Ali Piran, a lecturer and laboratory coordinator in the physics department at Stephen F. Austin State University, teaches students about measurement as a part of his life-lessons class.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (ABP) -- A church-based program in a poor part of Texas gives students -- mostly from low-income housing projects -- a chance to see the country, receive help with schoolwork, enjoy a free meal and hear God’s Word.

Solid Foundation Association has been helping disadvantaged youths in the area around the small East Texas city of Nacogdoches with their spiritual, economic and academic needs for about 13 years, said John Cannings, the association's interim director. He is also a member of Nacogdoches Bible Fellowship, a predominantly African-American congregation affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Adults refer students who struggle in school, and the church provides transportation for the youth to the program, which meets throughout the year.

“Many kids fall in the cracks of the academic system,” Cannings said. “We felt the need not just to minister to them spiritually, but to meet them where the needs were.”

Solid Foundation uses the theme “Dreams Under Construction.”

Students involved in Solid Foundation receive bags of food for the weekend and also learn through age-based computer programs.

“We’re here to take their dreams and try to make them a reality by giving them the tools they need,” Cannings said.

Solid Foundation meets in the Nacogdoches church, and volunteers also go into the community to reach the youth where they live. Through the program, 25 students have given their lives to Christ.

“We’re seeing life-changing opportunities and situations occur,” Cannings said.

The church and other congregations in the community as well as local clubs and organizations fund Solid Foundation.

“When that’s not possible, we have to buy the food ourselves,” Cannings said.

The group takes the youth not only to historic Texas sites in Austin and San Antonio, but also to out-of-state destinations like New Orleans, New York, Atlanta and Washington.

“It’s another opportunity for us to minister to them,” Cannings said. “We do Bible studies on buses and when they stop along the way. There’s another way to say, ‘There’s more to life than Nacogdoches.’”

Every part of the Solid Foundation is designed to offer hope.

They also treat the youth to camps and basketball tournaments, said John Davis, administrator of Solid Foundation.

“Some have seen nothing but the projects,” Davis said. “There is hope. There’s something more than what you see.”

At the program, students can work on computers, get help with school work, buy items -- like laptops, bicycles, bats and balls -- with points they earn from good grades and behavior, eat a free meal, attend a Bible study and hear speakers teach life lessons.

The youth not only get support and help; they also give back. The students help elderly neighbors by painting houses, mowing yards and displaying the love they have received from Solid Foundation.

“These young people are from the projects, and they’re here to help.... Others see them in a positive light,” Davis said. “We’re blessed to be in a community that understands what we’re doing.

”Davis has seen children advance through the program from kindergarten to college.

Candi Montgomery, who will be a freshman in college this year, went through the program, and she now volunteers to help with the youth.

“When you have that moment when you know you’ve made a difference in a child’s life, and you realize where they started from and where they are now, it just feels so good to know you had a helping hand it that,” Montgomery said.

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Lauren Heartsill is a communications intern for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

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