School Outreach in the Waco Community
Loving Our Neighbors, Investing in the Future
Want to find out how you can make a big difference in a child's life in just 30 minutes a week? Join us on Sunday morning, August 24, at 10:00 a.m. in the Acacia Room for an Interest Meeting. We'll be talking about three opportunities to serve as a mentor: STARS Book Clubs, Lunch Buddies, and Morning Mentors. Come learn more about how you can help by providing reading support and encouragement in a small group setting. If you have any questions, please email schooloutreach@fellowshipwaco.org.
Fellowship is honored to partner with two local schools in order to support children in our community and encourage the educators that invest in those students. During the school year, mentors from our congregation meet weekly with children at J.H. Hines Elementary (Waco ISD) and Speegleville Elementary (Midway ISD) in order to provide educational and relational support, and serve as role models with the goal of longterm student success. Periodically, Fellowship provides refreshments and meals for teachers and staff in order to show appreciation and support from the community.
Read below for specific opportunities to serve with these school outreach ministries.
Volunteer with STARS Book Clubs!
Book Clubs are a collaboration of volunteers from more than 30 churches who are loving their neighbors by meeting weekly with elementary children at eight different Waco ISD schools.
Fellowship’s mentors serve at J.H. Hines Elementary, our partner school in Waco ISD. Mentors read with a small group of students during their lunch and build relationships with them. In just 30 minutes a week, you can build a friendship with kids and give them the crucial support they need to succeed in school and in life! A background check is required.
- 30 minutes, once a week
- any weekday
- any time between 11 am and 1 pm
For more information, please email Fellowship's STARS liaison, Erin Davis, at schooloutreach@fellowshipwaco.org, or visit starsbookclubs.com.
Opportunities at Speegleville Elementary School
Volunteer as a mentor at Speegleville Elementary, our partner school in Midway ISD! Our Morning Mentors and Lunch Buddies programs take place either before school or at the students’ lunch time, and both programs have the flexibility of providing educational support as directed by the school, as well as helping to encourage, coach, and build friendships through activities and conversation. Mentors spend 25-30 minutes with one to three students weekly. A background check is required.
- 30 minutes, once a week
- any weekday
- either before school at 7:10 a.m., or at lunch between 11 am and 12:45 pm
If you have any questions about our 2025-26 mentoring opportunities at Speegleville Elementary, please email schooloutreach@fellowshipwaco.org or complete the form linked below.
Teacher Appreciation & Encouragement
Periodically, Fellowship provides refreshments for the faculty & staff break rooms, teacher appreciation breakfasts and lunches, and treats for teachers and staff during STAAR testing season. If you would like to be contacted when we have opportunities to donate towards these events, click here. If you have questions, please email Sharl Sherwin: sharlz@att.net
Eight Days of Hope
Eight Days of Hope is a Christian, nonprofit organization that exists to love and serve those in need who are facing natural or human disasters. As an Outreach Partner of Fellowship Bible Church, we hope to communicate with, equip, and organize church members to be ready to deploy to any of the four arms of the ministry to which they feel called. This will include sending rapid response relief efforts as soon as natural disaster strikes, construction workers and families to thoroughly planned rebuild projects, cooking enthusiasts to meet mass feeding needs, and experienced tradespeople to partner with organizations that exist as a safe place for human trafficking survivors.
If you have any questions, please contact Dakota Harp by phone or text at 830-385-5122. You can also find out more about Eight Days of Hope by visiting their website: eightdaysofhope.com.
Care Net Pregnancy Center of Central Texas
Fellowship Bible Church is privileged to partner in ministry with Care Net Pregnancy Center of Central Texas. Care Net serves new and expectant mothers and their children with support services, along with a 28 bed facility with extended stay accommodations for those facing homelessness. The primary services provided by Care Net are pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, counseling, case management, parenting and life-skills classes, baby/maternity supplies, and housing during and after pregnancy. Care Net services are free of charge, thanks to donations from the community. Care Net serves over 3,000 women a year, of all ages, races and of all socio-economic backgrounds.
Care Net has several volunteer opportunities available! Volunteering at Care Net is a great way to get involved in our community. For more information or to sign up to volunteer, please visit the Care Net website at https://pregnancycare.org/volunteer, or call 254-772-8270.
Twice monthly, as an extension of Fellowship Bible's MomLIFE, our moms host MomLIFE @ CareNet. During each gathering our moms lead a Bible study, share a breakfast, and enjoy a craft with the moms of CareNet. If you would like to support this ministry outreach, please consider providing breakfast items through our meal train link: https://mealtrain.com/1vk2kq.
For more information about CareNet, visit their website: https://pregnancycare.org/. If you would like to learn more about this outreach ministry, please contact Jennifer Gates, jenndgates@gmail.com.
Isaiah 117 House, McLennan County
Fellowship is excited to partner with Isaiah 117 House to assist in their mission to provide physical and emotional support in a safe and loving home for children awaiting foster care placement. In addition to caring for children, Isaiah 117 House exists to encourage, support, and lighten the load for case workers and foster families. Through lavishly loving on these children just as Christ lavishly loves us, trauma can be reduced and the light of Christ can shine through during these difficult times.
If you would like to know more about Isaiah 117 House and how you can get involved, contact Becca Walker, at rebeccayoes@gmail.com or visit their website: https://isaiah117house.com/mclennan-county-tx, or Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/isaiah117housemclennantx.
Operation Christmas Child
Operation Christmas Child provides local partners around the world with shoeboxes filled with small toys, hygiene items, and school supplies as a means of reaching out to children with the Good News of Jesus Christ. OCC ships these simple gifts outside the United States to children affected by war, poverty, natural disaster, famine, and disease.
- Pray for this ministry, that many children will hear about Jesus this year
- Pack a shoebox, anytime, all year long (you can find a list of suggested gifts at samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/what-goes-in-my-shoebox-suggestions/); or pack an online shoebox (for instructions, visit samaritanspurse.org/buildonline).
- Volunteer! Join our team!
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- Christmas in July - help hand out shoeboxes after Sunday services for school sales shoppers. Contact Kay Holze: kayholze@gmail.com
- October-November: Operation Christmas Child Countdown - help hand out shoeboxes after Sunday services in Oct. & Nov. Contact Kay Holze: kayholze@gmail.com
- National Collection Week, Nov. 17-24 - help collect, "carton" and load church truck for delivery to central drop-off location. Contact Kay Strauss: kay.strauss69@gmail.com
For more information about Operation Christmas Child, visit their website at: samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/.
Mission Waco
Mission Waco provides Christian-based, holistic, relationship-based programs that empower the poor and marginalized. They seek to mobilize middle-class Americans to become more compassionately involved among the poor and seek ways to overcome the systemic issues of social injustice which oppress the poor and marginalized. Fellowship enjoys partnering with Mission Waco periodically to help serve those in need in the Waco area.
In response to the crisis in Ukraine, here are two opportunities to financially give toward Ukrainian Aid. Both Samaritan's Purse and EFCA's ReachGlobal provide tangible, physical care and support for Ukrainian refugees, while also offering them spiritual encouragement and pointing them to the hope we have in Jesus. As we continue to pray for peace, let's also pray that doors may be opened for the spreading of the gospel.
If you are interested in serving in the Outreach Ministry, click the link below to go to our SERVE page and fill out an interest form. We'd love for you to join our team!
