News

It's hard to believe, but the time for the closing programs are already here!  Each year, the students involved in our summer programs work hard to plan and prepare a closing program for the community that truly highlights their abilities and potential.

This summer, Aliquippa Impact has had the opportunity to serve over about 85 students in first through twelfth grade through a variety of youth development programming.  On Sunday, August 8, the high school students in our A Future Anticipated program will hold a small reception for thier friends and family.  This will be a special night as these students reflect on their achievements over the past summer and look forward to their hope-filled future.  On Wednesday, August 11 at 7:00 PM, the sixty or so students in our City Camp program will perform musical numbers, display art work, perform dance routines, and demonstrate their knowledge about global education.  This program is open to the public and free. We encourage you to attend to celebreate Aliquippa, our students, and the hope present in our community.  You won't want to miss it!

This has been a fantastic summer for Aliquippa Impact, and we can't believe it's already coming to a close.  We hope you'll come celebrate with us!

Written May 2010 by Esther L. Meek. 
Esther is a professor of philosophy of Geneva College and a member of Aliquippa Impact's Board of Governors.  Esther will be contributing to the Aliquippa Impact website and newsletter with a series of articles called "Stories That Tell the Story" - a series of articles that will chronicle hope in Aliquippa.

“Can I just say that you are the coolest people your age I have ever met?”

That was Joel Repic’s response when Howard and Cherie Witterman, old enough to know better, you might say, told him that they would like to move to Franklin Avenue and serve as property managers for Aliquippa Impact’s residential properties.

“Around AI we have had college students move into the community. But Howard and Cherie show that incarnational ministry is for anyone”—not just idealistic 20 someones who think they have nothing to lose.

Joel has known the Wittermans all his life. Joel sees this step of theirs as of a piece with a lifetime of such faithful steps. But, he says, “They don’t see what they’re doing as radical as it is. I don’t know many Christians today who make core lifestyle choices that their faith informs. What Howard and Cherie are doing is phenomenal.”

How did extraordinary ordinary step come to pass?

Both Joel and Cherie tell the story of a Sunday morning conversation the two had when Joel was in 8^th grade. Joel told her that he thought Aliquippa would be a good place to do ministry. The two sat in the emptied pews and prayed together about that prospect.

Cherie remembers attending, along with Michael, their son, who is an area realtor, a meeting in Aliquippa when Capt. John Stanley of the Church Army USA’s Uncommon Grounds Café on Franklin Avenue (www.uncommongroundscafe.org), first came to Aliquippa. John was appealing to those assembled to be part of the healing of Aliquippa. “‘Aliquippa doesn’t need more churches,’ he said, I remember, but people who hear the wounds that are here. I fell in love with the idea. My heart started to long to be part of that.” Howard chimes in: “Over the years we have talked more than once about being more involved in ministry in Aliquippa." The Wittermans volunteered along with many others to help build Uncommongrounds Café, a safe community space that pursues spiritual and communal healing through listening.

The Wittermans’ is a Beaver County story. His great grandparents emigrated from Germany to farm here, her grandparents from Poland to work at Aliquippa’s J&L Steel Mill. Her grandfather subsequently purchased a farm on the Raccoon Creek, where Cherie grew up. “It’s neat that in our later years we settling in Aliquippa,” Cherie comments.

For years Howard worked as a supervisor at a small industrial company, and Cherie at Gateway Rehab—up the hill from their home on Raccoon Creek. All their children went to Geneva College (www.geneva.edu). Howard gave some thought to finishing his own college degree through Geneva’s degree completion program.

One day, out of the blue, Howard’s job was terminated. “I drove home pondering how I would break the news to Cherie,” Howard said. “But her response took me aback: ‘I can’t believe that—that is so great! You would never have quit on your own! Now you can finish your degree and get a job in ministry!’” So Howard finished a community ministry major. For the last ten or so years he has held one position or another on the staff at Crestmont Alliance Church.

Most recently Howard has been the church’s children’s pastor. Their love of children prompted them to become mentors with Aliquippa Impact. Every Sunday the Wittermans pick up their mentees, take them to church and then to their home for the day. When they relocate to Franklin Avenue this month, their mentees will be able to walk over to their home.

What does this step mean to Howard and Cherie? “It’s another opportunity to be used by the Lord, to feel like we are where he wants us to be, in the center of his will.” Cherie responds. “It means a sense of peace in our lives in doing what he wants us to do.” Howard adds: “Since I have moved from church administration to ministry, Cherie and I have shared ministry together. We like that. We both bring different things to the table. This move is another way that we can minister together.”

Sitting with the Wittermans at Uncommongrounds Café, I ask them what they love about Aliquippa. “The community itself, the people,” says Howard. “Everyone we ever have come in contact with here we have just loved. First the kids, through the mentoring program. But through them we have come to love their families. They’re just people like you and me, trying to make it through. We love sharing the love of Jesus, looking to have some small impact, to make a difference. But it’ll be them—the kids—that will make the difference in their community, not us.”

