NewsletterCHRISTIAN WOMEN’S JOB CORPS® OF LEE COUNTY, AL

www.cwjclc.comSpring 2015 - Session 16 - Issue 4

4th cwjc building hope banquet“God is Perfect”- chuck person

On Tuesday night, August 25, over 300 men and women from across Lee County gathered at Auburn United Methodist Church in the Epworth Center for the fourth annual Building Hope Fundraising Banquet to support CWJC of Lee County. In memory of two of the CWJC founders, Dr. Ferne Garrett and Janice Saidla, a slide show recognizing their contributions to the ministry was presented. Guests enjoyed entertainment by In Cahoots as dinner was served by the Championship Auburn University Women’s Softball Team. Following dinner, CWJC made a special presentation with a plaque to the softball team and Coach Clint Myers for their outstanding season. The audience enjoyed a video of the highlights of the Women’s Softball Championship season. Executive Director of Christian Women’s Job Corps of Lee County, Neeley Caldwell, gave an overview of the ministry which has completed 16 sessions graduating over 100 women. Auburn University Head Coach of Men’s Basketball, Bruce Pearl, introduced featured speaker, AU Assistant Head Coach of Men’s Basketball, Chuck Person. Pearl described Coach Person, who played AU basketball under Coach Sonny Smith, as an invaluable partner committed to bringing out the best in his student athletes. Person mixed humor and inspiration as he shared stories of his modest upbringing, years playing at AU, and joy of coaching college basketball back “home” at Auburn where he can help his team and community. With his opening comments that “God is perfect” he described the “blessing” of having both his parents and brother for as long as he did, despite losing all of them in a three month period. Person credits his family for teaching him the importance of “demonstration, education, and repetition” in teaching life principles. “No matter the obstacle-- drugs, poverty, financial difficulties, educational limits--God is always on time.” Person urged the audience to support the faith-based ministry of CWJC to provide lasting help to women needing help.

Neeley Caldwell,Executive Directorneeley@cwjclc.com

CWJC of Lee CountyThe Eagle Center 215 E. Thach Ave. Suite 101 Auburn, AL 36830 Office: 334-821-0591 Cell: 334-524-5529

Open House - Aug. 30 2:30 - 4:00 pm at Eagle Center - please come!

Fall Session 17, 2015: Orientation - Sept. 9 Week 1 - Sept. 14 - 18 Week 2 - Sept. 21 - 25 Week 3 - Sept. 28 - Oct. 2 Week 4 - Oct. 5 - 9 Week 5 - Oct. 12 - 16 Week 6 - Oct. 19 - 23 Week 7 - Oct. 26 - 30 Internships - Nov. 2 - 5 Celebration Ceremony Fri., Nov. 6 @ 12 noon AUMC Epworth Center

FIND us and LIKE us!facebook.com/cwjcleecounty

Important Dates

Bruce Pearl, Neeley Caldwell, Chuck Person, featured speaker, and Jay Jacobs

Check our Facebook for more pics facebook.com/cwjcleecounty

Session 16- Issue 4 - August 27, 2015 - Page 2

Leaders’ legacy now visible at eagle centerThis summer we made a number of improvements at CWJC using the memorials contributed in honor of Dr. Ferne Garrett and Janice Saidla. We are most grateful for the insight and leadership provided by these two women who were part of the original team who founded CWJC in Lee County.

The eleven outdated computers in the computer lab were all replaced and the computer room will be named in honor of Dr. Ferne Garrett. Likewise, the room in which we held our board meetings was enlarged by combining an adjacent room with the original room, and a table large enough to seat all the board members was purchased and installed. The new meeting room will be named our board room in honor of Janice Saidla.

The many gifts in honor of Ferne and Janice have improved the learning environment for our participants and will be lasting memorials to these two wonderful ladies.

2015 CWJC Board of Directors

Chair: Dr. Dennis Marple, Equipment and Technical Support

1st Vice Chair: Sally Sheehan, Hospitality

Secretary: Lynn Bell, Founder, Instructor, Recruiter, Interviewer

Treasurer: Starling Grisham

Gwen Price, Publicity

Cary Cox, Internships

Dr. Charlotte Ward, Bible Study Leader, Parliamentarian

Rev. Hugh Turner, Church Connections

Toddy Savage, Instructor, Mentor Recruiter/Trainer

John Wingfield, Facilities

Tomekia Rush, Church Connections

Dr. Charlotte Sutton, Curriculum

Nancy Smith, Fundraising

Kate Larkin, Business and Community Relations

Dr. John Saidla, Celebration Reception

Ex Officio: Neeley Caldwell, CWJC Executive Director

The CWJC Dr. Ferne Garrett Computer Lab

The CWJC Janice Saidla Board Room

Dr. Ferne Garrett

Janice Saidla

Where are they now? Clearice Roney, fall class of 2014employed:auburn university bookstore

