La Pastora, Trinidad and Tobago

(Newsday TT, 2 March) Republic Bank, Habitat for Humanity and Proman TT, through the Participatory Approach for Safe Shelter Awareness (PASSA) programme, has assisted over 6,000 people living in communities throughout TT.

On Friday, the completion of the two-year partnership project was celebrated with a thanksgiving service at the Church of the Nazarene, Santa Cruz Old Road, a media release said.

The programme helped people repair homes that were damaged by natural disasters and provided homes to those whose houses were beyond repair.

The release said the aim of the programme was to raise awareness about the importance of decent homes through education.

After the Church of Nazarene service, a walk-through was done in nearby Ramkissoon Trace, where residents identified projects that would benefit the community. The projects included the completion of a retaining wall, rainwater harvesting systems, a community drain, a meeting platform, and a garbage collection site.

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Ashtabula, Ohio

(Star Beacon, 20 March) Ashtabula First Church of the Nazarene is celebrating 100 years with guest speakers and a free community concert come Labor Day weekend.

“There will be food trucks and activities for the whole family,” said the Rev. Shea McKibben, family life minister. “Our hope throughout this 100th year is to be able to shape the future while celebrating the past.”

Ashtabula First Church of the Nazarene began as a dream in the heart of a man named J.B Neely, a Methodist minister turned Nazarene. At a tent revival meeting in 1921, the Lord moved to make Neely’s dream a reality.

Forty charter members began meeting in the old Chestnut Elementary School and in 1923 they built a church at the corner of West 57th Street and Washington Avenue.

Over the next 100 years, the church planted six additional churches in Ashtabula County — in Cherry Valley, Jefferson, Kellogsville, Edgewood, Geneva and Orwell.

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Paulding, Ohio

(Progress Newspaper, 16 March )The Paulding Church of Nazarene will be the home of Little Sprouts Early Learning Center. Amber Gochenour will be the director and Jeanne LeMieux will the the assistant director.

The opening of the early learning center is still in progress. Gochenour and LeMieux are finalizing the process to be licensed.

Once the early learning center is licensed they will be open for business Monday through Friday. They will offer childcare for the ages as early as six weeks old to 12 years old. The operating hours are 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. During the day, for pre-school aged children preschool classes will be offered. For school aged children there will be support for homework offered as well. Little Sprouts will be open year round - offering summer care for school aged children as well.

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(Lex18, 3 March) Dozens of volunteers gathered outside the Church of the Nazarene in Beattyville Wednesday to unload thousands of pounds in food donations after historic flooding earlier this week.

The food, delivered by Family Food Ministry from Tullahoma, Tennessee, will go to people who've been displaced by flooding in Lee and surrounding counties, according to Church of the Nazarene Pastor Ricky Isaacs.

The church was given just one day notice of the delivery, but didn't want to turn it down, so Isaacs asked for the help of volunteers who showed up to carry and bag box after box of food.

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