Thanks to a $2.5 million gift and one acre of land, all from the Buzz Oates Charitable Foundation, Mercy Ministries of America has announced the completion of its first West Coast home, an approximately $6 million, 40-resident facility in Lincoln, Calif., just north of Sacramento.
Additional funds for the home were obtained through private donations and in-kind gifts acquired by Mercy Ministries and the Buzz Oates Charitable Foundation. Mercy Ministries has not yet announced an opening date for the home, but plans to open the facility in late summer or early fall of 2009.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Mercy Ministries of America is a Christian residential counseling program that serves girls and young women, ages 13-28, who face a combination of life-controlling issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, addictions, depression, eating disorders and unplanned pregnancies. Since 1983, Mercy Ministries' free-of-charge program has served more than 2,000 girls and young women with its combination of best-practice clinical interventions and faith-based counseling.
The Sacramento-area home will be Mercy Ministries' fourth American home, but first on the West Coast--a fact that Mercy Ministries' founder and president Nancy Alcorn says is important.
"So many girls from California have sought our help over the years, but they have always had to travel across the country to find a Mercy Ministries facility. Before the construction of the California home, Mercy Ministries in St. Louis was our closest home to California. Now we will truly be able to serve girls from the West Coast in their own backyard," Alcorn said. "I am so grateful to Buzz Oates, a generous man with a huge heart, and his foundation, The Buzz Oates Charitable Foundation, for giving such a large gift to make this home for hurting young women possible."
The Buzz Oates Charitable Foundation--a Sacramento- area non-profit focused on faith-based initiatives-- became acquainted with Mercy Ministries after its namesake, entrepreneur and businessman Buzz Oates, expressed a desire to fund a home for women with unplanned pregnancies.
Kathy Fairrington, Oates' daughter and a Foundation board member, eventually spearheaded the project. Fairrington said: "It made sense for us to partner with an organization that had the specific passion and expertise of Mercy Ministries. After spending time getting to know Nancy Alcorn and touring the ministry's Nashville operations, it became clear we were on the right track with an organization that would connect with my father's goals and honor his vision through its operations."
Oates added, "This project's completion has been a dream of mine. I'm excited to be part of the Mercy Ministries organization and grateful for Kathy's careful oversight. This home for troubled girls and young women also wouldn't have been possible without the support and contributions of numerous friends and business partners."
Mercy Ministries' six-month residential counseling program has always been free-of-charge and incorporates Christian principles with best-practice clinical interventions like individual and group counseling and on-site nutritionists. In a recent independent survey of former residents, over 93 percent of respondents said Mercy Ministries transformed their life and restored their hope, which is Mercy Ministries' key objective.
Christian Web News - Jesus has a way of getting right to the point, doesn't He? There was certainly no mincing of words, He came right out and said, "why are you fearful?" and then went on to say, "O you of little faith." You don't have to read between the lines to see what He was saying, they had little faith.
Christian Web News - Galatians 3:13-14. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree''), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
