Agape Child and Famimly Services, Inc., – Memphis
Agape has graciously received a congressional award through U.S. Bob Corker’s office announcing Agape as a 2011 “Angel in Adoption.” Below you will also see the release that went out from his office. I have also attached the congratulatory letter from the group presenting this award, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI). Also, Senator Corker plans to do a :30 – :60 congratulatory video on this congressional award, which will be shown at HeartLight on November 5!

Corker Congratulates Agape Child & Family Services on Being Named an “Angel in Adoption”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., today congratulated Agape Child & Family Services of Memphis and Jackson on being recognized as a 2011 Angel in Adoption for their advocacy of adoption and foster care issues.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), which orchestrates the Angels in Adoption program, honored Agape, along with more than 140 other “angels,” at an awards ceremony and gala event in Washington yesterday, October 5.

“I was proud to nominate Agape Child & Family Services for this award,” said Corker. “For over 42 years they have been committed to serving thousands of children and families in West Tennessee. Their good work serves as an example to us all.”

Agape Child & Family Services, a Christian-based organization with locations in Memphis and Jackson, is being honored for their commitment to providing children and families with healthy homes through community restoration, homeless services, mentoring, foster care, adoption, maternity services and counseling. Agape will serve more than 18,000 children, adults and families this year through its services.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) is a 501©3 nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about the tens of thousands of orphans and foster children in the United States and the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe, and loving homes through adoption.

The Angels in Adoption program is CCAI’s signature public awareness campaign and provides an opportunity for members of Congress to honor the good work of their constituents who have enriched the lives of foster children and orphans in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit http://www.ccainstitute.org/.

On Orphan Sunday, Christians stand for the orphan. We are a people called to defend the fatherless… to care for the child that has no family… to visit orphans in their distress.
We are a people called to prayer and action.

Could you talk to someone in your church about participating in Orphan Sunday this year?
The event is simple:
- Pray for the orphans
and
- Do something to help them.

Maybe this is a simple prayer for the world’s orphans and a special offering to help support the many children that CRF reaches.

Maybe it’s a sermon about helping the least of these and a table with information and sponsorship forms for CRF children who are waiting for a sponsor.

Whatever you can do, we invite you to join us on November 6 in remembering the millions of orphans around the world through prayer and action.

If you would like to organize an Orphan Sunday event, please reply to this email and let us know so we can supply you CRF brochures, child sponsorship packets, or any other materials that you need.

We are blessed to partner with you in caring for orphans!

ORPHAN SUNDAY
NOVEMBER 6, 2011

Plans are coming together nicely for our 2012 CCFSA Conference in Atlanta. It will be held from April 14-18, 2012 at the beautiful Westin Atlanta North at Perimeter hotel. The hotel cost will be $99.00 per night with free parking. The theme for our conference will be “Refreshing Our Vision for Service.”

We’ll start with a pre-conference seminar on Fund-Raising Essentials presented by a highly esteemed fund-raising counsel firm headquartered in Atlanta with clients throughout the U.S.

We’ll have sessions on the changes and challenges facing non-profit child welfare agencies to help us all refresh our vision for service. After the presentation on these topics, we’ll have time to process the information with a lively panel and discussion time.

We’ll also explore the research on trauma and its effects on children, a focus of study and research that is proliferating. Several sessions will be devoted to this topic to help us better understand these issues and how we can respond to help children and families.

Other sessions will be on (a) Building Positive Attachments; (b) Effective Strategies for Coping with Loss and Grief; (c) Discovering the Soul of Service; (d) Risk Management among many others. Harold Shank will be with us again! Overall, there will be over 20 CEU hours of training offered.

As a field trip, we’ll visit the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world. There is also much more to see in Atlanta, including the Coca Cola Museum, Stone Mountain Park (the 7th most visited park in the nation), CNN, The King Center (Martin Luther King), Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum, Centennial Olympic Park, Zoo Atlanta botanical Gardens and much more!

It was a massive team huddle disgusied as a luncheon at Holiday Inn Select on Poplar Aven. near I-240 in East Memphis.

The team leaders who gathered for encouragement and a game plan overview of the Memphis March for Babies are the critical players who will ensure the success of the Walk set for April 30, 2011 at Shelby Farms. Anita Vaughn, CEO and administrator of the Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women, ran through the crowd waving pom-poms along with logistics chair Cori Sackett from Compass.

