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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
Current opportunities to serve

Environmental Club

The St. Paul PALS Neighborhood Schools Partnership is sponsoring a new Environmental Club at J.B. Young.

This group for middle-schoolers is based on the large, active Environmental Club at Central High School (CHS).

Jan Lloyd serves as the students’ companion in exploring environmental matters, especially connected with their personal lives, their school, and their neighborhood.

Several J.B. Young students have signed up. High school club members partner in activities.

Contact Margaret Haas,

Quilts benefit schools

Three long-time members delivered two beautiful handmade quilts, presenting them to the principals of Madison Elementary and J.B. Young Intermediate Schools.

Corrine Betcher and Carma Drechsler had a hand in making the quilts. Jo Drechsler, J.B. student some 70 years ago, volunteered for years in the Madison classrooms.

The quilts will serve as raffle prizes for upcoming family nights at each partner school.

Spiraling with Love

Blessed be the spiral notebooks that tie our hearts with kids and youth at our two neighborhood schools. Each and every student at the partner schools recieved not one but two new notebooks!

The notebooks carried plenty of love inscribed inside the covers. “The messages were amazing,” says Margaret Haas, coordinator of the school-church partnership. “There were quotes, pictures, doodles, smiley faces, hearts, and simple have-a-great-school-year greetings.”

The tally is over 1,600 notebooks, happily bundled and delivered. “The notebooks,” says Margaret, “reminded all the staff at both schools that St. Paul people are with them right from the start of the school year.”

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.”

Community Garden: St. Paul ‘gets growing’

Last year, ideas took root for a community garden in the backyard of our housing ministry at 2025 Main St. St. Paul garderners are gearing up for a new growing season!

The fruits (or veggies) of the garden were 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 »

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.

Contact Margaret Haas,

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>>

"Christmas tells us that here is one who cares about us and comes to be with us...And it means that God cares about how life is lived in the world." ~John Buchanan