Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Friends and Family,
We have been working on getting “The Refuge” Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center opened in the Pleasanton area for the past year or so. As the year is coming to a close it finally looks like we are getting closer to really getting opened. We are now incorporated and are sending off our paper work for non profit status (501 C 3) by the end of the year. We have been looking at property and have been doing fund raising events.

I have made many friends along the way as I have been involved in different mission endeavors and I count you among them. As we come to the end of another year, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your prayers and support through the years. Our mission at The Refuge is to save the lives of many babies and to make Atascosa County a better place for our children and grandchildren. We want to teach the parents that come in to the center how to be better parents, and we want to introduce them to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I’m including some information from our flyer below; so you can see the kinds of services we will be offering. The flyer also includes donation information.I hope you will consider making a year-end gift to The Refuge to help us get opened. All gifts are tax-deductible. No matter if it is large or small, we will sincerely appreciate your support. I will make one promise to our supporters. That promise is this: I will be the best steward of your contributions that I can be.

We covet your prayers!Thank you again, and I pray for you to have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and blessed New Year. (See flyer info after sinature block.)

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
PO Box 509, Pleasanton, TX, 78064
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

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

The Refuge

Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
The Refuge will offer free pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our programs

Ministry Purpose

To save lives in the name of Jesus. We have positive solutions concerning
unexpected pregnancies.
To provide free education, including parenting classes, to
mothers who decide to keep their babies.
To provide abortion recovery classes to those who have already experienced

Free Programs
Confidential pregnancy testing
Lay counseling, and spiritual counseling
Maternity clothes
Baby clothes, diapers and many other items
Parenting classes (before and after birth)
Teaching on healthy relationships, abstinence/sexuality, and STDs
Abortion recovery classes
And more

Opportunities for Partnership
Pray for us and our ministry.
Volunteer to work at the center or on a committee.
Give the gift of financial support.
Host a baby shower or fund raiser.
Share about our services with friends, co-workers, etc.
Invite us to speak at your church, civic group, or club.

Please join with us to make The Refuge a reality.
Make a monthly contribution or a one time gift.
In order to receive a tax deductible receipt, currently checks should be payable to Cowboy Fellowship or FBC Splendora.
After this year the checks can be made out to The Refuge, but for this year only, make checks out to one of these two churches mentioned above and put for The Refuge in the memo line. We will still get the money. This is just so you can have a tax deductible receipt. Thanks again. Collene Myers

September News Letter

Hi Everyone,

It has been a long time since I sent out an actual News letter and mailed it to all my non- email using friends and supporters. I am sorry for that. You get used to just posting things on the blog site and expect everyone to know what is going on with you. When I started to think about it I realized, if I am not reminded, I don’t go to blog sites and check up on my friends; so maybe they don’t do that either. I don’t want to loose track of you all. I want to remind you how important you have all been to my life and ministry.

I was working in my office trying to put away some things I brought home from my son and daughter-in-law’s house where they had been sitting for about two years. There were a lot of things from my time with Mercy Ships. I found an envelope with a bunch of cards and notes encouraging me when I broke my leg within the first month of sailing with Mercy Ships. Once I started reading them, I was encouraged anew. It is funny how Satan tries to attack us with the same old discouragements again and again by just packaging them a little differently. Many of you may not realize (because I haven’t been writing as much) that I have been quite discouraged from time to time since embarking on this new journey with God to start a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Atascosa County. Well I have, and your past words of encouragement touched my heart all over again. Thank you again! And please don’t stop thinking of me and praying for me. I need your prayers.
Here is one of the scriptures you sent me almost five years ago. It still works! Praise The Lord!!

“Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow, for when your endurance is fully developed; you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” James 1:2-4.

We had a great steering committee meeting this month. We had 10 people in attendance. Praise the Lord! We discussed how to use the bottles donated by FBC Splendora, Texas for the “Baby Bottle Boomerang” fund raiser. We also received some large size bottles to place in businesses. We have already started to distribute them. We also made further plans concerning the fund raising banquet. Our hope is to have it before the end of the year.

On a personal note, I was blessed by Pastor Kerry(left) and Frenchy (right), from FBC Splendora! They came and chopped down and mowed the jungle I was living in. I didn’t have a lawn mower of my own and had been out of town quite a bit as well. I had bunches of small china berry trees growing everywhere. To make a long story short, it had really gotten out of hand. Praise the Lord again for the help of these two great guys!

Continue to pray for:
· Financial support
· Volunteers
· My personal finances and family situation.

God Bless you all!

In Him,
Collene Myers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

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

August At A Glance

Hi Everyone

This is going to be a short post. We had a good steering committee meeting this month. Two people Abby Pawelek and Tresha Smoot volunteered to recruit help to distribute flyers during Cowboy Homecoming. This is a big celebration and parade in Pleasanton during August. Since I will be out of town until Sunday the 26th I will not know how things went with that until some time after that.

We did not get the yellow house; so we are back to square one on property.

Thanks to FBC Splendora ladies group we will have the bottles for the baby bottle boomerang (fundraiser). I also purchased the large bottles that can be distributed at businesses.

