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Friendship

School Partnership

St. Paul’s Neighborhood Schools Partnership is part of the church’s mission to “act with love for the world.” We put our involvement of prayer, time, and energy for kids at two neighborhood schools:

Coordinating this partnership is Margaret Haas,

Opportunities to connect and serve

The St. Paul/neighborhood schools connection is called PALS, an acronym describing the spirit of our congregation’s commitment to central-city kids: Partner. Affirm. Love. Serve.

There are many ways, both weekly and occasionally, that St Paul people invest in and support the schools in our church neighborhood. These include:

  • Prayer
  • Mentoring – meet with a child weekly, usually over lunch
  • Tutoring – during the school day and after school
  • After-school events – play sports, lead crafts, set-up or clean-up
  • Hands-on projects – baking, gardening, assist with clubs or sporting events, organize volunteers
Thanks & accolades

A note from the president of the Madison PTO: “I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for all you have done to help us. Without your generous gifts of time and money, not to mention baked goods, we would not be able to accomplish all that we want to for our school…”

From Katie Hanson, who serves on an advisory council for the Davenport School District: “At our meeting last week, John Border raved about the PALS program, St. Paul Lutheran Church, and our work in the community – in general and at Madison and J.B. Young specifically. He is a major fan of the amazing collaboration in getting the playground installed, all the other fantastic support, and year-long programming…I was proud to be a member of St. Paul, as usual.”

Pray for kids

The end of the school year is a time of transitions. Madison kids will be moving on to J.B. Young Intermediate. Many J.B. youth are bound for high school.

Please pray for kids in transition at our neighborhood schools

Community Garden: St. Paul ‘gets growing’

Ideas have taken root for a community garden this growing season, in the backyard of our housing ministry at 2025 Main St.

The fruits (or veggies) of the garden will be two-fold: To provide a get-your-hands-in-the-dirt experience with children of Madison Elementary School, and to share our abundance with hungry people in the community.

Read more »

JB Young Intermediate School

Shoes That Fit

Thanks to the generous gifts and offerings of St. Paul people, 170 students at J.B. Young Intermediate School received new shoes through the Shoes That Fit program. Socks and remaining shoes were purchased with over $1000 which was also donated to the project. The sock purchase was represented by a store receipt stretching six feet long!

In a letter addressed to the St. Paul congregation, our friends at J.B. Young write, “Our staff was in shock by the generousity of the St. Paul congregation. There is no doubt by any of us that we are blessed by our partnership with the church. When the shoes arrived, they filled a whole room…THANK YOU!”

Shoes That Fit is a national charitable organization. The local chapter is OnMedia of Moline which covers kids at Madison Elementary.

Madison Elementary School

Playground Installation

Recently, a group of volunteers including St. Paul people, assembled new playground equipment in the area between Madison School and the Outing Club. The Madison PTO has been raising money for six years to purchase this playground equipment geared toward their older students.

Sheri Womack, principal of Madison Elementary, wrote in a recent letter to the Quad City Times: “I have been involved in a lot of projects that have come together with the help of many volunteers; however, the purchase and installation of the new playground at Madison Elementary School has to be the most amazing…Margaret Hass…made it her mission to get this accomplished. She enlisted the help of Mark Slifka, whose company…excavated the entire area for our playground. St. Paul parishioners supplied us with food, as well as manpower.”

She concludes her letter, “As you drive by Madison’s new playground located right in the heart of our city,...I want you to know that people from all over our community made that possible. I have never been more proud to be part of this community and school district.”

Photos needed! If you have photos from events at either school, please send them to Margaret Hass or put them in her mailbox at church.

Loving kids

Here are stories of two St. Paul people who know that LOVE is a verb that calls them to serve schools and kids.

Sue Grove

Sue Grove: Blessed to be a blessing

“When you work with kids, you hope that what you do helps to make them strong and sturdy and to withstand storms. But you never know. You just have to have faith that what you do makes a difference.” Read the story>>

Sherry Staub

Sherry Staub: ‘God can make a way’

Sherry “saw beautiful kids and smart teachers with hearts of gold.” Read the story>>