The West Side Young Lives Care Fund (YLCF) committee would like to thank you all for your support for the young moms in the local Young Lives program. Each time we receive a grant request we are blown away at the incredible hurdles faced by these young women and the perseverance they show.  Recent YLCF grants have included the following: A.P. – Teen mom with 3-year-old daughter.  YLCF grant used t...  Read More

Lin Snavely There are lessons our Father wants us to learn. This was mine. Martha Wilson knew Nancy only in passing, but when she saw that Nancy,72, had become physically weak and unkempt, she sprang into action. She enlisted Christine Miller and me to help clean Nancy’s apartment, get her food and line up social services. Nancy was in trouble…and we were too late. Within a few weeks, Martha calle...  Read More

Thank you for West Side Presbyterian’s continued support of Olive Crest’s children and families. Your generosity has allowed vulnerable children in our community to experience the joy of the Christmas season.We also continue to be grateful for West Side’s Care Community which has been such a blessing this past year, surrounding one of our foster families with support and encouragement.This kind of...  Read More

On November 23, a group of West Siders delivered Thanksgiving food boxes to the families of 30 students. The families were identified by the school social worker and the food provided by another organization. Each family received a turkey, a ham, a gallon of milk and the rest of the fixing for Thanksgiving.As part of the Thanksgiving eve service, West Siders dropped off supplies to help restock th...  Read More

Some in our West Side family have wondered why we are only offering in person worship at this time for those who are vaccinated. It’s a fair question. In so many ways this does not feel true to who we are. In fact none of this has felt right for over a year now! We want to all be together.But then we thought of many of our members who have been socially isolated for over a year and were eligible e...  Read More

Why didn’t anyone warn us that parenting was so tough before we had children?It can be downright exhausting. All stages of motherhood bring their own level of weariness.The infant and toddler stage is physically exhausting. The school-age stage is mentally exhausting, and the adolescent and teen years are emotionally exhausting. I think we need to remind ourselves that motherhood will not look per...  Read More

I wanted to give you an update as to what your students are learning during our small group meetings. I currently have four girl’s groups that are following a seven-week overview of Scripture; two groups are exploring Genesis, and one group that just started looking at Ephesians. Following you will find information on all the studies. Seamless covers the people, places, and promises of the Bible, ...  Read More

Ah, fall... A season of football, crisp air, and pumpkin-flavored everything. This season always brings a feeling of togetherness and warmth, but like so many things this year, November may be a little different.While uncertainty still looms like a dark shadow, there are some things you can do to make this fall not just something to get through, but something to actually look forward to. This mont...  Read More

(Okay…as I’m sure you can imagine, I used to say a lot of things… and I still do! As I look back, I realize that I think I often added onto the stress my kids felt rather than helping them navigate through the ups and downs of being a teen, so take this advice in stride!)Being a teenager is not easy. There’s peer pressure like they’ve never experienced before.Suddenly, sitting at the right table a...  Read More

For months I have been receiving phone calls, emails, and texts from parents and youth inquiring about what our youth ministry might look like in the upcoming fall season. All are asking important questions about what we can do with the teens in our midst while still living within the reality of the pandemic. Perhaps you have been wondering about this as well.Most students I talk to are hoping tha...  Read More

In a year that's been plenty scary, this much is clear: Pandemic Halloween will be different than regular Halloween. Many traditional ways of celebrating are now considerably more frightful than usual, because now they bring the risk of spreading the coronavirus.Accordingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued new guidelines on how to celebrate Halloween safely. No big surpri...  Read More

Recently I came across an article about the value of having family table conversations. It reminded me about a talk given by Freda Ricord at one of my first MOPS meetings. She encouraged MOPS moms (and dads) to take advantage of our time around the table to “feed our children’s bellies AND feed their souls.” Meaning, be intentional with the time you have when your kids are happily eating and bring...  Read More