Session 16- Issue 4 - August 27, 2015 - Page 3

National CWJC Conference Birmingham, AL August 5 - 7

By Neeley Caldwell, Executive Director

I recently attended the National CWJC /CWMC conference in Birmingham and the theme was “Drawing Near through CWJC.” It was a great time to meet our new National Coordinator as well as other Site Coordinators from around the country. Here are a few take aways that we can all learn from while we serve in this ministry:

Drawing Near to the Participants:

1. Be a listener – Be quiet and listen.

2. Pray – Pray for the participants.

3. Love – LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

4. Read the Word of God. We need to be digging deep into the Bible and using it as our guide for leading these ladies.

5. Be willing to refer the participant to other agencies. Give them resources to help them along the way.

6. Focus on your relationship with the Lord. How can we help others if we as the leaders are not seeking the Lord in our own journey with Christ?

Small Group Sessions that I attended:

Workforce Development - Ministering to offenders those who are in prison or getting out of prison.

Dealing with Conflict in CWJC - Restoration and healing only come through communication.

Longitudinal Evaluation - Numbers that Matter-Ways in keeping up with graduates such as on social media, alumni association, or giving the graduates opportunities to share their story.

Fundraising- You’re not begging for money. You’re telling a story.

Overall, we are in the business of helping people. We are called to plant the seed. It may take months or years for that seed to grow but we are called to plant the seed.

Thanks for the opportunity to be there last week!

After years of drug addiction, limited job skills, and low confidence, Clearice Roney looks forward to what God will do as she prepares for a Weekend Ladies Retreat she will host and lead. “God’s mercy and faithfulness is overwhelming.” After health problems caused her to end her housecleaning business and years of absence from the job market while she homeschooled

her daughter for fifteen years, Clearice knew she needed to acquire new job skills. When her husband told her of the CWJC billboard advertising an upcoming session of free classes, she saw her opportunity for life change.

“Before CWJC, I didn’t even know how to e-mail!” Clearice remembers how little she knew about computers before classes began in the fall of 2014 at CWJC. With intense classes on computers and job skills, Clearice found her confidence to look for office work. At CWJC she learned how to build her resume and interview for jobs with her new skills. During her final week at CWJC, Clearice completed a four day internship with the City of Auburn. Within weeks of graduation, Clearice landed a job at the Auburn University Bookstore where she still works manning a multi-line phone system, operating the Fax, Scanner, and sending/receiving e-mails! Her favorite part of her job is customer service. Clearice loves the experience of helping her customers, whether it’s measuring and ordering caps and gowns for Auburn graduation or assisting them with other purchases.

Clearice highly recommends CWJC for women of any age needing skills and encouragement to compete in the job market. “CWJC is a good, Godly program which helped me in so many ways—mentally, socially, and spiritually. This is an outreach program deserving community support.”

New Skills, New Confidence, New Life

Session 16- Issue 4 - August 27, 2015 - Page 4

Parking for Open House

For your convenience, we ask that you park in the Epworth Center parking lot at AUMC and use the stairs on the South side of the parking lot that leads down to The Eagle Center (next door to Mama Goldberg’s on Thach Street). We are located in the white two-story Eagle Center building on the bottom floor. You will see our sign on the front door.

CWJC of Lee CountyThe Eagle Center 215 E. Thach Ave.

Suite 101 Auburn, AL 36830

Office: 334-821-0591 Cell: 334-524-5529

CWJC Open House - sunday, aug. 30 from 2:30 - 4:00 pmWe have made many changes at CWJC this past summer and now that most things are in place for the next session, we invite our many donors and friends to stop in to visit during an open house Sunday afternoon, August 30 from 2:30-4:00 PM. At 3:00 PM, we will dedicate the newly refurbished computer room in honor of Dr. Ferne Garrett and the remodeled board meeting room in honor of Janice Saidla in recognition of their dedicated leadership to CWJC. We look forward to hosting our many friends and supporters at the open house.

Fall Session Interviews

We have interviewed 10+ women for the Fall Session. Please keep telling people about CWJC and there is still time for more women to join! Our ladies have said they heard about CWJC through Opelika Housing Authority, her mom was a CWJC graduate, billboard, AUMC Food Pantry, AUMC Mercy Ministries, Lee County Detention Center, and Trinity UMC Feeding Program. Keep praying for more ladies!!!

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