Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
One College Park Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: Comfort
Comfort
May 26, 2006
Moth-er: 1 a : a female parent b (1) : a woman in authority; specifically : the superior of a religious community of women (2) : an old or elderly woman
*Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of stories about how MBU constituents are changing the world. Check back on June 9 to read about an MBU alumnus who is saving lives in the heartland of Missouri.
Every Day in Missouri
- 4 children are sexually abused
- 16 babies are born at low birth weight
- 21 children enter foster or residential care
- 24 teenagers give birth
- 164 children are found to be abused or neglected
- 129 law violation referrals are made to juvenile courts
- 128 calls are made to the Child Abuse Hotline
- 252,485 children live in poverty
At the ripe age of twenty-three, Jodi Obrecht sure isn’t old or elderly. But as a dozen or so troubled girls living in temporary housing in Bridgeton, Mo. will firmly attest, she is indeed a mother––albeit a temporary, non-traditional one.
She daily cares for them. She feeds them. She nurtures them. She helps them with their homework. She laughs with them. She prays for them. And then, she goes to bed, wakes up and starts her motherly duties all over.
“These kids come here for a number of reasons,” Jodi said. “Some have been abused. Some have broken the law. But the one thing that they all have is common is that they are broken and really want to find love.”
Jodi, a 2003 MBU Alumni who majored in Human Services, is a youth care specialist for the Crisis Care Program of the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH).
The MBCH Pillsbury Crisis Care Center provides emergency shelter for children in immediate need, ages six to seventeen. The Center aims to offer a safe, stable and loving environment for children who face the prospect of being removed from their homes, even if it is temporary. The Center cares for school-age boys and girls for a maximum of thirty days.
On a Thursday morning this past March, Jodi was leading a group of girls in a game inside the Crisis Center’s common area. But playing board games with hurting children is only the tip of Jodi’s job responsibilities.
During the student’s stay, Jodi, a Gifford Ill. native who played varsity softball during her days at MBU, has the colossal task––from sunrise to sunset––of ensuring the children’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are met as they try to work through the issues they face.
Sometimes she succeeds. Sometimes she doesn’t.
“These kids will do absolutely anything to get love and attention,” Jodi said, as she picked up some magazines scattered in the living room of the Crisis Care living quarters one day in March. “Many of the kids I work with have never, ever felt love before. They are truly seeking for someone to show them just a little bit of attention.”
The rewards for such a vocation have proven to be great. Most importantly, Jodi, who began working at the Children’s Home in 2005, has seen lost, vulnerable children find an unexplainable strength through the unwavering love that only Jesus Christ can provide.
And for Jodi, that fact alone validates her decision to nurture hurting children.
“I am at a place where I can daily see lives being changed,” Jodi said. “God gave me a passion to help these hurting kids. . .to help change their lives.”
Following are volunteer opportunities available at the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home in Bridgeton, Mo. To learn about more opportunities, contact the MBCH:
Phone: 1-800-264-6224
E-mail: volunteers@mbch.org.
www.mbch.org
1) Grounds-Keeping/Landscaping (weekly/monthly basis)
o Mowing
o Raking
o Trash
o Tree/Shrub Trimming
o Tend Flowers/Plants
o Gutter Cleaning
o Snow removal (parking lots & sidewalks)
2) Construction Projects (as needed basis)
o Kenison Complex renovation (bathrooms, kitchen, etc)
o Gazebo repairs
o Thompson Cottage porch repairs
o Staff housing renovations (painting, carpeting, plumbing, etc.)
o Guest House projects (painting, plumbing, etc.)
o Coleman House (Crisis Pregnancy) (painting, carpentry, etc.)
3) Campus Store (prefer daily)
o Sort and organize donations (clothing, hygiene products, games, toys, school supplies, baby supplies, etc.)
o Size clothing
4) Guest House Assistance (as needed basis)
o Cleaning
o Laundry
5) Clerical Assistance for Foster/Adoptive, Human Resources, Records, Support Services, Administrative Assistants (weekly basis)
o Filing
o Phone Calls
o Copying
o Mailings
o Shredding
o Computer Work/Data Entry
o Switchboard Operator/Receptionist
6) Nurse (daily or weekly)
o Conduct physicals
o Review medication logs
o Give immunizations
7) Quality Assurance Volunteer (10 hours per month, flexible days/hours)
o Follow-up studies with former clients/residents
o Phone Calls
o Research
o Surveys
o Documentation
o Tabulating Results
o Reports
8) Spiritual Life Director (weekly)
o Provide support, encouragement, and counsel to residents, their families, and staff
o Organize & conduct a worship service (30-45 minutes) for residents & staff in the Crisis Care unit on Sunday afternoons
o Oversee discipleship program (see #9)
NOTE: Must be an active member of a Southern Baptist church.
9) Discipleship for Residents (weekly for 6-8 weeks)
o Bible Study
o Scripture Memory
o Prayer
o Christian Counsel
NOTE: Must be active members of a Southern Baptist church.
10) Tutors for Residents (at least once a week)
o Primarily middle & high school subjects
o Reading
11) Recreational Activities & Events On-Campus with Residents (weekly or monthly during school year; as often as possible in the summer; one-time events)
o Sports
o Arts & Crafts
o Games
o Hobbies
o Sports Camps
o VBS/Backyard Bible Club
12) Resource Center Volunteers (evenings and/or Saturday’s at least 2X per week)
o Supervise the use of the Resource Center while residents do homework assignments, study, etc.
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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