Merry Christmas
and Happy New Year!

To all of you who have contributed, prayed, volunteered…and stepped in to just be part of the A Seat at the Table story, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Together, we’re making a way for promising young people to launch successfully into adulthood.  We’re collectively providing a safe family environment from which young men…and soon, young women, are provided the necessary resources, mentors and love to make their way in life!

(Above): A Seat at the Table (L to R): Chrissy Stergos, Dhu'Shawn Allen, Joe Lewis III,
Jamel Williams (aka Santa), Bob Stergos, Larry Hearn

• Jamel, Larry and Dhu’Shawn are all working part-time while being full-time students:
  • Jamel as LOVEtheLOU “Link” program coordinator
  • Larry as library assistant at MoBap
  • Dhu’Shawn as Journey Kidz store manager!
    
    

• Volunteers helped us transition our backyard into an inviting gathering space

• Extraordinary donations helped us secure our 1st women’s home (in Ferguson)!
  
  

• Conducted a very well-attended Ferguson open house in November, so that many could meet our new women’s home host parents, Claude and Debbie Bennett
  
  
• A Crossing church women’s small group donated Christmas decorations and numerous housewarming gifts for our new Ferguson home for young women
  
  
• Talented handyman and ministry leader Mark Verslues and his assistant Brandon helped prepare our women’s home in Ferguson for occupancy in early 2022.

• Continued regular church attendance, book/bible studies and church volunteer efforts
  
  

• Secured enough vehicles for each resident to get to and from school and work on his own
  
  

• Joe, Jamel and Dhu’Shawn will be attending an upcoming CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ) conference in Indianapolis next week
  
  

• All our guys continue to grow a healthy community of believers and mentors that will help them transition well into independent living!

Please share this email with individuals, churches and organizations whom you believe would support our mission of providing a family home and resources for promising young
18 to 25-year olds!  

We'd love to hear from you!

Do you know of individuals, companies or foundations for whom serving the under-resourced would be a common passion?  Or, do you have an email address for someone whom you think would like to hear about A Seat at the Table? If so, please contact us HERE and let us know those names and/or email addresses! We are always looking to talk to those who have a similar heart to reach across racial and economic divides in our city and beyond.  Our goal is to have A Seat at the Table chapters in major cities around the country!

Also, if you have questions about A Seat at the Table, contact us HERE as well. We want to hear from you!

A Seat at the Table family home
in Ferguson for young women

October 19 was a BIG day for A Seat at the Table!  Thanks to generous donors, we purchased our 2nd St. Louis-area home, a 7-bedroom, 5 1/2-bath gem in Ferguson, complete with a finished basement and large sunroom.

Challenge-Match Grant & GivingTuesday Nov. 30

This year's GivingTuesday (Nov. 30) is so important for A Seat at the Table, as our operating costs will almost double with the establishment of young women's family home in Ferguson. So even your early donations can help address those increased expenditures.

Even more significantly, if we can raise $40,000 by Oct. 31, 2022, we will earn an ADDITIONAL $20,000 via a challenge-match grant from The Brown Sisters Foundation! Grant funds will be specifically used to address the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health of our participants.

So, please share this email with individuals, churches and organizations whom you believe would support our mission of providing a “family” and resources for promising young 18 to 25-year olds!  

Please invite others to learn more about A Seat at the Table and GivingTuesday by directing them to www.ASeatAtTheTable.org and www.givingtuesday.org.

Early donations are accepted:  you (and others) can even donate now (ahead of actual GivingTuesday of Nov. 30) by visiting www.aseatatthetable.org/donate.html and selecting “GivingTuesday 2021” from the drop down menu of giving choices.

We'd love to hear from you!

Do you know of individuals, companies or foundations for whom serving the under-resourced would be a common passion?  Or, do you have an email address for someone whom you think would like to hear about A Seat at the Table? If so, please contact us HERE and let us know those names and/or email addresses! We are always looking to talk to those who have a similar heart to reach across racial and economic divides in our city and beyond.  Our goal is to have A Seat at the Table chapters in major cities around the country!

