If you haven’t heard yet about the new direction Jericho is heading…
CLICK HERE.
It’s really exciting.
Overcoming a Dilemma
The dilemma is heart-breaking. Should parents quit their day jobs to stay home with their children on remote learning, or risk leaving their children at home, unsupervised, so they can put food on their tables?
Recognizing that at-risk families face the reality of falling deeper into poverty if parents are forced to stay home from work, Jericho Partnership sprang into action.
With the help of volunteers and staff serving as classroom monitors, Jericho began in late September hosting 20+ kindergarten-5th grade students from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, Mondays through Thursdays, so their parents can keep their jobs and continue to provide for their families. It plans to expand the program.
More students are on a waiting list, and Jericho is recruiting more volunteers so that it can open up additional classrooms.
“We’re being guided by two things,” said Carrie L. Amos, Jericho’s President, “First, ensuring our students, volunteers, and staff are in a COVID-safe environment, adhering to all appropriate social-distancing and safety protocols, and second, ensuring that our families don’t have to worry about falling further into poverty. We also want to show our kiddos that education is important to them and that THEY are important to us. So we lead with compassion, and we trust God to provide the volunteers and finances we need to keep our services and programs moving forward.”
Jericho will continue to provide this service to parents and students, expanding to five days per week, and longer hours each day, even when Danbury moves into a hybrid learning model, Amos said. This is in addition to its regular ongoing mentoring and tutoring programs, which is currently serving about 150 students.
Jericho’s commitment to youth is now expanding to include academic support and tutoring based on each student’s individual need. It’s part of “Jericho 360,” a new model of ministry to at-risk youth that employs a 360-degree “whole student” approach to individualized compassionate care, addressing each students’ academic, physical, social & emotional, life readiness, and spiritual needs.
“This crisis has created opportunity. We're in a new world of learning so we're going to seize this opportunity and provide some really creative ways for students to learn and grow,” Amos said. “It's time to move away from the 'old way' of tutoring kids, and into new and exciting ways to have them really engage with the world around them. We believe it will benefit them in the classroom and beyond.”
To volunteer at Jericho, click HERE
To support Jericho financially, click HERE
Our Fiscal-year-end Appeal Letter
The Murder of George Floyd
Dear Pastors, Friends, Jericho Staff and Volunteers
The murder of George Floyd on Monday, May 25 will be long remembered for having triggered riots, destruction, and death throughout our cities. My purpose that follows is to avoid any further mention of these ugly distractions and focus on the real issue – racial injustice – and its impact on our cultural values and the faith principles that we Christians embrace. I believe that we, the Jericho Partnership, must speak out on this issue – racial injustice – because as Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer said while held captive by the Nazis in World War II, “Silence, in the face of evil, is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act, is to act.”
First of all, we send our condolences to the Floyd Family as they grieve the terrible experience of viewing George’s death on a TV screen. Similarly, we pray for peace for all those of color who see this as an extension of racial injustice in our country.
I believe that justice is very much an integral part of our Christian faith and the Jericho Partnership has sought justice in all of our ministry relationships. The Apostle Paul in Galatians clearly outlined the equality of ALL believers, Gal 3: 28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
We also know from Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them.”
ALL MEN AND WOMEN ARE CREATED EQUAL
And we are called to “Strive for peace with EVERYONE, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:4
So what is the problem? Do you agree with the respondents to a Barna survey in 2018 that slavery has had a significant impact on black Americans today? Why has racial injustice plagued our nation for 400 years? As a black or white person, what has been your personal experience? What can we do about it? What can we as the Jericho Partnership with over 20 Church partnerships contribute?
First of all, I would like to invite our Senior Pastors to join in a video conference on June 9 at 1:00 to begin a conversation that will lead to ACTION and attack the injustice that exists in our community. In addition, I would hope we can dispel some of the perceived injustice and develop understanding of the realities of the situation.
Secondly, I would invite all who read this to consider volunteering for Jericho Ministry as a mentor, teacher or Reading Buddy. This is where the action is and we need help to reach out to the at- risk youth in our community during a summer of COVID-19. You will be safe.
Finally, as an elderly white guy, I know there may be some skepticism regarding my taking the lead on this subject of injustice. I would hope that the involvement of the Jericho Partnership in the Danbury community since 2005 and prior to that in 1997 as Pathways Danbury will give me grace to lead this first conversation with our Pastors. Please encourage your pastor to join us on June 9 at 1:00. We will be contacting him or her directly, but your encouragement would be a great help.
