January News!

            Lee and Dana Trotter

      Prescott Community Outreach

                January 2019

Happy New Year! We had a good break over the holidays; hanging out with our family, working on cars and some house projects, and recovering from the stomach flu. Now we are back at hanging out with neighborhood kids and making plans for the spring.

Dana and I have been involved with the church's monthly food basket give away. Starting next month, we are taking over the lead of this program. Last month, we had over 50 people come to receive food baskets for their families, so we are excited to take this over and make some changes to accommodate the growing need in our community.

First, we are moving the food basket area to be a part of La Paz House. This will give us more room, be on the ground level, integrate with our current La Paz outreach, and help us get ready for the church kitchen re-modeling project. 

Second, once we get this up and running, we will be moving the food basket day to Saturday. This will require us to recruit and schedule volunteers better. If you are interested in helping, let us know.

Third, after this transition, we will need more donation partners, program funders, and any other ideas for expansion to this ministry.

Here is what has to happen:

    -Clean out upstairs room and move bike shop upstairs. 

    -Sorting some supplies, bicycles and parts.

    -Install a new door, cabinets, and build shelving and paint the new room.

    -Move a freezer and clean out current food basket pantry.

    -Add some signs, refrigerators, and ???

This is a fairly big project and we want to get it done by Feb 14. We are scheduling workdays and volunteers to make this happen. We hope to be able to expand this ministry to our community, get more people involved, and add health training and ministry components after we get things up and running.

Thank you for your support and prayers. Thank you for trusting us to try to make a difference and share the love of Jesus with our neighbors. We are excited for what this year could bring!

            We love you,

         Lee & Dana

Support gifts and donations should be made out to “National Christian Foundation” and are fully tax deductible. We receive 99% of the funds you donate.   Please designate “Prescott Community Outreach Fund #935502” on the memo line. Use the enclosed envelope or send to:

 Prescott Community Outreach Fund #935502 c/o National Christian Foundation, 11625 Rainwater Drive, Suite 500,  Alpharetta, GA 30009

Kicking off the new year!

Lee and Dana Trotter
Prescott Community Outreach
January 2018

We made it through another year! There really wasn't much doubt, but looking back over 2017, there
were a lot of challenges and successes. There were a lot of events, conversations, opportunities to help and love our neighbors, and times with our family that we are thankful for.

As we look to 2018, I'm trying to do the usual things like eat better, exercise, lose weight, etc. We are also thinking, scheming, and praying about ways to increase our outreach and minister to our neighborhood more effectively. We have tried a lot of things to do this in the past, some failed and others are becoming staples in our communities.

Some of the things we are working on this year are:
  -Continuing La Paz House and increasing our outreach to youth.
  -Working to better host and engage mission teams that visit our community.
  -Increase our bicycle ministry and outreach.
  -Expand our summer ministry programming.
  -Continue planning and working towards developing a not-for-profit 
        community development effort.
  -Develop a movie and discussion outreach program to target young adults.
  -Try to better direct neighbors from our events and outreaches to church.

Personally, we hope to paint our house, finally remodel our bathroom that wasn't included
when we rehabbed the house 7 years ago, and deal with the piles of bike parts in my back yard.
I figure that should keep us fairly busy for this year and maybe more.

Thank you for your love and support to us and our ministry. We couldn't do it without you. We just learned that one of our supporting churches is decreasing their support to us quite a bit which may effect our day
to day lives and outreach. Please pray that God will provide like He hasfor so many years!
     We love you!
     Happy New Year!

October 2017 Newsletter

 Lee and Dana Trotter 
Prescott Community Outreach 
October 2017 

We just returned from attending the Christian Community Development Conference inspired and ready to love our neighbors more than ever! I returned to a long to do list of getting ready for a work day to replace some flooring at the church, a clothing give-away, and a Harvest Fest trunk or treat event.

 La Paz House is going well. The atmosphere has changed a little. When we opened up for the fall, we started with some behavior issues. I planned a parents meeting to deal with it. We told the kids that they were not allowed to come back to La Paz House unless their parent came to the meeting and signed a behavior contract. We figure this will help us develop relationship with more of the parents and help the kids be accountable for the way they act. The only problem was that with all my efforts to send notes home with the kids, put a letter in their mailbox, and text most of them, only one parent showed up to the meeting. I was disappointed, but not too surprised. Getting anything going or organized has been much harder in urban areas than when we were ministering in the suburbs. On to Plan B. The next day, when La Paz House was to open, I left the door locked and sat in front to meet the kids and tell them they could not attend until I personally met with their parent. Half a dozen moms came walking up the road with their youth to talk to me and fill out the permission form. A few of my worst behaving kids have not been back, which is a little disappointing, but in the long run probably best for La Paz House.

 The atmosphere has changed to a hang out with mostly junior high and high school boy. Things are calmer. We work on bikes and skateboards. We have good and much deeper conversations about just about everything. We get the chance to encourage and challenge the boys to e better. With the pressures on urban boys to get into trouble, we are blessed to be able to hang out everyday with them. Thank you for your support! We are seeing God slowly change our neighborhood! 

 We love you, Lee & Dana 

September 2017 Newsletter

 September 2017

 I have often told you about our doorbell. It rings often with neighborhood kids needing their bikes fixed. We spend time patching tires, adjusting brakes, and replacing broken or bent parts. Dana usually has a Popsicle or cold water for them as we hang out and talk. I get about 2 visits per day; some days more. Those are the easy visits. I get a lot of other visits from neighbors on a fairly regular visit. They always want or need something. Some are looking for work. Some are asking for a “loan”, although I've never gotten paid back. My policy is if you don't pay me back, I consider it a onetime gift and they will not get any more. Some need me to fix something on their car or at their house. Some of them need a ride to work, hospital, sister's house or where ever. I usually am able to drop what I'm doing and help them. 

One man Billy, showed up at church one morning. He was still high on meth. After church I drove him around to find him some help. After talking with him, I learned he was on parole, couldn't leave the county, could not be out on street, and could not stay in any of the shelters because he is a registered sex offender. I helped him that day, the next day got him into the hospital, and then got him into a rehab program in Salina. I bought him a bus ticket and sent him to Salina. He showed up a month later after not finishing the treatment program. I again helped him get food and clothes. He had a place to stay and was doing all right. A number of months went by after he ended up back in jail and won a few dollars at the casino and spent it on drugs. He was in trouble with parole and had nowhere to turn. He showed up on my front porch again. But this time he was different. He was clean and talked clearly. We had a long talk about putting his faith in God, is his responsibility in getting better, and how to get clean and rebuild his life. I spent the day getting him a new state id, some food and toiletries, getting a tv going where he was staying and getting him into a drug treatment program. By now, I was not sure that he would follow up or give up again but I have a hard time giving up on people. Pray for Billy. 

I have not seen him and am not sure where he is or if he is following up on his new faith in God. Thank you for praying for us and supporting our ministry here. It is often frustrating and hard to measure if we are making a difference, but I believe we are! We appreciate you all! 

 We love you, Lee & Dana 

August News