St. Andrew's Takes Dover Elementary Under Its Wing

Shortly after adopted Dover Elementary School as one of its ministries, the ministry's coordinator, Nancy Plate, was playing a game of charades with the children at the school.

"I was pretending to make a bed, but the children weren't able to guess what I was doing," said Plate. "When I mentioned this to the school's social worker, she told me that most of the kids don't have beds. They sleep under blankets on the floor."

At the school populated by the children of migrant farmworkers, things most children take for granted, such as backpacks and books, are a luxury.

When they became aware of the many needs of the children at the school, members of St. Andrew's, 3315 Bryan Rd., Brandon, began the ministry to help the students and their families.

"It began over five years ago with our Friendship Circle just tutoring the students," said Plate. "Over time, we have added enough tutors, 10 to 12, to help the children every week."

Plate noted that the one-on-one tutoring sessions are especially important at Dover Elementary School where English isn't always spoken in the students' homes.

The tutoring also is necessary because the children miss so many days from school, she added.

"The attendance at the school fluctuates during the year because of the influx of produce pickers who come to Florida during our growing season," she said. "Consequently, these children miss many days of school and need extra help to catch up."

Education, said Plate, may be the children's only ticket out of poverty.

"Over 90 percent of these families are below poverty level and receive free lunches for their children. Many of these children depend on the free breakfasts and luncheons for their daily nutrition."

The tutoring sessions are paying off.

"At the beginning of the year, many of these children were below grade level because of their irregular school attendance and being hindered by their lack of knowledge of the English language," Plate said. "With our tutoring program, the children's scores improved significantly."

However, the church's efforts didn't end at tutoring the children.

"Many other factors affect the children's learning ability," Plate said. "Through talking with the children and their teachers, we discovered many were without adequate clothes and blankets to keep them warm during our cold season. Their parents could not afford school supplies and even food over the Christmas holidays was a problem since they could not receive the free breakfasts and lunches supplied when school was in session."

When the challenges facing these students were relayed to the St. Andrew's congregation, the members stepped up to help, Plate said.

"Over the past five years, our members and small groups have addressed the problems of hunger, lack of warm clothing and blankets, inadequate school supplies and book bags and have provided money for student/family emergencies," said said.

"All of the groups at the church have helped in some way," Plate said. "Even our youth groups and the Scouts."

Collection drives have included Book Bag Sunday in which members bring backpacks for the children at each service and Blanket Sunday in which members collect new and slightly used blankets for the migrant families prior to the cooler weather.

"We have collected as many as 1,000 blankets on a Sunday," said Plate. "We have also supplied Kleenex, paper towels and other hygienic supplies to classrooms for the children's use. And our vacation Bible school has attendees bring a school supply each day for Dover students."

Members also collect school supplies during a Christmas in July collection drive and purchased more than 300 new sweatshirts for the children along with jackets and sweaters, underwear and new socks during the church's "Jesus Walk" in last December.

Before the Christmas school break, members also purchase beans, rice, flour and other foods to feed the families over the holidays.

For the Reading Garden at the school, the church's men's group, Men of Valor, delivered and helped assemble six new picnic tables for the school grounds.

Church members also provided money to purchase mulch, plants and stones for the Reading Garden so the children would have a tranquil, pleasant area to sit and read with their classes. 

"Many of our members, young and old, worked side by side with Dover parents and teachers at Dover Work Day to spruce up the Reading Garden and grounds after winter," said Plate.

In addition, St. Andrew's members donated money to the school's emergency fund for families who might not have the money to purchase medicine for a sick child or to provide a voucher for food for a family who had no funds feed their children.

"We continue to meet the need of Dover's children as we can," said Plate. "We are thankful God has blessed our congregation with the means to help those less fortunate. We have a heart for Dover and are glad we can show them God's love through our connection."

The efforts of the congregation haven't gone unnoticed. Recently, St. Andrew's received the SERVE Tutor Award. Thirty-eight groups were nominated for this year's award.

"We were delighted to receive the award," said Plate. "What a great surprise it was."

But the real reward is being able to work with the children at Dover, she said.

"The joy we get from helping these children is reward enough," she said., "There's nothing compared to those little kids running up and hugging you. They are so sweet and appreciative of what we do for them but I am sure we get more out of it then they do."