Dear Friends and Family,

I felt it important that I give you a brief report on what is going on in my life. After much thought and prayer over the last few months I decided in November to turn in my resignation as Executive Director of The Refuge APCC. I feel God is moving me into other areas. In addition my mother is requiring more of my time. If I continued on at The Refuge I would have needed provider help that I haven’t been able to get. I will miss being at the Refuge, but I hope I will still be seeing and hearing from all of you. God bless you all! And I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

In Him

Collene Myers

 "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NLT)

About Our Clients

We now have had a total of 406 clients walk through our doors. We have 42 clients who are currently pregnant. We have 17 in transition- (clients that should have delivered or that need retesting.) We have 232 clients that are now parenting clients in our "Hope Program".
Born this month- 3 new babies.

*This does not include our parenting classes, connect classes, or Shadows to Sun-shine.

 Hope Closet

We are in the process of transforming the Hope Closet. God has truly blessed us with lots of beautiful donations. We are currently taking donations of baby furniture, strollers and car seats. They should be in “like new” condition and can be dropped off during busisness hours. Thank you in advance for your donations.

Gospel

 Praise the Lord we’ve had 2 new salvations this month, we provide scripture memorization and church lists to all of our clients. Remember to always keep our staff, volunteers and clients in prayer concerning the presentation of the gospel.

Classes

"How to Make Your Children Mind Without Loosing Yours"- taught by Neda Hayes on Thursday at 5 PM is still having a large number of fathers attending with the mothers.
"Parenting Boys" taught by Pastor Michael Flechsig’s meets Thursday at 6:30 P. M.
Connect Bible Study– (Biblical teaching on relationships and life skills) taught by Carol Stafford meets on Mondays at 1:00 P. M.
Abuse Recovery- Our "Shadows to Sunshine" class meets on Thursday at 6:00 P. M.  A new class will be starting soon. Call us at (830) 569-0030 if you're interested in joining the upcomming class.

Training and In-service

 May 15^th we will be having an in-house training. We will learn how to be the best volunteers and staff that we can be.

Special  Interest Story
Letter to The Refuge APCC, My name is Justine Gonzales. I am a client of the Hope Closet Program. I am a single parent and currently unemployed at the moment because I’m in my ninth month of pregnancy. I found out about this program thru a good friend of mine. Thru the Hope Program I have been given a chance to get closer to Jesus Christ. If it was not for the Hope Program, I would be nowhere near ready for the birth of my child. The staff at, The Refuge, have been very helpful in helping me prepare for the birth of my son. The childbirth and parenting lessons that I have learned have prepared me to be “The Best Mom”. I have learned not to give up on myself with your help. I am very thankful to be involved in a program like this!

__Other Interests__

Building–  We are currently working with Operation Christian Love to complete needed repairs to our facility. Be in prayer with us that our repairs all our repairs will be accomplished.

Events- “Love for Life Banquet”   We will be hosting our 7^th annual “Love for Life” Banquet on Saturday, October 18^th, 2014. This years banuqet will be held at the Pleasanton Civic Center (old town square). We’re very excited about this new venue. We are happy to announce our speaker is Tom Glessner, The President of National Institute of Family & Life Advocates. We are planning for 25- 30 tables of 10. We will have a catered meal to be announced. We are looking for businesses and individuals to sponsor tables for $200 each. In appreciation they will receive a placard on their tables and a listing on our web site. If you would like to attend this free event, please give us a call at (830) 569-0030 to reserve your seat.  

Health Fair– up-date information coming soon.

Volunteers- We are always looking for sincere and deticated volunteers to help at The Refuge. Please be in prayer that God will send the perfect people to serve our clients.

About Our Clients

We now have had a total of 206 clients walk through our doors.

We have 25 clients who are currently pregnant.
 
We have 19 in transition- (clients that should have delivered or that need retesting.)

We have 92 clients that are now parenting clients in our "Hope Program".
Born this month- 1 new baby.

*This does not include our parenting classes, connect classes, or Shadows to Sun-shine.

Hope Closet-
We are having lots of donations and many clients visiting the closet.

Gospel We’ve had no new salivations this month, but are still providing scripture memorization and church lists. Remember to always be in prayer concerning the presentation of the gospel.

Classes

"How to Make Your Children Mind Without Loosing Yours"- taught by Neda Hayes on Thursday at 5 PM is still having a large number of fathers attending with the mothers.

"Parenting Boys" taught by Pastor Michael Flechsig’s meets Thursday at 6:30 P. M.

Connect Bible Study– (Biblical teaching on relationships and life skills) meets on Mondays at 1:00 P. M.

Abuse Recovery- Our "Shadows to Sunshine" class was re-started on February 6, 2012, at 6:00 PM and is now completed. A new class will be starting soon. Call us if you're interested in joining.

Training and In-service 

June– WIC on services

Special  Interest Story

Letter to The Refuge APCC, Two years ago, before coming to The Refuge APCC, our marriage was heading towards divorce, but that’s not the end of the story. With the help, understanding, and skills we learned through the Anger Management Class we attended there, we are now on the right track–  still together and improved.

