JMU students, church members and volunteers instill...
Faith in the Community
Story by Julie Kim
Photography by Casey Templeton
Great is God’s love.
So high, you can’t get over it.
So low, you can’t get under it.
So wide, you can’t get around it.
Great is God’s love.
It’s a song both young and old sing joyously — arms outstretched and bodies swaying to the beat: “El Amor de Dios es Maravilloso” —The Love of God is so Wonderful. In one corner of the room, a volunteer stands behind a 3-year-old boy and guides his arms to its motions. Scattered around the room, other volunteers sing with the children, occasionally catching their eyes and giving them big, warm smiles. The room quiets down as Sandy Hernandez, Assistant to the Director of Hispanic Ministries, prepares the children for a short Bible story.
Five years ago, Covenant Presbyterian Church bought land on Mosby Road located southwest of Harrisonburg overlooking vast green pastures. It was there that a new church would be built to serve a growing congregation. But behind the church and through a thin layer of trees lies a secluded community, housing low-income families striving to overcome cultural and language barriers.
A trailer community with approximately 100 units, National Coach Estates is home to many Hispanic families of Mexican descent.
Time and time again, Hernandez admits to seeing Hispanic teens become mothers. The result is a dampened future for an already disadvantaged youth.
It was the children of National Coach Estates’ need and Covenant’s desire to serve that allowed a harmonious relationship between two distinct communities to flourish.
It started with a program called “Mexiquito” — Little Mexico. Joe Slater, associate pastor for youth, and kids from Covenant decided to play basketball with children who lived in National Coach Estates. Mexiquito progressed from being solely recreational to including snacks and Bible study. The women at Covenant also wished to minister. And so began the Covenant Coach Club, a program in which 20 kids are selected to join a six-week summer program consisting of Bible study and stimulating activities. The program is now entering its third year,
Hernandez and her husband, Jacinto, both members of Covenant, yearned for something more — a program that would incorporate not only recreation and Bible teaching, but also an outlet to help children succeed academically and develop socially.
“The greatest risk for children is right after school because their parents are not home,” Sandy says. With that in mind, Covenant Presbyterian After-School Program was created.
The program serves children in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Of the 78 kids in National Coach Estates, 50 participate, with 35 regular attendees. The program is nonexclusive and welcomes all who wish to join. This embracing outlook allows children as young as 3 who have older siblings in the program to participate, as well as middle-school teens who participated as elementary students to remain.
“They didn’t want to stop coming, and we didn’t want them to stop coming,” Sandy Hernandez says with a soft, delighted chuckle.
The program is offered Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the school year. Even though the Hernandezes oversee the entire program, each volunteer is designated a particular day to manage.
Slater, who directs the program on Wednesdays, prepares the volunteers for the kids’ arrival by gathering everyone in a circle to pray.
JMU senior Rebecca Anderson has been involved since “Little Mexico” began. Waiting for the children to arrive, she recounts one memorable moment playing basketball at a makeshift playground on the Coast Estates’ property. All the kids would make a big circle holding hands around a trash can and try to force others to touch it.
On this typical day, bus No. 114 pulls up to the church’s front entrance. Slater stands at the bus door and cheerfully greets each student with low fives and the occasional high fives. The squeals of children’s laughter become contagious as volunteers and children chase each other in circles. The students then make their way to the playground, or to a grassy lawn for a round of soccer.
A few girls linger behind and file into a room to practice for an upcoming ballet performance. Blue-and-white socks glide over the cool, stone floor as ballet instructor Katie Keplinger positions the girls for a human pyramid as the finale.
Outside, four young boys crowd around a CD player with their heads huddled together to catch the tune of Eminem’s CD, “Encore.”
On another playground bench, a few children gather to chat under a bright afternoon sun. When asked what he wants to be, 9-year-old Ervin Guillen-Mendez hastily replies, “Let me think about it because there’s a lot of things I want to be.” Still pondering, he continues, “Musician, is that it? Where you go to different countries and talk about God?”
Another child quips questioningly, “Missionary?”
Eyes lighting up and grinning from ear to ear, Mendez excitedly replies, “Yeah! That’s it.”
