2002:
Bethel
Temple Assembly of God
Cleburne, TX
CCPD
is pleased to present Bethel Temple Assembly of God - Cleburne,
TX with the Caring Church Award.
Church
facilities are accessible.
They have two programs:
a)
Precious Pal program integrates Special Needs children into
mainstream Sunday Schoool and church with a dedicated volunteer
for each individual. The volunteers give one Sunday a month
to sit with a special needs child so that the parent may be
involved in a regular church service and experience the Word
of God and praise and worship without any distractions.
b)
Mom's HELP support group for parents of special needs children.
They hold monthly meetings and quarterly Share and Prayer Dinners.
Currently
the parish is involved with people who have physical, cognitive
and mental illness disabilities.
Bethel was nominated by Debbie Baldwin who writes: "I am
so grateful to Cherry and Shannon Fargo and Bethel Temple for
all they have done for our family and others. I raise my grandson
who has autism. He has behavior problems and has to be contained
because he runs away. I had not been able to go to church because
there was no place for Dakota. I met Cherry through a notice
in the local newspaper. An autism support group was to be started.
I went to the first meeting at her house and we were the only
two parents there but we had three people that work for the
school system there, and our support group, Mom's Help, became
a reality. We now have a mailing list of over 70 people and
we are in our third year now. All of this would not be possible
without all of Cherry's hard work. Our support group now is
for all disabilities.
I also explained to Cherry that I wasn't able to go to church
in years because no one could handle Dakota. She said to please
come to church and not to worry - they would take care of everything,
and they have. I have now been in church for 1-1/2 years and
Dakota has his own classroom and helper every week. There are
also lots of other children throughout the church with their
assistants called Precious Pals that stay with them. Please
recognize this church and Cherry and Shannon Fargo for this
great outreach ministry because it's a lot of hard work and
very important to the families they reach for Jesus. Thank you."