I believe we are called to action vs injustice by our Lord, Jesus Christ. Please join me in prayer with those who marched in Danbury on June 3, for justice with peace in our community.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Your continuing support is appreciated.
In His name,
Bill Beattie, Jericho Founder & Chairman
A Life Well-Lived: Katherine Beattie
Katherine Louise Beattie passed on May 6, 2020 after a prolonged battle vs congestive heart failure and a severe accident suffered in July.
Kathie was born on December 31, 1938 and raised in Westfield and Bloomsbury, N.J. the youngest in a family of four children of the Alfred Luessenhop family. Kathie graduated from Cedar Crest College in 1960 and married her husband, Bill Beattie, in June of that same year. They planned to celebrate their 60th anniversary on June 18, 2020.
Kathie taught elementary education in the Bethlehem, PA school system for two years before settling down to be a homemaker and mother of three children, Victoria, Michael and Elizabeth. The family moved with Bill's Union Carbide job changes from Bethlehem to Cleveland, Ohio to Pittsburgh, PA and Wyckoff, N.J. over the next decade before moving with Union Carbide to South Africa in 1974. Kathie and Bill returned to the U.S. and have resided in Danbury since 1980.
While in South Africa, Kathie's love of nature and the wildlife of the country led her to a commitment to wildlife photography, "to share the Lord's creative masterpiece with others". Her lion photos and those of the hummingbird taken in Africa, South America and the U.S. grace many walls here in Greater Danbury.
Kathie and Bill have served at the Walnut Hill Community Church for over 25 years. Their concern for youth in the "at risk" population led them to launch Pathways Danbury, in 1997, the roots for the Jericho Partnership.
In addition to her parents, Kathie was predeceased by her three siblings, Barbara, Alfred, and David. She is survived by her husband, Bill, her daughter, Vicki, her son, Michael and wife Laurel and their children Shannon, Kevin and Jennifer and her daughter, Liz and husband, Matt and their children, Ellie, Cameron, Will and Reese.
Kathie will be remembered for her caring nature, faith in God and generous and engaging smile. She was family centered and loved summers on Nantucket with her kids and her grandchildren and many friends from 40 years of summers on the Island.
Kathie will be cremated and laid to rest in a private family ceremony with a Celebration of her life to be held at Walnut Hill Community Church after the COVID – 19 lock down is lifted.
In Kathie's memory, we ask that you make a donation to the Jericho Partnership in Danbury.
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Keep our Families Fed
THIS PAGE IS UPDATED FREQUENTLY; our list of needed items is current.
COVID-19 is still contributing to food insecurity in our city, evidenced by the fact that more than 90 families are visiting our Food Pantry each week..
This need remains. So we’ll remain ready to serve families in need as they line up every Friday to receive a box of food.
We’re still accepting donations to stock our pantry.
Our Most Vital Needs:
Non-perishables
Pasta, pasta sauce, rice, canned/boxed soups & broths, baked beans, peanut Butter, jelly, cereal, oatmeal, apple juice, tea, coffee, baby food.
Perishables
Meat (chicken; ground beef & turkey; sausage; pork); non-meat proteins such as tofu, lentils, quinoa, etc.; potatoes; onions; carrots, apples, oranges, bananas, lettuce, frozen veggies
Distribution begins around noon-1:00 pm on Fridays.
No-contact drop off of non-perishable goods at 22 Maple Ave, Mondays through Thursdays, 9:00 am to 5:00 p.m. For perishable items, and for food drive deliveries, contact Mark at (203) 748-4764 ext. 208.
Thank you for serving our city's most vulnerable families.
Diaper Drive Underway in Response to Coronavirus Crisis
Jericho is providing diapers to our neighbors in need, so they have one less essential need to worry about during the coronavirus crisis.
You can help by bringing diapers (sized 2-5 are most in need) and pull-ups, and drop them off in the bin located on the blue porch at 13 Maple Avenue (week days until 5:00 pm).
You can also order them online and have them delivered to Jericho Partnership, 22 Maple Ave., Danbury CT 06810.
We’ll be distributing these diapers through our food pantry, in conjunction with other city agencies, and to those in need through our ministry partners.