The Shepherd’s Center of St. Andrews, an all-volunteer, interfaith learning program for active adults 50 and above, is known not just for offering an array of classes and activities but also for a long history of giving back to the local community.
This year both traditions continue with the Center’s offering of a free Zoom Summer Camp from June 21 to August 25. Learning, virtual community, and entertainment will be available through hour-long presentations new to the Center as well as some perennial favorites, along with a Movie Lovers’ discussion group and bi-weekly rounds of Trivial Pursuit (details about Camp and free registration are on the Center’s website: www.shepherdscenterofstandrews.org). But the free camp is not the whole outreach story.
The Center, located at Ashland United Methodist Church, reaches out to serve its neighbors throughout the wider Midlands area. Summer Camp this year rounds out a list of projects undertaken with the local community in mind—from sending in-person Center teachers and donating much-needed AV equipment to a Columbia assisted-living facility, which will afford residents increased access to outside speakers, to activities undertaken by the Center’s quilting group, which, in the earliest days of Covid, made and distributed more than 800 masks to health care workers, grocery store clerks, mail carriers, and others.
The Center’s quilters have been active providers of quilts to the Quilt of Valor Foundation, which, since 2003, has honored veterans across the nation with tangible, quilted gifts of love and appreciation, representing the prayers, healing thoughts, and gratefulness of their makers. The quilters have also crafted and donated quilts to Midlands organizations including DSS, Sister Care, Children’s Garden, Epworth Children’s Home, Chemo Comfort Quilts, Lowman Home, and Karis House.
Because Center members believe that, “our hearts—not just our brains and our bodies—must stay active,” every Center session embraces a community outreach project, most recently a Snack Pack offering that provided more than 100 food items plus funds to purchase food weekly for some 70 elementary-school children who are food insecure. The Center has also supported a local food pantry and helped sponsor a Blessing Box, which collects non-perishable food items, toiletries, baby supplies, and other items that are available for the taking and, anonymously, made available to anyone in need.
Members and administration at the Shepherd’s Center of St. Andrews strive to meet Midlands seniors where they are — engaging minds, creating and nurturing community, and addressing needs as they arise.
“It’s our hope that the programs we offer, the classes we put forward, and the Summer Camp we have proposed will and engage and encourage our 50+ neighbors to join us in learning, moving forward, and reaching out,” Center Executive Director Amy S. Crook said.
The Shepherd’s Center of St. Andrews, an all-volunteer, interfaith learning program for active adults 50 and above, is known not just for offering an array of classes and activities but also for a long history of giving back to the local community.
This year both traditions continue with the Center’s offering of a free Zoom Summer Camp from June 21 to August 25. Learning, virtual community, and entertainment will be available through hour-long presentations new to the Center as well as some perennial favorites, along with a Movie Lovers’ discussion group and bi-weekly rounds of Trivial Pursuit (details about Camp and free registration are on the Center’s website: www.shepherdscenterofstandrews.org). But the free camp is not the whole outreach story.
The Center, located at Ashland United Methodist Church, reaches out to serve its neighbors throughout the wider Midlands area. Summer Camp this year rounds out a list of projects undertaken with the local community in mind—from sending in-person Center teachers and donating much-needed AV equipment to a Columbia assisted-living facility, which will afford residents increased access to outside speakers, to activities undertaken by the Center’s quilting group, which, in the earliest days of Covid, made and distributed more than 800 masks to health care workers, grocery store clerks, mail carriers, and others.
The Center’s quilters have been active providers of quilts to the Quilt of Valor Foundation, which, since 2003, has honored veterans across the nation with tangible, quilted gifts of love and appreciation, representing the prayers, healing thoughts, and gratefulness of their makers. The quilters have also crafted and donated quilts to Midlands organizations including DSS, Sister Care, Children’s Garden, Epworth Children’s Home, Chemo Comfort Quilts, Lowman Home, and Karis House.
Because Center members believe that, “our hearts—not just our brains and our bodies—must stay active,” every Center session embraces a community outreach project, most recently a Snack Pack offering that provided more than 100 food items plus funds to purchase food weekly for some 70 elementary-school children who are food insecure. The Center has also supported a local food pantry and helped sponsor a Blessing Box, which collects non-perishable food items, toiletries, baby supplies, and other items that are available for the taking and, anonymously, made available to anyone in need.
Members and administration at the Shepherd’s Center of St. Andrews strive to meet Midlands seniors where they are — engaging minds, creating and nurturing community, and addressing needs as they arise.
“It’s our hope that the programs we offer, the classes we put forward, and the Summer Camp we have proposed will and engage and encourage our 50+ neighbors to join us in learning, moving forward, and reaching out,” Center Executive Director Amy S. Crook said.
Bob Borom (second from left), who served 8 years in the Air Force Reserve, receiving the Quilt of Valor, flanked by the Rev. Reggie Rowell (right) and former Quilt recipient Army veteran Nelson Travis, convener of the Shepherd’s Center quilting group Judie Travis, and then Center president B.J. Bickers.