Finally, the 2011 team mascots were introduced: 3-year-old Allie Morgan along with her parents, Mandy Morgan, from WRVR 104.5′s Mike and Mandy in the Morning, and her husband, Brad Morgan.

Allie was a premature baby who arrived into the world about the size of a 16 ounce bottle of Diet Coke. The Morgan family has “lived the mission” of the March of Dimes and shared their story via a video presentation as well as through Mandy’s heatfelt remarks to the assembled team leaders. The Morgans also helped present a $20,000 check to a non-profit agency called Agape for its “Families in Transition Program.” This March of Dimes grant will enable at least 100 mothers and their babies to receive prenatal and pediatric services through 2011. Agape’s Families in Trasition program serves homeless mothers through a two year long transitional housing opportunity. The agency reports that 90% of its graduates enter into permanent housing, greatly exceeding the national average of similar programs.

After a challenging game of Jeopardy that tested the crowd’s knowledge of March of Dimes history as well as football factoids, Pam Sere, program manager for Childbirth and Family Education at Baptist Women’s Hospital got into the “Xs and Os” of coaching team leaders.

Pam encouraged the crowd to sign up team members, pick a captain, select “champions” who can rally the troops, set goals and create strategies for fund raising. Pam zipped through dozens of helpful pointers which can be found at the website www.marchforbabies.org. Pam urged the leaders to collect funds and deliver them to “Bank Night” on April 29, eve of the March for Babies on April 30th.

Given the large turnout of spark plug leaders, it appears the 2011 Memphis March for Babies will be an enormous success.

Have a look at the National Sponsors who have teamed up with the March of Dimes once again: Kmart, Farmers Insurance Group, Bayer HealthCare, CIGNA, Famous Footwear, FedEx, Sanofi Pasteur, United Airlines, First Response and Mission Pharmacal. Local Presenting Sponsors include FedEx, Baptist Memorial HealthCare, Macys, Tennessee Hospital Association, Pinnacle Airlines, Advance Dermatology and Skin care, Valero and Thomas and Betts.

Also joining the sponsorship team are Pfizer, Kisewetter Wise Kaplan Prather LLC, Medimetricks, Brother International, Lipscomb and Pitts, the National College of Business and Technology, Sharp and Mid-South Maternal Fetal Medicine. Media Partners for the 2011 Memphis March for Babies include Entercom Radio’s WRVR the River 104.5, FM 100, 94.1 KQK, WMC79, ESPN 92.9FM and 690 AM. Comcast Spotlight is the March’s local cable TV partner.

WMC-TV 5 will serve once again as local broadcast television partner for this important event that helps save and improve the lives of babies and their mothers.

While none of those present at this kickoff event will ever receive the NFL’s Lombardi Trophy awarded to Super Bowl Champions, the team members can rest assured their phone calls, e-mails and one-on-one efforts will result in countless seasons of improved life for Mid-South mothers and their beloved little ones.

Our speaker is Brent Isbell, minister of University Church of Christ in Abilene and adoptive father of two precious girls.

We will gather in the conference room at the Christian Homes & Family Services office at 1202 Estates Drive. From ACU, our office is south on Judge Ely Blvd; one block south of South 11th/Highway 36 turn left on Estates Drive; the office and parking is two blocks down the street on the left.

Your RSVP in advance to this email would help us adequately prepare. Cost for the delicious meal catered by our famous BBQ gal Sharon Allen is $15 per person, payable at the door to CHFS.

Look forward to seeing you.

Sherri T. Statler
President
Christian Homes & Family Services

Our speaker is Brent Isbell, minister of University Church of Christ in Abilene and adoptive father of two precious girls.

We will gather in the conference room at the Christian Homes & Family Services office at 1202 Estates Drive. From ACU, our office is south on Judge Ely Blvd; one block south of South 11th/Highway 36 turn left on Estates Drive; the office and parking is two blocks down the street on the left.

Your RSVP in advance to sstatler@christianhomes.com would help us adequately prepare. Cost per person is $15, payable at the door to CHFS.

Today, 94 people from Child Care agencies across the country logged in as Dr, Harold Shank prayed for children. The prayer focused on loss. You can access the prayer by logging onto CCFSA.org and then click the members button and then go to forum. All 5 prayers that have been on the web are there for your access. There is also a place on the forum for you to make comments or leave prayer requests.

More information coming soon.