Imagine you are a 26-year-old single mother with four children ranging in age from two to nine years old. You didn’t finish high school and you work as a waitress. You struggle to cover rent, utilities, medicine, food, clothes and childcare on less that $400 a week. You apply for assistance, but you are told that your income is too high. You feel tired all the time. Your children see you cry and don’t know what to do. You don’t see a way out. You wonder if anyone cares.
Now imagine that you care. You understand how hard it is. You know that God cares.You want to help. But where do you start?
Women who love the Lord are called to discover more about the ministry of mentoring during a special Hope Builders/Christian Women’s Job Corp (CWJC ) training workshop on March 22-25 at CrossRoads Camp & Conference Center in Lowesville.
Mentoring requires training, and mentor training requires organized coordination. The workshop March 22-25 at CrossRoads is designed to meet both needs. The workshop is Level 1 training for those who want to start a Hope Builders/CWJC site, but it’s also a good place to start if you want to know more about getting involved as a mentor, volunteer or advisory council member.
Hope Builders/CWJC is a mentoring program designed to help women break out of the poverty cycle by walking beside an individual through the journey to self-sufficiency. “We network women with higher education, job training, acquiring better housing, providing transportation and introducing them to Jesus Christ,” says Sheila Smith of the Shiloh Hope Builders in Culpeper.
In Virginia, Hope Builders sites are established in Norfolk, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Fairfax, Culpeper, Roanoke, Henry County, with one pending in Reedville. Christian women all over the state can testify to the success of this program that ministers hope and changes lives.
“We talk about a hand up, not a hand-out,” says Mentor Phoebe Compton of the Shiloh Hope Builders. “I am mentoring a lady who has graduated CNA [Certified Nursing Assistant] classes and it’s been wonderful seeing her grow into a more committed Christian. She says she has gotten her self-respect back–and she’ll probably become a mentor herself.”
You don’t have to have any special skills or background to be a good Hope Builders coordinator and/or mentor but a desire to serve is crucial.
“You have to love the Lord,” says Compton. “Let him be first in your life and love him with all your heart and he will tell you what to do.”
The Level 1 training workshop will help potential site coordinators, mentors, and volunteers learn how to work with local social services, churches, and/or community outreach leaders to establish a Hope Builders site or work with an existing site.
Cost for the training is $212 per person for three nights, meals included. If you or your church or outreach organization is interested in learning more, please contact Sheila Smith at 540-825-6282 or by email at shs047@northern.dss.state.va.us. You can also contact Jason Smith, Crossroads director and chief administrative officer at 434-277-8465 or by email at jsmith@wmu-va.org.
The CWJC is program sponsored by the Virginia and National Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU). More information can be found on the national Internet website at www.wmu.com/getinvolved/ ministry/cwjc. Hope Builders is an offshoot of the national CWJC program, customized for Virginia.