After 20 minutes of playtime, the kids are ready to wash up and settle down for snacks. Today’s menu: Rice Krispy treats and apple juice, courtesy of Blue Ridge Food Bank. The children take their snacks and hurriedly join their buddies on the lobby floor. The volunteers also pick up some refreshments and join their young friends sprawled comfortably about the room. There’s plenty of food to go around, even for those late-comers who missed school, but managed to make it to the program.
With snack time coming to an end, JMU senior Daniel Bordsem is surrounded by three children all vying for his attention. Bordsem found out about the ministry through a friend. “I love it. It’s great but it wears me out,” he says, struggling to maintain the kids as they tried unsuccessfully to climb his back.
Tummies content, the children head into a room for praise and worship. As soon as the kids are seated, Sandy leads them into the Spanish version of the song, “The Love of God is so Wonderful.” Afterwards, a Bible lesson from John 14:6 is taught. “Maybe you can help me out,” Sandy says. “I am…” As soon as these words are spoken, all the children chime in to finish, “I am the way, the truth and the light: no one comes to the Father, but by me.”
The service ends and volunteers escort the children into their respective classrooms, which are divided into different grade levels. “Mrs. Karen,” as she is known to her third graders, takes her students upstairs where they start multiplication and geography. In her room, Karen Montgomery, a dedicated member of the community, sits on the floor with two girls trying to figure out a geography learning kit while her assistant helps the kids read. As class comes to an end, a student turns from the doorway and yells, “I love you Mrs. Karen!”
The teacher shouts back, “I love you Miss Suzette.” Quietly, she whispers to herself, “That makes my day.”
The success of the program lies in the unified effort to build a strong foundation for the children. The children need someone to love and accept them in addition to receiving help with their studies, as most of the parents are not bilingual, says Slater. The program also provides a place and a group where the children are safe and loved.
Even though the program started only two and a half years ago, the success is already evident. “We do see concrete changes by the way [the children] listen to God’s word being taught, and [how they] respond in prayer and singing,” Sandy says. “[The ministry] might seem little but, without a doubt, it changes a person — their whole future.”
Jeorgina Ledesma, whose five children attend the after-school program, says, “I love it because they help me, with the kids, learn more about God. They help [my children] with homework.” She adds reassuringly in her broken English, “They can stay here safe. I trust everybody.”
The ministry’s effectiveness also stems from its willingness to work in conjunction with nearby schools, such as Turner Ashby and Mountain View Elementary. A network of caring individuals provides an atmosphere of communication that allows the school staff, church volunteers and parents to learn about the children’s progress. Hernandez recalls a time when report cards had gone home and a teacher had contacted the father, only to have the father refer the teacher to the church.
Not only does the program’s success develop from a working relationship between the schools and church, but credit is also given to the 65 volunteers, consisting of high school students, students from JMU and EMU and members of the community.
“It’s an incredible response [for the volunteers to be] so dedicated to these kids,” Sandy remarks. “They love [the children] and serve them.”
Whole families will come to volunteer. Slater with a troop of his own five kids diligently serve together. “I bring my children because they need to grow up with the perspective that they are not the center of the universe,” Slater says. “God is.” They can reach certain kids in ways that adults cannot, simply because they are kids, Slater adds.
It was during the beginning stages of Covenent’s ministries that Eddie and Maria Bravo were introduced to Jacinto Hernandez while he was passing out flyers about the program.
“I met him walking around here one day,” Eddie Bravo recalls. “The kids pointed him out and we introduced each other.”
Bravo, who is a second generation Mexican descendant, and his wife who was born in Mexico, both nod emphatically, agreeing that the program has helped their children.
“It helps a lot in many ways — homework, manners, how to behave, how to be polite to people,” Bravo says. “They [even] teach them how to share.”
As the program draws to an end, the children put away their homework, pick up their backpacks and make their way downstairs where they line up at two different church exits. Volunteers are ready to escort the children back to their respective homes.
Once outside, the sun is ready to set. It’s 5:15. The children make their way around the side of the church in a loose, haphazard line. Some have already crossed a familiar path through the woods while others stray leisurely behind holding hands with several volunteers.
On the other side of the wooded area, the children step onto Opal Drive. The road is on a steep hill that leads downward and then up again before curving around a corner lined with more homes. To the right, a quiet white trailer rests on the bottom of the hill. Next to it, another trailer house is decorated in lights, reminiscent of last year’s Christmas. One by one, the children say goodbye as they return to their respective homes.
“See you tomorrow,” they shout, to no one in particular.