We have several new volunteer applications. I am encouraged that people are starting to be aware of the new ministry endeavor.

I have been blessed by a friend and supporter, Bud Leavel, who worked on my car several days this week and last, while I was in Arlington on business. In addition he insisted I use his car to get around while he worked on it. What a blessing!

Continue to pray for:
· Financial support
· Volunteers
· My personal finances and family situation.

God Bless you all!

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

July News

There were six of us present at this month’s meeting. To start off we spent time in prayer and were able to discuss several important topics.


I reported on my trip to Ft. Worth and my meeting with Paula Odem, my trainer.



I let the committee know that the yellow house might actually be back on the table. However, when I met with the board of the other non profit organization that owns the house on the 26th; they decided once again to withdraw the offer. What a roller coaster ride!


I was able to do some community presentations this month and we got a little publicity in the Pleasanton Paper. We need to raise public awareness; so every little bit of publicity helps.


We are still working on having a baby bottle fund raiser and a fund raising banquet. We will discuss all these items further next meeting. I found that the cost of the bottles is really fairly reasonable. I am still awaiting scheduling information on the banquet.


I have still been having many problems with my car, but am thankful that it is running. A very kind friend of my son’s, Bud Leavell, worked very hard replacing my fuel pump and then two weeks later got my air conditioning running. It is imperative that I have a car that I can depend on due to the many appointments and meetings that I have all over the county. There are still many repairs that need to be done, but I am getting around, thanks to the Lord.


Our precious cargo arrived on June 29th.
Her name is Cadence Grace, and she weighed 6 pounds and 11 ounces.
My daughter had some difficulties. What should have been a normal delivery turned into a c-section which then developed an infection; so I have been extremely busy trying to keep up with my work ,and taking care of my daughter’s needs in addition to three babies at home. I think we are finally turning a corner. My daughter is getting better now and can do more for herself and her children.



Prayer requests:
· Please continue to pray for a new car for me.
· For the two planed fund raisers.
· For the 501C3 (non-profit papers) to be completed.
· For funds to start coming in for the Pregnancy Center

In Him,
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Center
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

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


If you or anyone you know would like to make a contribution it can be sent to:
The Refuge,
PO Box 509,
Pleasanton TX, 78064
Please make checks payable to FBC Splendora TX, or Cowboy Fellowship, Pleasanton TX. and Write in memo line of check "for The Refuge".

June Update

Once again our steering committee meeting was a little short on attendance, but we spent time in prayer and were able to discuss several important topics.
I let the committee know that the house that was originally offered, if we could remove it from the property it was on to another location, had been withdrawn. However, it is possible that we may have the use of another smaller house without having to move it, at least temporarily. I am to meet in July with the board of the other non profit that owns the house.
We discussed having a baby bottle fund raiser and a fund raising banquet. We will discuss all these items further next meeting. I am checking into the cost of the bottles and the banquet.

I have been having many problems with my car and recently had to have repairs on it that only fixed part of the problem. It seems there are so many problems that it would be better to start over with another car. The repairs that it needed would have cost almost twice what I paid for it to begin with. It is imperative that I have a car that I can depend on due to the many appointments and meetings that I have all over the county. I will need to find a new car soon since only a small portion of what needed to be repaired was actually done.

I visited with my trainer in Ft. Worth this week, and got some valuable info and literature for the pregnancy center.

My daughter that lives with me is having a baby probably some time next week. Scheduling may get difficult. So please keep us in your prayers.

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for a new car for me.
  
• For the two planed fund raisers
  
• For the 501C3 (non-profit papers) to be completed
  
• For funds to start coming in for the pregnancy center
• For the new baby on the way and all the wonderful joys of scheduling that comes with it

In Him,

Collene Myers

May News Letter

Hi Everyone!

It has been a while since I did a news letter, because I have a blog site now and you can see my regular entries there. I don't think everyone has gotten the word about it, because it doesn't appear the site has been visited very much. In case you don’t already have the site address it is http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/. From now on I will only be sending news letters occationally, but you will be able to get more frequent updates at the above address.

We just had our sixth steering committee meeting on Thursday, May 10th. It was apparently a bad day for everyone, because there were only 3 of us there. We now have 8 members, including myself. We also have some friends of the committee that attend fairly regularly. Hopefully next month will be better.

We are still in phase one of the plan, but things are starting to move along. People are starting to find out about the ministry and I am beginning to compile a list of people who want to volunteer.

Actually I guess you could say we have a foot in phase two, because although we still have not received any monetary contributions, we have had the offer of a house to move to another property. I had a contractor look at it with me. It could be moved, but he thinks it would be pretty expensive to move, because it has had parts added on. I am in the process of getting a quote from a house moving company. We also need a piece of property to put it on. Once we have all the facts, we will have to make a decision.

We are also working on some other fund raisers. We have a place to have a fund raising banquet and one of our committee members is helping me work on details for that at present. We are also collecting baby bottles to hand out for people to collect extra change cash or checks and place in the bottles.