Cherie comments: “I’d love to be an example of Christ in the simplest forms, in the simplicity of the gospel. Sometimes that simple authenticity is hard to find. We share with the kids, it’s not about the things you have. They’re tempted to think that their shoes and clothes are their identity. And they think that they have to get out of Aliquippa. I want to show them that you can live here and you can live well, true to the gospel. I hope they’ll see that the kingdom of heaven can be found on Franklin Avenue (to quote John Stanley). It’s not something we are entitled to, it doesn’t mean being handed it. Hard work is good, and sharing with others is good. Yes, there are real problems that exist, but you can be proud of where you come from.” It sounds to me that the Wittermans’ move is for them the next logical step in loving their mentees.

But it is a strategic help to Aliquippa Impact. As property managers, the Wittermans will attend to basic maintenance on all three properties, as well as living alongside and offering encouragement to AI summer staff. They will move in in the next few weeks, prior to the arrival of summer staff.

Their ministry radically implements AIM’s vision of incarnational community ministry. The house the Wittermans will call home used to be abandoned. Last year it was given to AI. Volunteers restored it beautifully, and last summer’s day camp female staff occupied it. Now it will be a permanent residence. “This is a 100% turnaround to be an asset to the community,” Joel comments. “Living among the people is an excellent example of something that we value at AI.”

“They’re moving to a street people would think it crazy to move to,” Joel says. “But Howard and Cherie see people—they see people through the fear talk and scary rumors.”

“We don’t expect there won’t be speed bumps,” Howard says. “If we don’t, then we probably need to get out. You are disturbing the Enemy of our souls. One of the good things about this venture is that we have multiple people who have been doing ministry here—Joel and Chelsea, and John and Gao Foua Jordan (Gao Foua serves as AI’s Mentoring Program Assistant; John teaches at R.O.O.T.S. Academy (an alternative school on Franklin Avenue – www.roots-inc.org). We can draw on their life experiences. They are valuable resources.”

This is a profoundly Christlike gesture: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV). And following Christ’s own example, the gift is not tossed in from afar, but is a gift of one’s own person, in delighted solidarity: “Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says… ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’” (Hebrews 2:11-13 NIV).

Such a move is, as a result, pregnant with hope.

May, 2010; Esther L. Meek

“Can I just say that you are the coolest people your age I have ever met?”

That was Joel Repic’s response when Howard and Cherie Witterman, old enough to know better, you might say, told him that they would like to move to Franklin Avenue and serve as property managers for Aliquippa Impact’s residential properties.

“Around AI we have had college students move into the community. But Howard and Cherie show that incarnational ministry is for anyone”—not just idealistic 20 someones who think they have nothing to lose.

Joel has known the Wittermans all his life. Joel sees this step of theirs as of a piece with a lifetime of such faithful steps. But, he says, “They don’t see what they’re doing as radical as it is. I don’t know many Christians today who make core lifestyle choices that their faith informs. What Howard and Cherie are doing is phenomenal.”

How did extraordinary ordinary step come to pass?

Both Joel and Cherie tell the story of a Sunday morning conversation the two had when Joel was in 8^th grade. Joel told her that he thought Aliquippa would be a good place to do ministry. The two sat in the emptied pews and prayed together about that prospect.

Cherie remembers attending, along with Michael, their son, who is an area realtor, a meeting in Aliquippa when Capt. John Stanley of the Church Army USA’s Uncommon Grounds Café on Franklin Avenue (www.uncommongroundscafe.org), first came to Aliquippa. John was appealing to those assembled to be part of the healing of Aliquippa. “‘Aliquippa doesn’t need more churches,’ he said, I remember, but people who hear the wounds that are here. I fell in love with the idea. My heart started to long to be part of that.” Howard chimes in: “Over the years we have talked more than once about being more involved in ministry in Aliquippa." The Wittermans volunteered along with many others to help build Uncommongrounds Café, a safe community space that pursues spiritual and communal healing through listening.

The Wittermans’ is a Beaver County story. His great grandparents emigrated from Germany to farm here, her grandparents from Poland to work at Aliquippa’s J&L Steel Mill. Her grandfather subsequently purchased a farm on the Raccoon Creek, where Cherie grew up. “It’s neat that in our later years we settling in Aliquippa,” Cherie comments.

For years Howard worked as a supervisor at a small industrial company, and Cherie at Gateway Rehab—up the hill from their home on Raccoon Creek. All their children went to Geneva College (www.geneva.edu). Howard gave some thought to finishing his own college degree through Geneva’s degree completion program.

