D. Thomason Outreach Profiles

First Presbyterian Church, Shreveport takes great care in our partnership with organizations who are faithfully living out their call to share Christ's love by equipping leaders, building institutions, and strengthening communities by serving those in need. Read about the agencies who have been awarded a grant in 2010 from the D. Thomason Fund.

Holmes Chapel Presbyterian Church Holmes Chapel is an African-American Presbyterian Church located in southeast Arkansas. Their mission is to empower and impact educationally disadvantaged youth of the community. Their goals are to increase student's ability to learn, and reduce the number of High School dropouts as well as to improve academic performance and conduct, and increase enrollment in college and technical institutions. Holmes Chapel Presbyterian will carry out their initiative by using the 2010 D. Thomason Grant Award to partner with the Monticello School District to provide 3 hour sessions of bi-monthly tutoring for students in grades 6-12 with certified teachers in reading, math, and biology.

Literacy Volunteers at Centenary College LVCC serves an adult population living at or below the federal poverty level who experience learning difficulties and literacy deficiencies. Their mission is to promote literacy in northwest Louisiana. LVCC's goal is to provide training in order to improve reading, communication, and comprehension skills; resulting in increased job opportunities, higher wages, decreased dependence on welfare, and the development of self confidence and improvement of social skills. LVCC will use the 2010 D. Thomason Grant Award to purchase two new televisions which will allow the use of videos that accompany the literacy curriculum, three 4-drawer file cabinets to store program files and equipment, as well as an electronic typewriter which will be used by the staff at LVCC to complete required program forms.

Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary has an unwavering commitment to the preparation of women and men for pastoral ministry. Their mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people. Austin Seminary's goals focus on the priorities of student fellowships, endowed faculty chairs, library improvements, new housing for students and sustainability for the College of Pastoral Leaders. The grant award provided by the D. Thomason Fund will go to the seminary's Comprehensive Campaign which will fund their priorities.

Montreat Conference Center Montreat Conference Center is a national conference center of the PC U.S.A. which offers approximately 50 annual conferences, retreats, and seminars to more than 700 congregations and over 47,000 people seeking physical and spiritual renewal. Montreat seeks to glorify God by serving the whole Church of Jesus Christ by calling all God’s people to a place set apart, for spiritual commitment and renewal, to grow in discipleship, to build relationships, and to prepare one another for Christ’s ministry in the world. Montreat's goal is to help fund an endowment for Youth Conferences. The conference center strives to ensure that no church or individual youth will miss the opportunity to experience Montreat conferences based on their financial need. The D. Thomason Grant Award will help Montreat provide scholarships for individuals and church groups.

Joy to the World Ministries Joy to the World Ministries is a Christ-centered initiative caring for, educating, and empowering the people of low-income communities. Joy to the World exists to collaborate with the people of low-income communities and the Church worldwide to promote Christian missions and engage in community development activities to the glory and praise of God the Father. This ministry implements self-sufficient, sustainable, and incremental projects. These projects include digging deep wells for clean drinking water, building medical facilities in villages with little access to health care, enhancing education by providing teachers and organizing the community to provide a daily breakfast for children who attend school, installing maize mills, issuing micro-finance loans, opening a Christian library, and an Internet cafe. Funds provided by the D. Thomason Grant Award helped to purchase two new motorcycles and an SUV 4WD vehicle. This will help to facilitate the ministry's efforts associated with missionaries' long distance travel to reach the villages served.

Food Bank of NWLA Serving northwest Louisiana as a hunger-relief organization, this organization strives to end hunger in Northwest Louisiana by ensuring a consolidated network of effective food collection and distribution which will provide universal access to food for the needy in our communities. The Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana solicits, stores, and distributes food and other essential items to low-income children, senior citizens, individuals and families through a functional network of over 100 community and faith-based nonprofit organizations. Their mission is to serve as the primary resource for fighting hunger in Northwest Louisiana. Funds awarded through the D. Thomason grant will provide an electric floor pallet truck that will enable workers and volunteers to safely handle food pallets without damaging valuable food commodities and will ensure the safety of the workers and volunteers.