Want to Help Out?

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." Proverbs 22:9

Looking for a way in 2013 to get involved in the community? Vision Onward offers many opportunities for individuals and groups to be involved locally and internationally. One immediate way that folks can get involved in Bartlesville is through providing meals. The next group of Pathway Apartment residents are beginning the “Getting Ahead” class series.

Not familiar with this Vision Onward ministry? Well simply stated, the Pathway Apartments are a 22 unit complex that have been renovated into a transitional housing facility. This allows families or individuals a stable living environment for a twelve month period. Residents are provided comprehensive training, counseling, and coaching that are designed to equip them with the basic life and social skills necessary to survive and thrive on their own. It is the only transitional housing available in the Bartlesville area and the program has proven to be very successful as we have seen the first round of residents graduate and move forward into the community as productive and contributing citizens.

We are searching for families or groups that are interested in providing hot meals for 25 people. The meals will need to be delivered to the apartments “ready to serve” by 5:45 on the nights the classes are scheduled. The classes meet every Thursday night beginning Feb. 18th. The meal can be anything from spaghetti to tacos to a turkey dinner with all the trimmings – it is completely up to you but we will be happy to provide suggestions.

About now you are thinking, “I’m not a cook but I’d love to help.” Here is a list of items that can be donated a head of time and take no preparation at all. These are items that will be used in support of the meals during the classes. These items will need to be delivered to the Pathway Apartments no later than Feb. 16th but can be received any time prior to this date.

25 cases of water
12 cans of presweetened lemonade mix
625 paper plates
625 paper or plastic cups
1000 paper napkins
12 large packs of plastic forks, knives, and spoons
12 jumbo rolls of paper towels

If you would like to volunteer to help with the Pathway Apartment meals, donate any of the specified items above, or you would like information about other opportunities to volunteer with Vision Onward, please contact us via response to this posting or calling us at 918-766-3801.

Testimony from Dusty

 

Dusty and his family are currently participating in the Transitional Housing program through Vision Onward.  We are excited to see how God will use Dusty and his family.

Examiner-Enterprise Article about Transitional Apartment Graduate Ronda Harris

Getting Ahead of Poverty: Opportunities Open for Local Woman Who Experienced Poverty

Saturday, November 27, 2010 10:21 PM CST

By Emily Droege E-E Staff Reporter

The well-known adage that things happen for a reason may well apply to Ronda Harris’ life. Even though she and her family were thrown into poverty, the experience of living poor opened an opportunity that is now providing Harris with national recognition.

Several years ago, Harris and her husband were enjoying a slice of the American dream, living comfortably with their two children in Louisiana and holding steady jobs.

Then, a series of unfortunate events suddenly struck the couple, and they soon found themselves struggling to make ends meet.

“We moved to Bartlesville in 2006 and were doing fine financially,” said Harris. “Then two years later, I started hurting in my right arm.”

She proceeded to go to the doctor and was eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in an individual’s muscles, ligaments and tendons. As a result of her medical issue, Harris’ workload at Sitel lessened.

Around the same time, her husband, Ivan, suffered a heart attack, causing him to work less as well. A major surgery soon afterwards resulted in him no longer being able to work. The tumbling blows pushed the couple into a spiral of deepening poverty.

“He became ill and wasn’t able to work as much either,” she said. “He then had a triple bypass surgery and was hardly able to work at all.”

Because of the couple’s limited working hours, the paychecks also lessened, while unpaid medical bills began to pile up. Harris said that the financial responsibilities and stress soon became overwhelming, and her family found themselves struggling to make ends meet, such as paying house payments.

“We were becoming victims of situational poverty, and it was something that I was determined to get my family out of,” said Harris.

Several Bartlesville resources came to Harris’ aid as she and her family tried to pull back from poverty. In particular, she credits Vision Onward and community-minded individuals like Jeff Holley, who helped her family move into a transitional housing program.

“If it wasn’t for the transitional housing program, I don’t know where my family and I would be today,” said Harris. “I’m so thankful for those involved that make a program like that possible.”

Harris explained that while she and her family were in the yearly housing program, she took the required Getting Ahead program. Under this six-month course, Harris was able to examine the impact that poverty has on individuals, families and communities and discovered theories of change to get out of poverty and become a productive citizen.

“During my time in the Getting Ahead classes, I really changed my way of thinking. My whole mindset changed. I learned so much about what I needed to do to take my family and myself out of the situation we were in,” said Harris. “I was determined to manage our budget more responsibly and pay off all the high interest loans.”

