Loving Houston’s Marilyn Lee creates partnerships between churches and schools.
Loving Houston pairs churches with schools in need
It’s hard to hustle on an empty stomach.
Richard Lazarou, head football coach at Willowridge High School, wanted his team to win — but many of the players could barely make it through practice.
“You always have one or two kids who don’t eat,” he said. “But it was an epidemic here. We had kids who couldn’t play the second half of games. I wanted to know what was going on.”
Lazarou soon realized that some of the students could not afford to eat — and that was only part of the problem they faced at the low-income school in Fort Bend ISD.
He and his wife, Susan, bought fruit and peanut butter to give to the hungry teens.
“But we couldn’t do enough,” Lazarou said. “We were overwhelmed and had never seen so many kids in need.”
The couple brainstormed and thought that maybe local churches could step up to help out. They called and emailed each congregation in the area but didn’t hear back.
“We started praying about it,” Lazarou said.
His prayers were answered in a serendipitous way. A co-worker was speaking about some of the troubles faced on campus when Marilyn Lee overheard them.
Lee serves as executive director of Loving Houston, a nonprofit that creates long-term, committed partnerships between churches and schools.
Since 2013, the organization has cultivated 40 church-school relationships, sending hundreds of volunteers to campuses.
Loving Houston estimates that its volunteers give 3,000 hours of their time each year, representing a value of $100,000 annually.
“Research shows that if adults invest in children, it makes all the difference in the world,” Lee said.
Loving Houston wants to leverage that investment. In almost every community, there’s a school that could use extra help, Lee said.
And near each school, there are usually a number of churches that already have groups of volunteers, networks of resources and fundraising operations. Putting the two together is the group’s goal.
“There’s potential for long-term change if that’s what happens,” Lee said.
The nonprofit launched almost five years ago — starting by researching how to effectively build relationships between schools and churches without overstepping boundaries.
Lee explained that though churches are not allowed to minister on campus, they can still help students in a number of ways.
Loving Houston hosts workshops to explain various opportunities from mentoring and tutoring to empowering teachers and providing food and books to low-income schools.
According to Loving Houston, one in four children in Houston is at risk of hunger, and only one book is available for every 300 children in low-income areas.
“Our faith should challenge — and encourage — us to get involved,” Lee said.
Lazarou attended one of the workshops and was blown away. Once he learned about the framework Loving Houston provided, he approached Second Baptist’s south campus in Pearland.
The pastors jumped at the opportunity. Volunteers started engaging in projects on campus. They hosted a “block party” on campus to raise spirits, brought Chick-fil-A sandwiches to sporting events, offered scholarships to students who wanted to attend their summer camps and crowded the football stands to cheer on the players.
Now, five years later, Lazarou said Second Baptist volunteers are a constant presence in Willowridge’s hallways. They renovated the teachers’ lounge and even started a resource room packed with toiletries, school supplies, clothing and food for any student in need.
“It’s absolutely humbling,” Lazarou said. “They do what PTOs do. They’re just here to fill in the gaps. It’s always, ‘What do you need? We’ll figure out how to do it.’ ”
He was so impressed with Second Baptist’s efforts that he and his wife became members at the church.
“Now when people come on campus, there’s a glimmer of hope,” he said. “When there’s a light in there, everything changes. And Loving Houston has been at the center of it all.”
Lee said each school district has different guidelines and various needs.
Loving Houston hosts luncheons to share ideas and best practices between school and church leaders.
“We bring them together to learn from each other and be encouraged,” she said. “We encourage churches to ask schools how they can help, what their hopes and dreams are. Because of that, every relationship is a little different.”
Churches of all sizes can make a difference, Lee added. Smaller churches send a couple of mentors, and larger ones can send multiple volunteers, like Second Baptist did at Willowridge.
The Rev. Richard Harris at Christ Evangelical Presbyterian said that Loving Houston provided the framework and training he was looking for to make an impact locally.
“We were able to jump in deeper with the school a lot quicker,” Harris said. “It fast-tracked us to do a lot of things.”
He had just assumed his post as senior pastor and was looking for new community initiatives when he happened upon Loving Houston on Twitter.
Harris knew that Christ Evangelical already had a solid track record of helping children, hosting school-supply drives and building an orphanage in Kenya.
“I wanted our church to get involved locally in Spring Branch, where we are,” he said. “What if we went straight to a school and asked, ‘How can we help you?’ What are your needs?’ ”
Harris sent church leaders to a Loving Houston workshop for training, and then the nonprofit provided him with a list of local schools in need.
The church selected nearby Cedar Brook Elementary. “It had the greatest need, and we had children going to school there,” Harris said.
The relationship started small, with the church sponsoring the school’s teacher-appreciation week, giving gifts and providing lunches for teachers.
Since then, Christ Evangelical has participated in school drives and fundraisers and offered more teacher-appreciation events. This past summer, the church provided a soccer camp for Cedar Brook students.
“Churches should be known in their community for their gospel teachings and also by their deeds,” Harris said. “Both are important. Partnering with Cedar Brook through Loving Houston has been a huge help to our church in doing that.”
This year, Loving Houston is planning a pilot program to focus more effort on one school district.
“We’re wondering how we can reach out even more,” Lee said.
The nonprofit is also developing metrics to measure the impact it is making.
Already, Lee can see that the organization is promoting positive growth in the community. “We’ve heard stories about how lives are being changed, even in small ways,” she said.
At one school, students were once forced to cross a highway to walk to campus, and church volunteers purchased and distributed bus passes.
At another campus, a pastor meets regularly with a group of emotionally challenged students and offers them life lessons.
“This pastor takes time out of his schedule, week after week, to build relationships with these kids,” Lee said. “These relationships are making a difference.”
Her long-term vision is to match a church to each school in Greater Houston.
“Then we want to see it become a national thing,” she said. “We can all work together for the good of our community and the good of our children. Loving Houston can play a part, making sure we do this well and effectively.”