One day, out of the blue, Howard’s job was terminated. “I drove home pondering how I would break the news to Cherie,” Howard said. “But her response took me aback: ‘I can’t believe that—that is so great! You would never have quit on your own! Now you can finish your degree and get a job in ministry!’” So Howard finished a community ministry major. For the last ten or so years he has held one position or another on the staff at Crestmont Alliance Church.

Most recently Howard has been the church’s children’s pastor. Their love of children prompted them to become mentors with Aliquippa Impact. Every Sunday the Wittermans pick up their mentees, take them to church and then to their home for the day. When they relocate to Franklin Avenue this month, their mentees will be able to walk over to their home.

What does this step mean to Howard and Cherie? “It’s another opportunity to be used by the Lord, to feel like we are where he wants us to be, in the center of his will.” Cherie responds. “It means a sense of peace in our lives in doing what he wants us to do.” Howard adds: “Since I have moved from church administration to ministry, Cherie and I have shared ministry together. We like that. We both bring different things to the table. This move is another way that we can minister together.”

Sitting with the Wittermans at Uncommongrounds Café, I ask them what they love about Aliquippa. “The community itself, the people,” says Howard. “Everyone we ever have come in contact with here we have just loved. First the kids, through the mentoring program. But through them we have come to love their families. They’re just people like you and me, trying to make it through. We love sharing the love of Jesus, looking to have some small impact, to make a difference. But it’ll be them—the kids—that will make the difference in their community, not us.”

Cherie comments: “I’d love to be an example of Christ in the simplest forms, in the simplicity of the gospel. Sometimes that simple authenticity is hard to find. We share with the kids, it’s not about the things you have. They’re tempted to think that their shoes and clothes are their identity. And they think that they have to get out of Aliquippa. I want to show them that you can live here and you can live well, true to the gospel. I hope they’ll see that the kingdom of heaven can be found on Franklin Avenue (to quote John Stanley). It’s not something we are entitled to, it doesn’t mean being handed it. Hard work is good, and sharing with others is good. Yes, there are real problems that exist, but you can be proud of where you come from.” It sounds to me that the Wittermans’ move is for them the next logical step in loving their mentees.

But it is a strategic help to Aliquippa Impact. As property managers, the Wittermans will attend to basic maintenance on all three properties, as well as living alongside and offering encouragement to AI summer staff. They will move in in the next few weeks, prior to the arrival of summer staff.

Their ministry radically implements AIM’s vision of incarnational community ministry. The house the Wittermans will call home used to be abandoned. Last year it was given to AI. Volunteers restored it beautifully, and last summer’s day camp female staff occupied it. Now it will be a permanent residence. “This is a 100% turnaround to be an asset to the community,” Joel comments. “Living among the people is an excellent example of something that we value at AI.”

“They’re moving to a street people would think it crazy to move to,” Joel says. “But Howard and Cherie see people—they see people through the fear talk and scary rumors.”

“We don’t expect there won’t be speed bumps,” Howard says. “If we don’t, then we probably need to get out. You are disturbing the Enemy of our souls. One of the good things about this venture is that we have multiple people who have been doing ministry here—Joel and Chelsea, and John and Gao Foua Jordan (Gao Foua serves as AI’s Mentoring Program Assistant; John teaches at R.O.O.T.S. Academy (an alternative school on Franklin Avenue – www.roots-inc.org). We can draw on their life experiences. They are valuable resources.”

This is a profoundly Christlike gesture: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV). And following Christ’s own example, the gift is not tossed in from afar, but is a gift of one’s own person, in delighted solidarity: “Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says… ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’” (Hebrews 2:11-13 NIV).

Such a move is, as a result, pregnant with hope.

You did it!

Because of your generous support, we have now met and exceeded our $10,000 goal for the Summer of Hope Campaign. Thank you so much for your generous support.  Your generosity will be used to support youth development opportunities for Aliquippa that will make a real difference in the lives of youth in the community.  You are making a difference in our city.

Are you wondering if you can still give? Absolutely you can!  While we are grateful for meeting our $10,000 goal, your additional giving will ensure that this type of programming can continue and even be expanded into the future.  Thank you for your generosity.  You can send your check to our mailing address or you can give online through our secure website.  Thank you for being partners with us in hope!

We are over half way there!

Our Summer of Hope campaign kicked of this last Thursday (May 13), and we are happy to announce that we have well exceeded the half way mark to our $10,000 goal - in only a few short daysl!  As of today, we have $6,700 given or pledged toward Aliquippa Impact's summer work.  This summer, we will serve approximately 85 students first through twelfth grade in a variety of youth development programs.  For the last five years, we have been working with youth in Aliquippa.  By listening and learning from our community, we have come to believe that hope is alive and well in our city.

Will you help us reach our goal?  We are close to meeting or exceeding our goal, and we would love for you to partner with us in providing hope to Aliquippa students.

Would you like to know more about our summer programs?  Read more.