While in the Getting Ahead class, Harris created a “mental model” as an end of the course class project. She said the mental model is used to deepen and reinforce what students learn as the sessions unfold in the class.

“The classes were so inspirational to me. I kept visualizing the program as a road map, and being a visual person, I wanted to show what I learned on paper,” she said.

During a sleepless night, Harris put pen to paper and started sketching out the beginning of a board game, incorporating everything she learned in the 20-session class in her drawing.

She said she based her sketch off the popular Parker Brothers board game “Life,” with the intent to help people, particularly middle-class and above, understand what it’s like to live in poverty.

“The game shows how anyone can fall into the trap of poverty, whether its through paying fees, being bonded out, not having enough money for a lawyer, being convicted of a felony or falling prey to things such as pay day loans,” she said. “It’s also a way to raise awareness of why people fall in to poverty.”

Shortly after Harris showed her model to one of her class facilitators, M’Liss Jenkins, it was passed on to the hands of Philip DeVol, a developer of the Bridges Out of Poverty effort, a national poverty alleviation movement.

DeVol was clearly impressed by Harris’ mental model, as it soon will be used as a tool for the national Getting Ahead curriculum. As a result, the board game will be manufactured and distributed nationwide by aha! Process, Inc., which is the driving force behind the Bridges Out of Poverty movement.

As further proof of what she has learned and gained from the local Getting Ahead program, Harris also has shared her family’s story and showed her “Building Bridges” game at a national conference in Indianapolis.

“The game is a learning tool for understanding the daily struggles for those who live in poverty,” she said. “It’s also a way for players from poverty, get out of poverty, and for players of middle class and wealth to see the lack of resources and its effect on certain situations,” she said.

As a graduate of the Getting Ahead class, Harris said she is inspired to spread the word and change mindsets of falling into the trap of poverty.

“I want my children and others to know the situation out there,” she said. “I want to be one of the voices who are helping others understand and get out of poverty.”

“I’m so thankful for the Getting Ahead program and all the allies who are part of it,” Harris continued. “It’s not a handout — it’s a hand-up. It helped me take responsibility and strive to get out of the situation my family and I was in. It was a very positive experience and an all together win-win program.”

Harris has recently started her own specialty cake business, Cute as a Button: D/cor, Gifts and More in Bartlesville. She and her family has moved out of transitional housing apartments and now have a home of their own.

Good News Talk Show

Introducing. . . .

. . . .two new full-time faces at Vision Onward. God has brought us two amazing men who have taken a leap of faith, left their current jobs and began full-time ministry with us. We are thrilled to have Ken Peace and Don Bush partnering with us and we are also very grateful for those who have been willing to help financially to support their work in ministry. They are amazing, strong men of God and are a great asset to reaching people for Christ.

Ken has a special gift with children and all children LOVE Mr. Ken. He has been spending a lot of time with some of the older boys and has developed great relationships with them. It is a huge blessing to have Godly men in the lives of the boys we work with because most of them do not have fathers in their lives. Ken will be in leading in Refuge, Men's Club and he also leads a D-Group (Discipleship Group). Ken has a passion to lead people to Jesus- - -especially children and youth!

Don is a man of many talents. He is very gifted with youth and is instrumental during Refuge with game time.

Don will also be handling many of the responsibilities at the Pathway Transitional housing where we currently have eight families residing. Every Thursday night, the residents of the apartments have classes that they are required to take and Don assists in coordinating those classes.

Both of these men have been a tremedous asset to this ministry and we know God has great plans to use them to further His kingdom!

Pathway Apartments - Transitional Housing

The Alameda Apartments are currently being renovated and will be renamed The Pathway Apartments which is will be a Transitional Housing Solution

Problem: Even before the current recession, essentially every social service support agency in the community was acknowledging the urgent need for transitional shelter along with comprehensive transitional counseling/training to help persons in the Bartlesville area who are completely dependent upon community resources for all their survival needs, but do not want to remain in such a state of dependency. Many people are in this condition because they do not know how to get and hold a job, and then manage their finances and lives so as to live within their means. They need intense counseling, training and guided help with developing basic life skills necessary to become and remain productive members of the community. With the severe economic downturn, the numbers of people likely to fall into this category are bound to increase in the coming year. Yet to our knowledge, no agency in Bartlesville has any firm program underway or in the process of being set up to deal with this urgent need.

