Shelby County Outreach Ministries Presented Check to fund Homeless Shelter - July 22, 2010
Composed by JJ Ford

On Wednesday, July 21, 2010, Gary Lee Ashcraft of Nacogdoches County United Way presented a check totaling $6, 627.27 to Pam White on behalf of Shelby County Outreach Ministries, Inc. The funds donated were accumulated from funds donated to United Way primarily from Armstrong and Hallmark. Pam plans to use this United Way allocation to leverage purchase of the much needed Weaver Building located on Shelbyville Street for a homeless shelter.

Gary commented that Shelby County along with San Augustine County are in our “footprint” as designated by United Way Worldwide. Going forward we hope to organize a United Way movement in each area which would encompass work place campaigns for employees in the larger to medium size companies and contacts with smaller business to give the business and their employees an opportunity to participate in United Way initiatives to fund needs of the community.

Pam stated that $5000 of this donation will go to the $50,000 needed to acquire the Weaver Building and that the organization will have 90 days to accomplish this task.

The organization is currently striving to include a homeless shelter and a soup kitchen to their community programs. The county is in desperate need of these two programs! Shelby County has over 25,000 people and NO shelter or soup kitchen!

Shelby County Outreach MInistries, Inc. is in need of help, needing individuals, churches, and businesses to partner with them! For more information or to make a donation, contact Shelby County Outreach Ministries, Inc., Pam White (Executive Director), P.O. Box 1029 , Center, Texas 75935 | Phone: 936-572-5040

Shelby County Outreach Ministries, Inc. is the umbrella under which Meals on Wheels, the Senior Nutrition Site and Helping Hands Outreach operate and is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. The ministry started with a free community Thanksgiving Day dinner in 1991 and incorporated in June of 1997.

Photo left to right: Jodi Wright (Weaver Building Rep), Deronda Edwards (Vice President), Pam White (Executive Director), Gary Ashcraft (United Way/Nacogdoches)