deborah Freund
MAC EDWARDS
Gregory Coe
CHRIS ELLIS
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr. F
INEZ FALLIN
Carl Fallin Sr.
EDWARD FISCHER
Robert & Jan Monroe Jr.
VIOLET FREEMAN
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
GWILLIAM EDGE GIDDENS III
George Fritsma
TOMMY GILCHRIST
Molly Dorman
LAUREN GILCHRIST
Molly Dorman
JOHN & MARILYN GRIFFITH
Phillip & Suzanne Ward H
DOT MCCARTER HAM
The Rev. Neil McCarter
JIM HATCHER & STEVE HATCHER
Gregory Coe
JEAN DONALD HAWKINS
Margo Shults
JMARY JEAN TUBBS JOHNSON
Jeanne Buckner
KMITCHELL KAHN
Edward & April Miller
BILLY GENE KING
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
LARRY KIRKLAND JR.
Aloma Killingsworth
L
SHERRY LANGLEY
Jean Moore
RAY LAST
Joan Last
PENNY LAST-LUEHRS
Joan Last
MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PRESBYTERIAN HOME FOR CHILDREN ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER WITH THE NAME OF THE DECEASED IN CAPITAL LETTERS FOLLOWED BY THE DONORS’ NAMES.
SUE ANN LAY
Patsy Link
Autrey McMillan Jr
JUDITH H. LINK
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
PAT LUTZ
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
MGORDON MIKE MAPLES
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
MONA CAROYL MARSHALL
Doug & Christy Marshall
MARTHA ANN MORTON MARTIN
Susan Cleveland
BETTY BOSTWICK MASON
Gregory Coe
NAN MCBRIDE
Junior Welfare League
GEORGE & MARTHA MCBURNEY
Charles McBurney Jr.
JOAN COUCH MCCRARY
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
JEWELL DEAN MCEACHERN
John Motley
GLENDA MILLER
John & Sue Shaver
C. H. MOORE
Jean Moore
SHERRY MORGAN
Barbara Clapp
JULIE MCGRATH MURPHY
Bebe Shaw
NCHARLES NICHOLAS
George Fritsma
MARILYN NICK
Phyllis Jean Lawrence
CHARLES "CHARLIE" S. NORTHERN
Kathryn McKey
LAVAVA NORTON
Mary Southerland
OWALTON HERBERT OSBORNE III
Chester Lund
OUR MOTHERS
Augusta F. & William Long Forbes
OUR PARENTS
Richard M. & Martha E. Katz
PWYNELLE POOLE PARDUE
Susanne Feagin
LEE PARNELL
Larry & Becky Dawson
LEONA & STEPHEN PERRY
Gregory Coe
MARY JOYCE HARRIS PONDER
Elizabeth Ponder
LILIAN LONG PRITCHETT
JoAnn Day
RDR. JAMES W ROBERTS & FAMILY
Dana Bell
DR. JAMES W. ROBERTS
Cindy Cable
First Presbyterian Church of Charleston, WV
Carol Powell
Bonnie & Derwin Teichmiller
VIRGINIA CRAIG ROBERTSON
Mary Beth & Joe Philips
SW.F. SANDERS
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
GARY A SCOTT
John & Carol Fee
JESSE SEMONES
Phyllis Jean Lawrence
DOMMIE SHARPE
Drew & Debra Barnett
RITA & DONNIE STINNETT
Phillip & Suzanne Ward
FELICIA AYERS STOREY
Dorothy Martin
Dr. Horace Patterson
TMICHAEL E. TINNEY
Susan & Hall Bryant Jr.
Phyllis Jean Lawrence
HONOR GIFTS
PATSY CHANEY
Teresa Crawford
D
BILL & STUART DOUGHERTY, ELLIOT & JAMES
Sidney Thompson
E
JAY & HEATHER ELLIOT, MAGGIE, EMILY, & KATE
Sidney Thompson
F FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF LIVINGSTON
The Rev. Barrett Abernethy
MARGARET G. FRITSMA
George Fritsma
G
MARGIE GRAY
Arden Humphrey
AMBERLEE HOLLIDAY & JORDAN PEARCE
Shirley Hinton
K
MR. ED KING
Sidney Thompson
M
CARL MARTIN
George Fritsma
MARTHA MARTIN
Carl Martin
MICHAEL MCAULIFFE
George Fritsma
JEAN MOORE
Chuck & Sharon Moore
SHARON MOORE
Tammy Mentzer & Patrick Brown N
COURTNEY PUCKETT & BRITTANY NELSON
Martha Carmack
OOAKMONT PRESBYTERIAN'S CHRISTIAN LIFE SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS
Ray & Cynthia Jouret
PHFC COUNSELING CENTER
Stewart & Missy Waddell
MRS. MARY WALLIS ROBERSON
SUMMERVILLE
Sidney Thompson
ANNE WHITFIELD FOR THE WHITFIELD COTTAGE
First Presbyterian Women of Huntsville
Stella Wilson
CINDY WILSON
The Rev. Buz Wilcoxon
DONNA WINN
Alice Page
NEWELL & MARY WITHERSPOON
Robert Neighbors
MARY ALETA WORD
Phyllis Jean Lawrence
ANGELA WRIGHT
Alice Page
SPECIAL HONORS
In Honor Of LIZ K. GOLDMAN on her birthday
Anne Jones
In Honor Of LISA & RAY TUCKER on their birthdays
Josephine Tucker
P.O. BOX 577
TALLADEGA, AL 35161
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PLEASE USE THE ENCLOSED ENVELOPE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS OR ADDRESS CORRECTIONS. ENCLOSE THE MAILING ADDRESS PRINTED ABOVE WITH YOUR REQUEST.
HOME STARTS WEEKEND BACKPACK PROGRAM AT WILCOX COUNTY SCHOOL
As children in Wilcox County’s Pine Hill community return to school in August, there will be a new program in place to ensure the neediest children go home every weekend with good food to tide them over until Monday comes back around.
Through a partnership, the Presbyterian Home for Children and Pine Hill nonprofit MIND Mentoring in New Dimensions are starting a Weekend Backpack program that will send two meals and snacks home with 50 children in the most need at FS Ervin Elementary School in the Wilcox County school system.
Many children in impoverished areas get their best meals at school. That includes FS Ervin students who eat breakfast and lunch at their school during the week. But many have food insecurity during the weekends when school is closed. That’s why we are starting the Weekend Backpack program with MIND Director Brooks Thomas.
The program is being set up with help from First Presbyterian Huntsville’s Karen Madison, who has run a similar weekend backpack program for several years.
Our program will receive food items from the Selma Area Food Bank, but we will need help covering the cost of other items not provided by the food bank and with helpers interested in packing the bags once a month. If you’re interested in participating, let our Mission Outreach Director Cindy Fisher know at cfisher@phfc.org.