We cook and deliver Meals on Wheels on scheduled Sundays.

We sponsor arts programs for autistic children.

We sponsor the Alabama Blues Project.

We sponsor On Angels Wings, a liturgical dance company, and Chance to Dance, which allows some children to take dance lessons for free.

Our members participated in Living Waters for the World and made quilts for the Presbyterian Children’s Home.

We built houses in Mexico through Constructores Para Cristo, and we made a mission trip to Jamaica.

Our youth recently traveled to a poor county and to the Presbyterian Home for Children to perform mission work.

We are involved in a day care program for adults with memory disorders and with Hospice of West Alabama.

Covenant is proud of how we support our community by our work and by opening our building to other programs. Our facilities are used by the community to support Habitat for Humanity, Family Counseling Service, Alcoholics Anonymous, League of Women Voters, PTO, Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts and a summer camp for mentally ill children.

Covenant is a benevolent tithing church, and is the only church in town to pay its share of property tax for education.

Covenant gives to a variety of designated benevolences, including

Caring Congregations – Caring Days
Hospice of West Alabama
Stillman College
Turning Point
West Alabama AIDS Outreach
Presbyterian Home for Children
University Presbyterian Student Center
Temporary Emergency Services
Meals-On-Wheels
Habitat for Humanity
In-As-Much Fund

It takes many Covenant members and friends to deliver breakfast to almost 200 people.

Meals On Wheels Members and friends of Covenant Presbyterian Church prepare and deliver a breakfast to almost 200 persons on the third Sunday of each month. Expenses are covered by donations and memorial gifts to the Covenant Meals On Wheels program. The people who make the program possible are Covenant members and friends who prepare food and supplies, prepare routes, deliver meals, cook, clean up and pay the bills. More than 40 members and friends cover these chores.

I thank you all who are faithfully, almost to the exact time each day, delivering a nutritious tasty meal. I have been blessed. This year has not been a healthy one for me and also had some death in the family, so I need the pampering. Thank you very much, thoughtful daughter Pat, for starting them and Marilyn for continuing them.

Thank you Covenant Presbyterian Church, 113 Hargrove Road, for your Sunday breakfasts. Thank you Bethel Presbyterian Church and a host of men, women, college students, etc. who deliver.

Mrs. C.B. McGee
Letter to the Editor
March 29, 2005

Arts ‘n Autism
In the spring of 2004, Covenant Presbyterian Church piloted an eight-week program that served 17 children, ages 5-13, with autism. The children were instructed in martial arts, music therapy and visual arts. Each component was carefully designed to meet the unique needs of autistic children through an arts medium. There was a public performance at the end of the pilot program.

During the summer of 2004, Arts ‘n Autism offered a one-week summer camp that served 22 children. Covenant expanded enrollment to include children ages 2-15 and added a social skills class. Preschool children attended a morning program each day and the rest of the group stayed until 5:30. The afternoon group participated in community activities such as swimming, bowling, indoor soccer and movies.

First Presbyterian Church loaned us their bus for transportation, and community volunteers coached the children during indoor soccer. PARA allowed us to use their facility and staff.

This fall Arts ‘n Autism expanded again. We added a social skills class and operated a full 12- week semester. The program met 2.5 hours each week on Thursday afternoon. This fall, Arts ’n Autism enrolled 26 children, ages 3-14. In November, there was a culminating art show/sale and performance. We sold Christmas cards the children had created.

The Alabama Autism Society selected a piece of artwork from Arts ’n Autism to use for their 2004 Christmas cards.

Arts ‘n Autism is proud to be able to include two little girls in Covenant’s Chance to Dance Program and look forward to more inclusion activities in other art programs as we secure funding and staff.

Churches in Birmingham and Marengo County are considering starting similar programs for autistic children in their area.

Chance To Dance On Angels’ Wings
Chance to Dance brings the opportunity to participate in dance classes to the community. Approximately 25 girls participated in the classes and the annual recital at the Bama Theatre. They also performed for Covenant as part of a Wednesday Night Supper program. Many of the participants are Hispanic, and the program received a grant from the Presbytery as a part of the Hispanic ministry emphasis.

On Angels’ Wings is a liturgical dance group that performs at worship services and in other venues within the community. In 2004, this group had some eighteen members organized into two companies. The dancers performed at Trinity United Methodist Church, University Presbyterian Church, Morning Pointe Retirement Center, as well as at Covenant and at the Bama Theater as a part of the annual recital.

Alabama Blues Project
Covenant provides space for an after-school program for at-risk children to learn the blues as part of a life-skills curriculum offered through the Alabama Blues Project. The Alabama Blues Project, an organization dedicated to the preservation of blues music as a traditional American art form, works toward its goal through live performances of the blues coupled with projects that educate the younger generation. For more information, click here. www.alabamablues.org/state/htm.

Habitat for Humanity
Covenant housed the offices of Habitat for Humanity until the organization was established enough to open its own offices. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, non-denominational Christian organization that helps low-income families move into their own home. For more information, click here. www.hfhtuscaloosa.org.

Caring Days
Covenant has joined with several other area churches in “Caring Congregations,” which supports Caring Days day care program for adults with Alzheimer’s and other memory disorders. For more information about Caring Days, you can send email to ckkern@caringdays.org.

Hospice of West Alabama
Covenant housed Hospice of West Alabama until that organization was able to open its own offices. Hospice of West Alabama now operates an inpatient facility for patients at the end of their lives who need more care than can be provided at home.

Youth Mission
Covenant youth regularly travel to poor counties in Alabama and to the Presbyterian Home for Children to perform mission work.

World Mission Covenant Presbyterian Church is committed to bring Good News and fullness of life to the poor, the sick and the oppressed, both near and far. Crews from Covenant have twice gone to Mexico to build homes through the Constructores para Christo program. One of our members, Rush Watson, traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, to help build a water purification system through the Living Waters of the World program. Mission work at the international level was provided though Covenant’s annual Alternative Christmas Market, which raised more than $2,000 for medical missions.

Covenant member Rush Watson travelled to Oxaca, Mexico, to help build a water purification system through the Living Waters of the World program

Payment of Property Taxes
Covenant Presbyterian Church is the only church in the area that voluntarily pays its equivalent in property taxes to support local school systems.

Quilters
Several women of the church make quilts, which are given to the Presbyterian Children’s Home.

Stamp Ministry
Covenant Presbyterian Church supports a Stamp Ministry. Members trim stamps and send them to a source where they are sold to collectors. Proceeds from the sale of stamps help spread the gospel in Latin America.