Solution: Vision Onward Inc. (VOI) is taking definitive first steps to meet this growing need. With this proposal we propose to provide transitional housing and counseling/training/coaching/guidance to 20 individuals or families for a 12 month period, that will equip and enable them to become productive self-sufficient members of the community. We realize that the need is far greater than the supply we are proposing, and intend to expand our program in future phases as we are able. But we believe some help is better than none, and that taking some action is better than endless talking.

Goal: Life change---Productive citizens that can give in to the community instead of just receiving from it. Also create a band of Christ Followers.

Proposed Benefits:

• Stable living environment in transitional housing units for a 12 month period.
• Assistance with other material sustenance as they transition to self-sufficiency.
• A comprehensive (and mandatory) training/counseling/coaching program designed to equip them with basic life and social skills necessary to survive and thrive on their own.

Proposed number of beneficiaries: 20 family units or individuals per year. We estimate that at least half will be families. Housing will be provided in a renovated apartment building formerly known as “The Alameda” and located at 312 Santa Fe in Bartlesville. The building renovations are currently underway with assistance from church volunteers. The building has 12 @ 1 bedroom apartments and 8 @ 2 bedroom apartments. The facility has an onsite laundry as well as a conference room for training.

Program Details: Program participants will be required to let program staff manage their finances over the first six months (they manage their own with coaching the last six months), agree to random drug testing, help with cleaning and maintenance of the facility, comply with curfews and other house rules, and attend all counseling/training sessions. Those who do not comply will be removed from the program. Counseling/training will include:

• Personal budgeting
• Debt counseling
• Low budget cooking
• Parenting
• Phone etiquette
• Resume building
• Computer literacy
• Other social service resources will be provided on an individual needs basis, including credit repair, “Celebrate (addiction) Recovery” program, and other programs based on individual needs.
  

Selection process: Applicants for program participation are directed to us from many of the other local social service organizations in the community. They may be either single adults or families. After completing the application, they are brought in for a personal interview, during which the entire program benefits and requirements are explained to them in detail. We are primarily looking for people who want to change and develop the skill of taking responsibility for their own lives and becoming productive members of society. Participants are selected from among applicants on a first come—first served basis. We currently have two approved applicants. One is an individual; and one is a small family.

Community Support: Volunteer commitment and participation by the Bartlesville community is growing by the day. Both Grace Community Church and Christ Community church are providing volunteers and committing to contribute towards the material and counseling needs of the program. Discussions are underway with other churches in the community about how they can best help. We have certified financial planners prepared to provide counseling. Momentum is building.

Timeframe:
Following is our target program schedule:
Start taking applications: Already started
Start Interviews: Already started
Start moving participants in: April 1, 2009
All units filled: on or before July 1, 2009
First participant completes 12 month program: March 31, 2010

Success measurement: The following indicators will be measured, reported to donors, and used to evaluate the success and impact of the program:

• Number of applicants to the program
• Number of applicants accepted into the program
• Number of participants who complete the program
• Number of completing participants who successfully get their own place and are able to support themselves

Funding:
As for all VOI programs to date, this program is currently being funded by private donations and volunteer labor. The apartment building that will be used in the program has been purchased with interim financing, and is currently being renovated. Interim financing is being provided by Jeff Holley, President and founder of VOI, and will continue until such time as adequate funds can be raised from other sources to pay for the building. Jeff is doing this because he believes in the program, sees the need for it as urgent, and does not want to delay its implementation any longer than necessary. Accordingly, Jeff will also provide interim financing for the rest of the project implementation if funds are not raised before they are needed. Therefore, VOI is proceeding full speed ahead with the program as scheduled. In the meantime, VOI is recently launching a fundraising campaign to bring in funds from a variety of additional foundations and donors, in order to ensure that the program does get fully funded.

Cheyenne Transitional House

Jeff, Jude, Kevin, Dave and Nate spent a lot of time this week at a house on Cheyenne that we plan to use as a transitional house as soon as we can get it fixed up. This week, the guys put a new roof on it.

We have plans to move a family of 3, a single mom and her two boys, into this house and allow them to live there for one year rent free. We will provide financial counseling, clean up their credit and help them to save money to put down on their own home after the year is up.

Below are some BEFORE pictures of this house. We still have LOTS of work to do so if anyone has remodeling skills, we could use you!