En espanol

ROSEDALE, Va. (April 6, 2016) – Brooke Atchley is so excited, she’s breathless. She’s telling story after story of how volunteers, local businesses and neighbors are stepping up to transform a former school into a ministry center.

“It’s really very much a grassroots, organic kind of thing,” she says, “and the community support for this is just crazy.”

Elk Garden School Community Ministry has received a total $125,000 in grant money -- including an $88,000 “Global Health” award from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries -- to provide a myriad of ministries: 

* community garden
* cooking classes
* Narcotics Anonymous
* thrift store
* fitness classes
* after-school program
* walking track
* senior care
* computer lab

Atchley, who serves as a United Methodist “Church & Community Worker” for the Holston Conference’s Tazewell District, says the community started thinking about how to use the old Elk Garden School when it closed in 2012. The school was built in 1916 and had a longstanding relationship with Elk Garden United Methodist Church.

The project really took off when Holston Conference challenged its 164,000 church members to give $10 and 10 hours of service per person in 2015, an initiative to help local children in poverty, Atchley said.

“That was pivotal and really got people to thinking, ‘We can do this,’” she said. “People would come by and tell me their dreams for the building. My job was not to tell them what to do but to help their dreams become a reality.”

A master plan was developed, involving renovation and ministries to serve the northern part of Russell County, including Elk Garden, Lebanon, Honaker, and Belfast, Va.

“The rate for free or reduced school lunch here is 60 percent,” says Atchley, “but we think it’s higher because a lot of people don’t report it.”

 

FULL SPEED AHEAD

The school board approved the plan and in October 2015, Holston’s Tazewell District signed a three-year lease on the building, with an option for a two-year renewal and “first refusal” on purchasing the property.

There hasn’t been a quiet week in the 100-year-old, three-story building since, Atchley says. She estimates that 200 volunteers have been on the grounds to help the building get ready for its new ministry.

“When the weather was bad, farm owners sent their workers over here instead of sending them home,” she said. A local business owner did the same with his grounds crew.

Volunteers from St. Joseph University in Philadelphia, Pa.; an inmate crew from Appalachian Detention Center in Honaker, Va.; and members of Elk Garden, Dennison and First Honaker United Methodist Churches have joined with others to clean, paint, repair and renovate the building, as well as turn the soil for the community garden.

The first ministry to open will be Garden Treasure Thrift Store in May, managed by the Elk Garden United Methodist Women.

In June, the children’s program should be up and running, Atchley says. The plan is to provide a weekly program including reading, cooking and gardening.

Several individuals and businesses have donated supplies, including the woman who had equipment delivered to create a “mobility garden” for people using walkers or wheelchairs.

“I told her that was what we eventually wanted to do,” Atchley said, “and one day a truck from Lowe’s pulled up. At first I thought it was a mistake.”

Another new ministry is GEMS, or Garden Elder Ministry Services. “Everything we plan, we first look at the gaps in the community,” Atchley explained. The planning group learned that loneliness is deadly for seniors, so they created a weekly program offering fellowship, a nutritious meal, education and activities such as chair yoga.

 

FINDING FUNDS

The Holston Conference Foundation provided a $10,000 seed grant, then offered an additional $10,000 matching grant to boost at least $10,000 raised by the community, Atchley said. In all, the community has raised about $12,000.

In fall 2015, Holston Conference provided a $5,000 grant from the Annual Conference offering for local children in poverty.

Earlier this year, Tazewell District received an $88,000 grant from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries to help remove barriers to healthy nutrition in the U.S. The funds will be used for cooking classes for senior citizens, teens, children and diabetic patients; new kitchen equipment; the walking track; sports equipment such as soccer and basketball goals; and payment for fitness instructors, Atchley said.

Her next challenges include finding funding for a new playground, Atchley said. “There isn’t a public playground within a 45-minute drive.” 

Other needs include volunteers who are skilled in plumbing and work crews who could help build the playground, a greenhouse, or a picnic shelter. Atchley said she would also be grateful for church groups who could lead Vacation Bible School.

Elk Garden School Community Ministry has a part-time local pastor appointed to the ministry (Mary Chapieski) and recently hired a part-time gardening coordinator, Atchley said.

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Follow Elk Garden School Community Ministry on Facebook.

 

See also:

"Elk Garden School has bright new future" (Lebanon News, 1/27/16)
"Brooke Atchley, Church & Community Worker" (GBGM video)
"Atchley connects Tazewell churches in new position" (The Call, 8/19/13)