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After-School Care

ORU Grant Helps Ashford Church Supply Program for Students

WEC’s Board of Trustees members, Operation Round Up Foundation board members, and staff gathered for a check presentation at Watermark Church. The grant will be used to buy supplies for an after-school program.

Chris Justice was coaching Little League baseball last year when parents began reaching out to him for help.

Ashford Elementary School was ending its after-school program, and parents were desperate for another option. Since Chris is the student pastor for Watermark Church in Ashford, parents asked him if the church could help.

“We’re like, ‘Why not?’ I mean, we are the church,” he says.

Watermark Church’s focus on young people was one of the things that led Chris and his wife, Lace Justice, to Watermark. Lace is the church’s children’s director.

“We knew that God was calling us here because of the outreach and the impact that this church has on the young people in the community,” Chris says.

And when community members reached out for help with after-school needs of their children, the church started a program even though church leaders knew it would be a lot of work.

Watermark’s after-school program recently received a $10,000 grant from the Wiregrass Electric Cooperative’s (WEC) Operation Round Up Foundation, which is funded by cooperative members who voluntarily round up their monthly bills to the nearest dollar. Todd Thorpe, lead pastor for Watermark Church, says the grant money will go to purchase supplies for the after-school program.

Lace and Chris Justice work in the kitchen, getting ready for students who attend the after-school program at Watermark Church in Ashford.

The after-school program serves around 30 children in kindergarten through 5th grade. A bus brings kids from Ashford Elementary School to the church once the school day ends. Lace says when kids arrive, they get some time to work off their energy before they enjoy a snack. After their afternoon snack, the children get help with their homework, followed by worship and Bible study.

“We do a little devotion,” Lace says. “They love that, they love the worship.”

The students get to play table games inside the church’s gym, she says. Yard games like cornhole and the church’s playground are also available. Parents pick up their children at 5:30 p.m.

“We have no problem keeping a full list,” Lace says.

Chris says the hope is that by the start of next school year, the Watermark program will be equipped and have enough volunteers to open up enrollment to at least 50 children.

“We want to grow,” he says. “We want everybody who needs a spot to have a spot, but at the same time, we didn’t want to bring in more than we can handle with the resources and staff that we have to work it every day."