Hispanic after-school program awarded grant

Opening the door wide, Jennifer Strother’s greeting is simple: “Enter chaos.”

At about 3:30 p.m. on a school day, students have once again poured into the administrative building of Basic City United Methodist Church for Casa de Amistad, an after-school program offering homework help to students without resources at home.

The program this week received notice from the United Methodist Church’s General Commission on Religion and Race detailing a grant they won to expand and enhance their services. The amount will be between $10,000 and $40,000 and will boost Casa de Amistad’s annual budget of $5,000 to $6,000.

The Waynesboro-based program was one of nine organizations to receive the grant out of a nationwide pool of 135 applicants. A total of $296,0000 went to organizations that advocate for the rights and inclusion of immigrants and refugees.

 “The fact that we even got noticed, that’s what blew [our] minds,” Strother said.

Most recipients are based in metropolitan areas such as Austin, New York City and Phoenix.

“We want these people to feel like they belong,” she said. “If God is calling us in a direction, we go in that direction. And God is going to provide us with what we need.”

Casa de Amistad, which means “Friendship House,” also provides weekly English classes and basic needs assistance.

Strother said she hopes to use the money to buy software for a computer lab for ESL learning and online job applications.

She also wants a new printer and a clothing rack for the ministry. Humble necessities, she admitted.

“We have a poverty mindset sometimes,” Strother said. “Because it started out with, ‘Well, what can we get for free?’ ”

But such a generous grant could push the ministry into new territory, Strother said.

She chuckled as she remembered her experience at another non-profit organization. Upon receiving a comparable grant, the group hired a consultant to advise them how to break the mindset of frugality and to better invest and expand.

For Elvira Chavez, a Waynesboro resident for more than a decade, Casa de Amistad is the best way for her sons to learn English and find homework assistance.

In an interview in Spanish, Chavez said she struggles to read English and to know how to respond to some school papers.

But her elementary school sons Brandon and Jonathan do their work first at Casa de Amistad, then play games with friends and volunteers.