In early May, the Migrant Head Start (MHS) program in Richmond is expected to open the doors of the parish house at Our Saviour to 19 children of migrant agricultural workers in Madison County. Head Start, a program that began in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, provides comprehensive services to families in four specific areas: early childhood education; medical, dental, and mental health care; nutrition services; and parenting education and support. Migrant Head Start is designed to be responsive to the specific needs of the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic needs of migrant agricultural laborers, and adapts to their schedule.
At Our Saviour, MHS will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, usually from April through November. Children from the age of 6 weeks through 5 years will be taught in two classrooms. Preschoolers will be taught in the main room, and babies and toddlers will be cared for in the lower room and the former garage. Five teachers work at the school along with the school’s director, Margarita Young.
The opening of MHS at Our Saviour marks the final stages of a process that began last July, when MHS decided to relocate from the Telford YMCA in Richmond. Having had good experiences with Episcopal churches before (Advent, Cynthiana, and St. Peter’s, Paris both have active MHS programs), Christina Wirth of Community Action Council, who oversees Head Start programs in the Lexington area, approached the Diocese of Lexington. The Rev. Richard Burden received an email about it on his first day as priest-in-charge at Our Saviour.
Richard soon met with Christina. Having determined that the parish house would meet MHS’s needs, Richard approached the Bishop’s Committee and asked them to consider the move. After a period of discernment, during which the Bishop’s Committee met with Christina and with leaders of the MHS-affiliated congregation in Paris, the motion to lease the parish house to MHS was unanimously approved. The terms of the lease were drawn up and approved by the diocesan Standing Committee and Executive Council at the beginning of February 2010.
Work to make the building federally compliant began immediately after the lease was signed. MHS made some capital improvements to the property, adding an accessibility ramp, installing a brand new playground, and painting the exterior. Inside the building, the garage was converted into classroom space, the ramp between the upper and lower rooms was removed, and the fireplace in the lower room was boarded up. A closet was added to the upper room for church storage needs.
Under the terms of the lease, MHS pays a percentage of the utilities and provides funding for a part-time sexton. In exchange, the building is leased to MHS for the nominal sum of $1 per year. The church continues to have full use of the building and playground whenever classes are not in session.
In anticipation of the school’s opening, parishioners have been working hard to clean the kitchen, keep the parish house neat, and find ways to welcome our new tenants. A group has even been attending a Spanish conversation and culture class with Sandra Powell, the Hispanic outreach coordinator for Foothills Community Action (see page 3 for more about this). Richard says, “We’re just so happy to have them here, and we’d like to serve them in any way we can.”
by Monica Burden
We expect there to be a number of ministry opportunities as a result of our relationship with MHS. Watch the Weekly Glimpse for specifics, but here are some needs the staff is already anticipating. To find out more, you can contact MHS at 623-0057.
- Help with monthly parents’ meetings, including snack prep, watching the kids, cleanup. This is a good opportunity to get to know the families better and to hear a lot of Spanish!
- Donations, especially diapers (sizes 3, 4, 5; pull-ups 3-4 or 4-5) and prepackaged (not homemade) healthy snack foods such as graham crackers
- Mowing, especially in the playground area
- Reading and doing art activities with the kids. Note that preschool time is more structured than baby/toddler time; please check with the teachers for scheduling.
