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What makes a Potato Drop?

 Community Service, Family  No Responses »
Oct 082018
 

This past Saturday, October 6, 2018, Learning Help Centers of Charlotte partnered with Pineville Neighbors Place and other “for-good” organizations and local churches to bag approximately 2,200 bags of potatoes for those in need in our local community.  What made the event so special was that the volunteers were from so many different organizations. Young and old, from various ethnicities and cultures, blue-gloved people standing shoulder to shoulder bagging thousands of 10 pound bags of donated potatoes, to feed the homeless and area feeding organizations, including Feeding America.

LHCC had a great turnout from our local South Blvd community. We had nine families represented. Moms, dads and 14 children. Every child in our program who attended came with a parent. That was the difference maker. It was also a first for us! Families serving together. It was a beautiful picture of everyone chipping in and making the event a huge success. Many hands made light work… Six big pallets of 4,000 pounds of spuds were sorted and bagged into 10 pound bags for delivery by eager volunteers.

Thank-you Pineville Neighbors Place for partnering with local churches and Learning Help Centers of Charlotte, and helping to show that unity and collaboration go hand-in-hand for area non-profits, who really do much better, working together and praying together.

See everyone next year, so another memorable community serve event!

 

 

We are Family

 Immigrants  No Responses »
Sep 242018
 

“You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family.”

As I become older and perhaps wiser, I have come to realize that spending time with family is one of my favorite pastimes. You see, Caren and I have three delightful daughters. The apple does not fall far from the tree, they say, and we see our personalities in each of them. I feel honored that these three American-born girls call me Dad. They call me other things too, but that’s another story …

Immigrants and their U.S.-born children now number approximately 86.4 million people, or 27 percent of the overall U.S. population, according to a national survey, taken in 2017.

One of the greatest blessings we have is our immediate family. I realize this more as an immigrant, living in the U.S. far from the rest of my extended family in South Africa. This situation is no different for the refugee and immigrant families we serve. Their families, usually, still live abroad. Visiting home is equally infrequent, so we have to nurture friends, and build new families state-side.

As believers in Jesus, we have a family who are related spiritually because of our common faith. This family includes mature men and women who love God and each other. Living in community, is to love one another, as hard as that may be at times. 1 Thessalonians offers some ageless advice in this regard:

  • Be at peace with everyone
  • Strive to do what is good for others
  • Encourage the disheartened, help the poor, be patient with everyone

So, even if we did not pick our family members, we can still find ways to love them, even when they may not deserve it. We can also add to our families, those that are like-minded, and who we can do life together with us.

For our upcoming blog posts, we will start to feature some of the families we serve, as part of an ongoing series, to learn more about their U.S. experiences living in Charlotte, and their children in our programs.  

Brent Morris

Executive Director

Learning Help Centers of Charlotte

September 22, 2018

Riding out the storm

 Positive Encouragement, Social Capital, Storm, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Sep 152018
 
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Hurricane Florence brings both devastation and opportunity. We pray daily for everyone’s safety, especially those on the coast and evacuated from their homes. Perhaps we are reminded by who really is in control. It is also an opportunity to draw close to family, as we gather together and ride out this storm. It is also encouraging to see how much good comes from events like this … helping neighbors, public schools converted to shelters and making provision for those displaced or seeking shelter.

Speaking of families drawing near, my daughter Lauren came home from college in Boone on Thursday. It’s a blessing to have time together at home, hunkering down and being a complete family again.

We are excited to see our extended families again soon. Our board is energized and ready for another year of promoting the mission and vision of LHCC. I refer of course to those we serve each week, in our various programs. We will recommence our after-school homework and reading programs again at the beginning of October. In addition, we have a community event, called a Potato Drop, on Saturday, October 6, hosted by Pineville Neighbors.  Check out our current events for more information. Until then, be safe and enjoy the things that matter most. Family. Our next blog post will feature an update from Britzia, one of our awesome students. Watch her short video as a teaser.  

Until next time …

Brent Morris

Executive Director

Learning Help Centers of Charlotte