We are fortunate! I believe if we had not found “The Refuge,” we would

most likely now be divorced. Thank you for the support, help, and knowledge you provided, making us a stronger family, even through our struggles.

Sincerely,  T. Lopez

__Other Interests__

Building–  Operation Christian Love had a workday on April 21 to set blocks to place the container on. The turnout was great with participants form Cowboy Fellowship and FBC Pleasanton.

Events

Health Fair– Connally Memorial on Saturday April 28, 2012 was a great success. We made lots of contacts and informed many people about The Refuge.

“Love for Life Banquet” - October 20, 2012.  Our speaker is Mike Williams of Ambassadors speakers. We are planning for 30- 40 tables of 10. We will have Bar-B-Q catered. We are looking for businesses and individuals to sponsor tables for $200 each. In appreciation they will receive a placard on their tables and a listing on our web site.

Volunteers–We have new volunteers,  Melisa Jones and Lisa Moydell

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
End of the Year Coming Up Really Soon!

More and more busy!

Wow! Christmas and the end of the year are coming upon us quickly. I cannot believe it is almost that joyous day again. Don’t you just love this time of the year? It brings with it all the sounds and smells of Christmas that give us those warm sweet feelings of love, hope, joy, and peace.

We have so many new things going on at the refuge now.  Be sure to look for us on Facebook where we now have our own page. We also have some new web sites that I will explain below.
We are still growing! We now have 200 clients, not including any of the classes. We have had at least 2 or 3 new babies born each month.

We have some exciting things going on in the near future.

We are still gathering walkers and team leaders for our “2^ND ANNUAL WALK FOR LIFE” on January 21, 2012. It is getting very close; so please contact us soon!

Check out our “Walk for Life” web site! Go to this link www.ministrysync.com/event/home.php?e=3950   to register or call the office at 830-569-0030. We are very excited and we hope to have twice as many walkers as we had last year. Every walker will be given a T-shirt to wear in the walk. This will help make a visual statement to the public.

If you have a donation that you need to be credited for the year 2011, it must be post marked by December 31, 2011.

We have a new web site (in progress) www.AtascosaPregnancy.org  for our clients! It is up and running, but we will be tweaking it a bit. Make sure to share it with your friends.

 There is also a button on www.AtascosaPregnancy.org  for donations. Hopefully within the next week it will be functional, and will be another way for you to donate. This would be a great way for you to make your last minute ‘end of year’ donations.

We continue to need volunteers! The increased number of clients utilizing our services requires more help.  What a wonderful situation! More help would allow us to increase our hours of operation as well. If you are interested, please contact me, Collene Myers at:
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,
Po Box 509,
Pleasanton, TX, 78064
Or call 830-569-0030 for more information.

We are planning another Volunteer training in early 2012! If you are interested in volunteering please contact me for an application.

Growing, growing, and growing!

There are always opportunities to get involved!  We still have a few more construction projects we need help with. Please contact us if you are interested in helping.

Some of the men from Cowboy Fellowship recently built an awning to protect the front door and deck from the sun and rain. We are very appreciative for this labor of love.

 Our 2012, “5th Annual Love for Life Banquet” will be in April again.

As a reminder, Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center offers pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our free programs listed below:

Free Programs

Confidential pregnancy testing and proof of pregnancy documents
Lay and spiritual counseling
Teaching on healthy relationships, sexuality/abstinence, and STDs
Prenatal, Parenting, Anger Management, and Abuse Recovery (“Shadows to Sunshine”) classes, plus PACE for those who have already experienced abortion, and Connect Monday
“Hope Program” – Earn as You Learn Program
Baby clothes, diapers, toys, furniture and many other items, as well as Maternity clothes.

Current class times are:
Connect Monday- Monday 1:00 P. M.
Anger Management- Tuesday 6:00 P M
Parenting - Thursday 5:00 P. M.
Parenting Boys - Thursday 6:30 P M

The Refuge serves any woman who has a child less than 3 years of age through the “Hope Program”. The “Hope Program” is an earn as you learn program in which the clients are rewarded with diapers, baby food, clothing, toys and baby furniture in exchange for the time they spend in classes, attending church, reading books, and watching videos and DVDs.
So remember our location, 506 West Adams St., in Pleasanton, TX.

If you can’t volunteer at the center, but you still want to help in some way, you might host a baby shower or a diaper drive in honor of The Refuge through your church or civic organization. This is another great opportunity for you to be a part of this great community service to our future babies.

Director, Collene Myers would love to speak to your church, organization, or group. Please contact the office at 830-569-0030 for more information.

New hours of operation (excluding classes) are:

Monday & Wednesday- 11 A.M. - 3 PM and

Tuesday & Thursday 2 P.M. - 6 P.M.

Hours of operation will be expanding once we have more volunteers. Pray about whether that would include you and let us know!!!