Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 9-25-18

Feature
Saving Our Children Ministry To Celebrate 30 Years
The ministry was a vision of historic community leader, Deacon Clarence Fort
The Saving Our Children (S.O.C.) Ministry will be celebrating 30 years of service to children of the Tampa Bay Area.
S. O. C. is hosting a series of events during the weekend of Sep- tember 28th - 30th, 2018. The pur- pose is to reunite with many of the youths (now adults) who partici- pated in the program and commem- orate the successes of the ministry, as well as honor a few of the individ- uals and organizations that gener- ously contributed to the ministry over the years.
All events will be at The New Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 2511 East Columbus Drive in Tampa, FL, where the Reverend Larry L. Roundtree, II is the Pastor.
Saving Our Children Ministry was a vision of Deacon Clarence Fort, a historic civil rights leader in Tampa and a retired Sheriff’s Deputy. During his days in law en- forcement, he saw a need for a pro- gram that offered the opportunity for children to enhance life skills and fill some of the voids that might be in our school system or in their fam- ily lives.
Fort explained, “The S. O. C. Program requires children to invest two and a half hours of their Satur-
CLARENCE FORT ...Vision from 30 years ago being celebrated
day morning with a staff of dedi- cated volunteers who facilitate a va- riety of activities.”
In addition to the competent vol- unteer staff, S. O. C. uses guest pro- fessional facilitators when available and affordable.
Deacon Fort’s goals for each child in the program were:
• Stay in school,
• Stay out of trou- ble with school offi- cials,
• No negative en- counters with law en- forcement,
• Zero teen preg-
nancies,
• Graduate or get promoted to
next grade on time.
• After high school, go to college,
trade school, or U. S. A. military. All youths are encouraged to be- come and remain involved with faith-based ministries at their local church. An estimated 1,000 youths have participated in the program over the 30 years and S. O. C. has met its goals with nearly a 100% suc-
cess rate.
Saving Our Children has offered
once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to youths, such as retracing some of the roads travelled during the USA Civil Rights movement. This included trips to Little Rock, AR, Memphis, TN, Selma, AL, and other similar venues.
The youths have experienced travel by bus, train, and plane. They have had worship services on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean; they have earned national scholarships; many are champions of national or- atorical contests and have presided over large meetings at national con- ventions.
They have experienced Key West,
FL, New York City, Washington, DC, and much more, including a visit to the floor of the U. S. Congress.
Locally, the S. O. C. Ministry had provided community service to the elderly and to children’s homes, as well as provided positive interaction with our juvenile justice system when requested to do so.
“The S. O. C. Ministry tremen- dously appreciates The New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church of Tampa for providing 30 years of magnanimous support for its pro- grams,” Fort said.
Citizens of the community are invited to join in the weekend of cel- ebration.
Friday, September 28th: Meet andGreet,6p.m.to8p.m
Saturday, September 29th: Fel- lowship and Reminiscence, 9:30 a. m. – noon
Saturday, September 29th: Ban- quet, with speakers, 6 p. m. – 9 p. m. Sunday, September 30th: Wor-
ship Service, 11 a. m.
“S. O .C. thanks God for the op-
portunity to glorify His name via service to children!,” Fort stated.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2018 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 9