Pathways Danbury & Naomi Mentoring Alumni Reunion

Mentoring is at the core of what we do at Jericho Partnership….and sometimes, we just love to celebrate all God has done through our mentors and mentees!

Please join Mr. Beattie and the Pathways Danbury and Naomi Mentoring staff for a Mix and Mingle, Meet and Eat Alumni Reunion. Let's take some time to reconnect and catch up with one another. It's guaranteed to be a good time for all so please make every effort to attend this event.

As always, please contact me at 203.241.0686 or clara@jerichopartnership.org with questions or for more information.

The event will be held in a pavilion and Covid 19 guidelines will be followed. Every effort will be made to keep us all safe.

We are looking forward to seeing you all soon!

All the Best,

Ms. Perkins

Pathways Danbury & Naomi Mentoring Alumni Reunion (for all mentors/mentees)

Saturday September 11 at 2:30 pm

Michaels at the Grove, 41 Vail Road, Bethel CT

Carrie L. Amos to Leave Jericho Presidency in August

Carrie L. Amos, who has led Jericho Partnership for 14 years as Executive Director and President, will leave her position as President at the end of August 2021 and will take a role with Maranatha Foundation, the entity that provides the majority of Jericho’s funding. 

Carrie will continue to work on behalf of Jericho, focusing on community relations and development, said Bill Beattie who, as Jericho’s Founder and Chairman, also chairs Maranatha.

“Carrie’s deep roots in the community, her love for Danbury’s youth, and her passion for Jericho’s mission make her the perfect person to take on this important role,” Bill said. “Released from running day-to-day ministry, she’ll continue to be a wonderful ambassador for Jericho and maintain her indelible imprint on our ministry to at-risk youth, and to our community.” 

In addition to helming Jericho through many years of growth, Carrie led it through the unpredictable days of the coronavirus pandemic. She worked tirelessly with the staff to pivot ministry from 100% in-person, on-site activities to a hybrid model that has kept students engaged in academics, mentoring, and other compassionate care services, including an expansion of its food operations. During this time, a new and laser-focused mission came to life: a “whole student” 360-degree approach to serving the academic, physical, social, and spiritual needs of Danbury’s at-risk youth, and by extension, their families.

“Several months ago, during a time of prayer, I sensed I was being prepared by God to be released from my current role,” Carrie said.  “It was becoming clearer as to the next chapter of Jericho and my role as president. One afternoon, in particular, a severe storm knocked down several trees in my backyard, creating a chaotic scene right in front of me. But just beyond the storm damage was a beautiful clearing. I sensed God telling me that when the time came that I would have led Jericho to the clearing - including through this pandemic - I would be released from Jericho and could move on to other opportunities. That time is here.”

Beattie said a committee will begin a search for a new Executive Director, who will join the team as soon as possible to enable a smooth leadership transition during a time when Jericho is giving increased attention to at-risk youth. “Given the impact of COVID-19 and reported loss of schooling and social relationships via traditional school networks,” Bill said, “Jericho is positioned to have a significant impact on our youth.”

Introducing Jericho 360

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.