Being a former Peace Corps volunteer, I believe strongly in the adage “When you give someone a fish, they eat for a day–but when you teach someone to fish, they eat for a lifetime”. Middleton Outreach Ministry has long excelled at providing “fish” to the community.

There are countless families in Middleton and West Madison who have a roof over their head, food on their tables, clothes on their backs and heat for their homes due to the kindness of MOM and the generosity of the supporters. The thing is, these same families end up coming back through our doors in need of help in future months and years. We want to do something about that revolving door through a proactive mentoring program designed to help families leave poverty behind.

Our future mentoring program doesn’t have a name yet – and we are still fleshing out the details – but we do know some of the things we would like to accomplish. Our main program objective is to empower low-income families to increase their potential to reach self sufficiency. This will include an increase in self-esteem, finding a job with a living wage and health benefits, adequate transportation and child care and most importantly, Middleton Outreach Ministry hopes to help clients feel like a more vital part of the community in which they live.

The new mentoring program at Middleton Outreach Ministry will be a volunteer-based program. The secret to our success will be matching volunteers and low income families in a way that blends different races, religions and denominations, genders, economic status, and generations. The volunteer teams that are formed will act as advocates, mentors and friends.

Church leaders, you know we will need your help in this mission. We hope your congregations will embrace this task since church volunteer teams will provide the core of our mentoring support. Churches bring with them a tradition of community service, nurturing attitudes, community advocacy, the benefit of inter-generational and peer relationships, a large pool of knowledge regarding community resources, a shared vision of commitment to ending poverty, and perhaps most important - endless compassion. All these traditions are needed for the success of our proposed program.

However, we will also be turning to the businesses, civic groups and collaborative agencies for assistance in this undertaking. Middleton Outreach Ministry plans to take a pro-active approach to poverty in our community. One of our many goals is to succeed at bridging the economic gap in our society, guiding families in their daily lives before they drop from low-income living to homelessness.

With the difficult economy we are dealing with each day, the community has been forced to explore more creative approaches of integrating existing services with one element that has long been neglected - human interaction. Our mentoring emphasis will be on one-on-one relationships with families who are attempting to overcome the barriers to self-sufficiency. Mentoring, client advocacy, respectful friendships and life-skills development are essential components we will be building on.

The hands and hearts of many will be needed to rescue our neighbors from the endless cycle of poverty.

© 2004 Middleton Outreach Ministry

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