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Local church offers academic help and life lessons during Monday afternoon after-school LASSO program
Church participants call their program LASSO: Lemoore After School Student Outreach, and while similar after-school programs tend to center around academic tutoring, LASSO goes a step further, providing lessons beyond the textbooks, sort of an after-school symposium providing teens with basic “awareness” training.
Lemoore Presbyterian Church Website
Fresh-faced teenagers can still get help with their math and English homework, and some do, but Monday afternoons, from about 2 p.m. (Liberty Middle School students enjoy early outs on Mondays) to 4:45 p.m. students – picked up by approved volunteers – are deposited at the Fellowship Hall, a meeting room adjacent to the church, where they might learn how to create a rocket, weave a basket, or even learn self-defense lessons from a former Lemoore police chief who also may teach them how to thwart unwanted aggression.
On a recent Monday, former Lemoore Chief of Police Kim Morrell, and her husband Dave, a former Kings County deputy sheriff, lectured the rapt audience, providing them with common-sense ways of preventing or avoiding unpleasant confrontations.
Monday's recent lesson was the first time Kim and Dave had participated in the weekly lessons. Both are members of the church. Does she find the experience rewarding? “I do. It’s just that it’s been a long time since I taught that middle (school) group,” said Kim Morrell. “They’re not real young, but not quite in high school. I think it’s something important to get them to discuss, especially if they’re worried about it or thinking about it.
“We try to instill in them a sense of empowerment. There are things they can do. It’s frightening. There are things that can be done,” added the former police chief.
The students appreciate the program. “It’s fun, and I like to hang out with my friends,” said Lindsay Reynolds, a 14-year-old regular visitor to LASSO. “Last year they taught us weaving. This year’ we’re doing self-defense and art.” During the session, Reynolds and several other students participated in Chief Morrell’s lecture and later joined Shaina Mackey, a trained emergency-room nurse at Valley Children’s Hospital, as she lectured the students about life-saving techniques.
It’s all in an afternoon’s lesson.
The Presbyterian Church is always looking for ways to interact with the community. “The church asked, ‘what are the needs of the community?’” said Melody Downie-Dack, a credentialed teacher and the spouse of the pastor, David Dack. Conversations with church members, the Lemoore Police Department, and school officials seemed to suggest that there was a real need for some after-school program for teens, she added.
It turns out there were plenty of volunteers, including church members, some of whom provide afternoon treats for the students and some who give up a few their afternoons to deliver students from school to the church, and from church to home. All the volunteers have undergone training entitled “Safe Gatherings” before their service.
The LASSO program began in the spring of 2018 and shuts down for summer.
“It’s been a small group,” said Downey-Dack of the kids who show up, but she says there is room for more. “Without changing the structure (of the program) we could accommodate 25 to 30 kids,” she said.
Even Pastor Dack got into the mix, teaching a course on rocketry. “He took the kids to the middle school to launch their rockets,” remembered his wife Melody. Several church members have volunteered for LASSO programs. The church even has childcare for those who need it.
Parents interested in having their middle school teens participate in LASSO are encouraged to call 559-697-3004 or email the church at pastor@lemoorepres.com.
