Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 129, Number 8, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 23 February 2006 — Page 22

Page 8

• Advance News • Thursday, February 23, 2006

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FILE PHOTO To help distribute food to families in need, volunteers for the Family Christian Development Center (left to right, Ken Woodcox, Marcus Miller, Don LeCount and Emerson Minnich) lend a hand.

FCDC continues to grow in size and programs

By Anthony Godson Editor Joan Andrews has witnessed many needs come through the doors of the Family Christian Development Center in Nappanee during its 10-year exis-

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FILE PHOTO Sprint’s Jim Wagner presents Family Christian Development Center Executive Director Joan Andrews with a check for SI,OOO for the FCDC’s “Let’s Tackle Hunger” campaign last year.

w * Nappanee Veterinary Hospital »*. Bremen Animal Clinic “We Take Special Care Of All Your Favorite Friends” 1 *mM. Xmm " '■VBU li»P J| ?T V I ~.. J'W s«* —HW ‘ N H fe n. XI | MV BQ ■ ■££! Vpl i>Y^k-.jf/ : ~ r* •iMm/ | Hours: Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. • Saturday 8:00 a.m.-12 Noon Mi P™ %lfl Office: 15741 546-2472 %W| I Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. * Saturday 8:00 a.m.-12 Noon

tence. After seeing a need for help with marital issues/the FCDC set made renovations this past year, adding more programs to help the Wa-Nee community. Housed in the new Marriage and Family

Center are Family Foundations, The Women's Care Center and the FCDC's Medication Assistance Program. FAMILY FOUNDATIONS "In the United States, and in a

Progress

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FILE PHOTO Family Christian Development Center Executive Director Joan Andrews (far right) discusses programs offered by the FCDC to Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman (center) and Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority Sherry Seiwert.

lot of Christian families, the divorce rate has risen to over 50 percent," Andrews said. "I stand at the door, and see the problems come in. A lot of them have to do with loss of jobs, low school attendance rates, abuse in the home and alcohol or drugs." ' A root of all the problems may be broken families, which is why Andrews and the rest of the FCDC staff has worked to bring the program to Nappanee. "We're not saying, 'You ought to do this, or that,"' Andrews said about the purpose of the center. "We just want to show how anything they do. will affect children." The FCDC teamed up with Plymouth's Family Found-ation's Director Paul Spasic, to help develop its program in Nappanee. "The same program is used in El Paso, N.M., and the divorce rate there has dropped by 79 percent," Andrews said. "With the divorce rates dropping, so too have many of the social issues." Family Foundations works in three different areas. The first area is training mentor couples in counseling couples who may be looking to get married, "FOCCUS, Marriage Prepa-

ration Mentorship Program"; the second helps train mentors to speak with couples that are married, and just need a "spark", "More Than Just Married"; and the third area is the training of mentor couples to speak with couples that are considering divorce, "Choosing Wisely Before You Divorce." "That is the one that is probably going to be the very most needed," Andrews said about the third area. The FCDC has hosted workshops to train volunteer mentoring couples, with Andrews looking to have 21 couples trained in counseling married couples by November 2005, and an equal amount of couples trained in counseling couples contemplating divorce. In developing the program, the FCDC has worked with the Nappanee Ministerial Society and the Elkhart County legal system. In working with the two, Andrews sees either pastors directing couples to the program or couples being directed to it by law, which may be done so by divorce attorneys. Once a couple is trained in counseling, churches or the legal system may direct a couple in

need to them. The two couples meet where ever they see fit, and it goes from there. In starting up the program, the FCDC had to rely on the volunteer time of others, which it has received. Main Street Mennonite Church Pastor Ruben Chupp and his wife, Idella, are co-directors of the program, while Arden and Evidene Graber are volunteer mentor trainers. Ken and Ruby Farmwald are the volunteer coordinators with Plymouth's Family Foundations program. "These are all volunteers donating their time," Andrews said. While the center will serve the Wa-Nee community, it will also be a bi-county site, serving Elkhart and Kosciusko Co-unties. The marriage workshops are a big portion of what will be housed in the area that was used for Head Start in the past, but there will also be other services housed in the space. WOMEN'S CARE CENTER The Women's Care Center is a faith-based program for pregnant, unwed women. The Center See FCDC, Page 9