| Ogden Friendship House has a dream.....
Ogden
Friendship House (OFH), located close to Manhattan, began as an outreach of the United
Methodist Church and serves the day-to-day needs of persons living in the at-risk
community of Ogden who need support and assistance. OFH offers food, clothing, tutoring
and an after school program.
Nearly 85% of Ogden
residents live in rental property. Poverty and unemployment are tied to violence and
abuse. The dropout rate for 7th-12th grades is 16%, 12% have special education needs and
71% of the children are eligible for free or reduced meals.
Ogden has no health clinic,
no grocery stores and no public transportation. But it does have gun shops, pawn shops,
bars and liquor stores. Many of the family struggles are related to the close proximity to
Ft. Riley Military Post.
OFH has a dream. They have
been able to purchase property and are now seeking funding to place a new building on that
site. That building would make possible new programs that would further meet human needs
now going unfulfilled. The amount needed for the building is $150,000 and they currently
have $47,907 on hand.
Ogden Friendship House is
one of the Conference Advance Specials. The future needs of the Ogden community will
continue to be unmet unless OFH can find a way to add to their current facilities. The
rest is up to us ... can you consider a donation?
If you wish to support the
ministry of Ogden Friendship House, you may do so by sending donations to Box 328, Ogden,
Kansas 66517. For further information contact Judy Atwood, Director of Ogden Friendship
House at jatwood@flinthills.com or you can
phone her at 785-539-1791 or 785-539-5422.
OGDEN FRIENDSHIP HOUSE
DIRECTOR’S REPORT 1999
I would invite you to take a ride on the Ogden Friendship HouseCarousel.....grab hold and
jump aboard. Pick your choice of seats which represent our various programs.
You can find the boys and girls, the teenagers, the infants and toddlers, a bag or
box of clothing, a sack food, or a llama or a water buffalo, or the men and women of the
community, our covenant missionary, or one of the many volunteers which make up
our carousel as you take your place and come for a ride. As I was thinking
about how to report what is happening at Ogden Friendship House, I kept coming up
with the many images which one might have if they made the rounds of what happens
here. That is when I thought about the idea of a carousel with its many characters
and the choices one has to make when one sets foot on the carousel as to whom one relates
and how much you are willing to invest in the ride. So hang on and let’s get
going. If you want to catch up with what happens to children you can come be involved with
us during the summer with our Vacation Bible
School...always a fun time and this summer we had about 30 persons involved in that
program. Or during the school year there is an opportunity every Monday and
Wednesday afternoon to share with children in the After School Program. In the
spring we were averaging about 40 children each session. Sarah Morris, was our
coordinator last year. This year we have Matt Wilborn as our coordinator. It
is so wonderful to have a male role model for the
children. He has also had some other guys as volunteers a time or two. We are a
little smaller in number this year as the school has their wonderful
21st Century grant which is able to provide additional opportunities for our children in
Ogden. This way with more opportunities the children are able to have more
individualized attention. We are soon to have our Christmas Store for the
children to select gifts for their parents and some of them began asking about that
opportunity in September. Or on Sunday’s you could come and share with us in
Sunday School and Worship...last week I had 13 children from 8 mos. to 16 years.
What a wonderful opportunity and challenge. Of course our infants and toddlers in
the community continue to come for the play group on Wednesday mornings each week for an
hour. So catch up with a child somewhere and experience their life in this
community. Now if you want to beat to a different drummer, you can come on Monday
and Wednesday evenings and learn what our youth are working on in school. Our
Tutoring Program, funded by our YES Fund Grant, is underway again. We have several
youth who have previously been in our After School Program who
are now coming to the Tutoring Program. Matt also is our coordinator for this
program this year. Jill Kanost completed her third year of doing this for
us last June. We also have youth in the Sunday School. This summer we took a
day trip to Worlds of Fun and had a good time. Youth also helped
us with the leadership with the Vacation Bible School. Now if you are more interested in
inanimate objects...let me tell you there are plenty of bags and boxes to which one can
relate in the Distribution Center. Of course you will also be able to relate to many
different folks who come to see us for a variety of reasons and needs. Sometimes the
physical needs aren’t as great as the social needs of someone to listen to them, or a
place to come and see others and be in touch with their surroundings and get out of their
own isolation. Our food needs this last year have increased and average of 50% more
distributions than last year. We now distribute anywhere from 25 to 30 food bags a
week when a year ago we were doing 15 to 18. Since we are on our own to supply these
needs now we are grateful to a couple extra food grants which we had not previously had.
I would invite you to look at the attached chart as to what the value is for one
food/hygiene distribution for a family in any given week. For this reason we are
especially grateful the increase in
donations from a year ago and trust that this new level of giving will continue. We,
however, never have a shortage of clothing...as we are such a throw away society in
this country. So we continue to ask for seasonal things only, so that we can
accommodate the gifts. Things that are nice and that are appropriate we set aside to
use in the Christmas Stores...either for children to select for parents or parents to
select for their children. It won’t be long before these are all gathered from
their hiding places and the selections will take place. Now I wouldn’t be surprise if
by this time you weren’t wondering about that llama and water buffalo I mentioned
earlier. They aren’t exactly native to our area, I know. Well our
worshiping congregation has all year
been collecting our change for our hunger fund. Guess what, again this year we have
raised $400 in change to spend on world hunger...so last week
we decided this year that for $250 we will purchase a water buffalo and for $150 we will
purchase a llama, through HPI to be in mission outreach around
the world to help with world hunger in South America and the Philippines. It is exciting
to know that we can help someone else in response to the help that we receive from others
ourselves. This is in addition to paying our conference apportionments in full, all
our askings, and taking the special offerings of the church. We also gave to the
special advance for tornado victims and have a covenant relationship with Phyllis Asher.
We invite you to join us for a time of worship and study some Sunday and find out
just how much fun we have in sharing our faith with one another. Or come share with us in
one of our special worship experiences during the year from our Covenant Renewal Service,
Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, or Christmas Eve.
These are special times of sharing our Christian faith as a community of faith as we move
through the year. There are some times of the year that I spend a great deal of time going
and interpreting the mission and ministry of Ogden Friendship House. Now this
includes not only telling the stories, but also raising funds for the general budget, my
own covenant relationships, and also now funding for our dream on a new space in which to
continue this carousel of movement, we know as Ogden Friendship House.
BASIC COST FOR A FOOD DISTRIBUTION
BASIC BAG NON-FOOD ITEMS
Green Beans .25 Toilet Paper 1.00
Corn .25 Paper Towels .75
Another vegetable .25 Bar Soap 1.50
Pork&Beans, Kidney Beans .50 Laundry Soap 4.00
2 Soups 2.00 Dish Soap 1.09
2 Fruits 1.50 Shampoo/Conditioner 2.00
2 Tuna 1.50 Deodorant 2.00
2 Macaroni and Cheese .50 Toothpaste 1.25
½ Gallon Milk 1.59 Toothbrush 2.79
1 Dozen Eggs .89 Diapers 5.00
2 Loaves of Bread .40 Lotion 2.50
1# hamburger, pork, (meat) .89 Women’s Hygiene 2.50
Sub-Total 10.52 Tissue 1.00
Sub-Total 27.38
ADDITIONAL FOOD
Cereal 2.00
Rice .80
Pasta .90
Spaghetti Sauce 1.35
Pancake Mix 1.90
Syrup 1.30
Crackers 1.00
Peanut Butter 2.09
Jello/Pudding 1.20
Sub-Total 12.54 TOTAL 50.44 |