We are still working on our application for non profit status. I now have a desk, a bookshelf, a FAX machine and some chairs donated by FBC Poteet and by Paul and Suzy Hull. Stan and Gayle Zettner helped me move them from the two locations to my house. I guess you could say that other than the steering committee they were my first volunteers.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for me and the entire committee, because I have really felt the efforts of Satan trying to hinder us from accomplishing the task God has given us.
• Pray for future volunteers to be prepared, to hear the call, and to step forward.
• Pray for individuals, churches and organizations to hear God’s prompting to contribute funds and obey the call.
• Pray for wisdom concerning the choosing of a building and property. We want God’s best and perfect will in the entire process.
  
  If you or anyone you know would like to make a contribution it can be sent to:

The Refuge,

PO Box 509,

Pleasanton TX, 78064

Please make checks payable to FBC Splendora TX, or Cowboy Fellowship, Pleasanton TX. and
Write in memo line of check "for The Refuge".

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Center
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/.


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

April Steering Committee Meeting

At the fith monthly steering committee meeting we voted on a new logo. It is completely different from the other one, but I think you will like it. I would like to recognize and thank Jeremy Cooke for all his hard work on the logo. I think he did an excellent job!

Things have been moving a little more rapidly this month. We now have a place to receive donations. In fact we now have two places to receive donations. The first to offer us this service is FBC of Splendora Texas, and the second is Cowboy Fellowship in Pleasanton Texas. Now if some funds will start coming in we will be set!


I had several appointments with pastors and prospective volunteers this month and shared the good news with the committee.

In addition I shared with them that I was offered the opportunity to hand out flyers at the Poteet Strawberry Festival, which I did last weekend.



We have added one more steering committee member. Her name is Abby Pawelek. Abby is the wife of Pete Pawelek, the pastor of Cowboy Fellowship in Pleasanton. She makes our seventh member.



Please be in prayer as we visit pastors and churches, that we will begin to recruit volunteers for the center and will start to receive donations that are essential to opening the center.




If you or anyone you know would like to make a contribution it can be sent to:
The Refuge
PO Box 509
Pleasanton TX, 78064

1. Please make checks payable to either FBC Splendora TX or Cowboy Fellowship, Pleasanton TX. and
2. write in memo line of check "for The Refuge".

In Him,

Collene Myers

Fourth Steering Committee Meeting

Hi Everyone,

The steering committee had it's fourth meeting on Monday, March, 12th. We have two new members, Paul and Suzy Hull.

We are looking at a new logo. One of the friends of the steering committee, Janet Jackson, put a lot of time and effort into developing it. Tell me what you think. I would like to have input.

I presented a proposed budget to the committee for review.

We prayed for progress in getting all done that we need to get done. Please be in prayer with us.

In Him
Collene Myers

February Meeting

Hi Everyone!

Our third monthly steering committee meeting was held on February 12th, 2007. There were six people in attendance although only three of us were actual steering committee members. We do have 3-4 possible new members. At present we have five steering committee members.

Old business was discussed.

We discussed some possibilities for a logo for The Refuge. One rough draft has already been submitted.

We prayed for everyone's health, because some of us have been sick. We also prayed for new members and for help with time management; so we can get the things done that need to be done. We specifically asked for a lawyer and some business people to help with specific tasks.

I told everyone I have started a blog site. As soon as we have a logo I will replace my picture on the blog with the logo.

God bless you all until next time.

In Him,

Collene Myers

January Steering Committee Meeting

We had our second meeting on January 29. We added one more member and one more possible member. We elected a secretary who will take minutes; so we can keep up with what we do from meeting to meeting. Then we elected a vice- chairman of the committee to assist me and in case I can't be there for some reason.

We are still looking for more members, specifically for a lawyer and someone to help with grant writing. Some of the members feel they may know some that will help.

We discussed some possible properties and locations for the center.

The most important thing we did was pray. In addition to praying for progress on the center and for God to provide needed funds and supplies, we also prayed for my health ( I've been pretty sick this month.), and my mom's up coming surgery. I hope you will be in prayer about those things as well.

We decided to have regular meetings on the second Monday of the month; so the next meeting is scheduled on February 12th.

I'll keep you posted!

Christmas News Letter- First Steering Committee Meeting... 2006, December

Hello Everyone and a very Merry Christmas!

I hope this finds all of you doing well. I t has been a while since I wrote last; so I wanted to let you know I am still alive and working on getting a Crisis pregnancy center going in Pleasanton.

I had my first scheduled steering committee meeting this month. We will be meeting monthly after this. I’m sad to say only three of the seven people I was expecting turned up.

Of course we spent part of our time in prayer, which is one of the most important reasons for our meeting.

We accomplish a few things. Keith, who is a tax expert and one of two men on our steering committee, is going to review papers for getting our non-profit status in the works. He will also be giving me information on someone who might help us with some grant writing. Someone else is also going to try to get us some more up to date statistics concerning the local counties. We set a target date for opening the center on December 2007.

We will be meeting monthly unless special business brings us together on additional nights. Everyone on the committee also has a full time job and other duties; so I don’t want to over burden them with too many meetings.

Next time you here from me you will probably be getting a blog site you can go to. I am trying to get one set up; so you can go to it to see what we are doing at your own convenience.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all of you!!

In Him,
Collene Myers
Labels: 2006, December