Hearts for Highland: To volunteer, contact Carla Leaf or Pat Taft

"Hearts for Highland" is a church-wide education/mission outreach project designed to assist the children of Highland Renaissance Academy by supporting teachers and providing volunteers. Highland is a kindergarten through fifth grade CMS school located at the intersection of North Tryon Street and Craighead Avenue. The population is approximately 430 students with about 95% of them on the free or reduced lunch program. Most students live in single family homes, many with a grandparents as the only adult. Some are homeless and live in shelters or nearby motels. With these demographics, most of the students are considered at risk.

History: In 2002, Elementary students (grades 1-5) under the guidance of Pat Taft (Children's Ministries Director) took on a summer local mission project by "adopting" the school and helping prepare it for the new year. The objective: to take the Biblical lessons learned during the school year and apply them in the summer. They (and their parents) painted, put up bookshelves and new bulletin boards, donated uniforms, supplies and student incentives. With the departure of Covenant Academy (an at-risk alternative school for 6th graders housed at Covenant) in the spring of 2002, volunteers from other areas of the church joined in effort to expand it to a church-wide mission.

Ways Covenant Helps Highland:

Food Pantry: Elementary children in conjunction with Covenant's hunger ministries created a food pantry at the school. These families can get food from loaves and fishes once every two months.  They can get food stamps once a month.  However, often the food stamps run out before the end of the month.  These children receive free or very cheap breakfast and lunches when at school.  When they are not in school, sometimes they do not eat. If they are coming to school hungry, they cannot learn.  It is very important that the children at Highland receive a good education in order to help make their situation better. As you can see there are many obstacles to the children at Highland being able to learn.  If we can help remove the lack of food obstacle, it will be a gift to these children and to their families.   

 

Summer Camp Support: Covenant members sponsored 21 Highland children to attend a week-long camp at the YMCA's Camp Harrison at Herring Ridge. In addition to financial contributions, volunteers served as "camp parents" - providing transportation, sleeping bags, and preparation for the camper and his/her family. Covenant bus drivers transported children both ways between the church and the camp. Three Covenant members who are doctors provided camp physicals. Several volunteers provided bag lunches for the drivers and campers en route; and another volunteer wrote letters to each camper.

 

Continuing Support

During the school year: Covenant volunteers from many areas (Education, Mission, Presbyterian Women, Youth, Recreation Ministries) help in the following ways:

• Serve as tutors
• Serve as lunch buddies
• Provide scholarship/sponsorship for a student to attend an after-school program.
• Donate new or used uniforms
• Adopt classrooms (Circles and other groups or individuals serve as "room mothers" and donate supplies as needed for teachers, and assist with holiday parties)
• High School youth volunteer as tutors in the after-school program.
• Allow Highland teachers to utilize Rec. Wing facilities
• Provide teacher luncheons in Covenant Fellowship Hall
• Provide holiday dinners for families
• link Harris Teeter "VIC" card to Highland (#4135 - register on line here)