Also, if you have questions about A Seat at the Table, contact us HERE as well. We want to hear from you!

In This Issue

May 6 Give STL Day priorities:
a used van or SUV,
and a second home!

Don’t forget, this Thursday, May 6, is Give STL Day, an annual date when you can donate to the participating St. Louis nonprofit of your choice.  We hope you remember A Seat at the Table this week, as early giving is now open! 

You can donate here: www.givestlday.org/ASeatAtTheTable.

===================================

With our 4th resident moving in by early June, we have an immediate need to secure a used van or larger SUV, as we just won’t be able to fit our 4 guys plus our host parents into our small Kia Soul.

So, if you know of anyone or a dealer willing to either donate or offer a good buy on a used van or SUV, please email Bob Stergos,
Executive Director: bstergos@ASeatAtTheTable.org.

===================================

As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we’re also hoping for sizeable donations towards our 2nd A Seat at the Table home, as we had a generous couple recently step forward with a donation of 50% towards that 2nd home (which will house 3 to 4 young women with our second host set of parents).  So, whether you can donate $50 or $5,000 (or more), any and all giving to A Seat at the Table as part of this Thursday’s Give STL Day will be very much appreciated and put to good use!!! 

Landscaping volunteers transform our first home!

A team of Crossing church Outreach volunteers and others worked tirelessly Saturday morning, May 1 on landscaping ‘round our Shaw neighborhood A Seat at the Table home.  Working with our 3 current residents, Joe Lewis III, Jamel Williams and Larry Hearn as well as host parents Bob & Chrissy Stergos, the group brought to life the landscaping plan from designer Alice Tucker of True Garden and our Shaw neighborhood. 

First, they did the hard work of removing overgrown honeysuckle trees and thorny bushes.  Then, they planted azalea and “heavenly bamboo” bushes in the front and side yards.

In the backyard, they alternated plantings of arborvitaes and Rose of Sharon bushes along the interior our new fence, while also planting a lilac bush, sugar maple and flowering dogwood tree to provide much-needed shade.  A special plaque honoring Oliver Bacott, the late father of co-founder Chrissy Stergos, was subsequently placed at the base of the new flowering dogwood (as the dogwood was his favorite tree).  A similar plaque will likewise be placed by the new sugar maple tree to honor our house donor’s deceased son.

We are honored by all the hard work from the volunteers and grateful to The Crossing for organizing the effort.  We can’t wait to (safely) host backyard gatherings with our hard-working volunteers to celebrate their beautiful landscaping effort.  What a great environment they created for our A Seat at the Table residents!  We are blessed!

Interviews reveal the impact
of A Seat at the Table

Recently, with the help of interviewer Henry Wynd and videographer Brian Mongoven (both Youth Crossing standouts in their younger days!), we recorded thoughts from our current three A Seat at the Table residents, Jamel Williams, Larry Hearn and Resident Intern Joe Lewis III, as well as from co-founders and host parents Bob & Chrissy Stergos. 

These excerpts will give you an idea of the impact A Seat at the Table is having on all their lives…and a preview of what, with your help, we can also do for the 3 to 4 girls who will move into our second A Seat at the Table home:  

Watch the interviews via the links below:

• Jamel Williams: https://youtu.be/4E9A6TA1Ccc

  Larry Hearn: https://youtu.be/pSOw_s6vqtY

  Joe Lewis III, Resident Intern: https://youtu.be/NkzLgBqoCqA

  Chrissy Stergos, Co-founder & Board member: https://youtu.be/ZFlmiVkyLkk

  Bob Stergos, Co-founder & Executive Director: https://youtu.be/AAlBJ25ToI4

Benefit Concerts Coming Soon!

• “Who’s Gonna Love You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCzTIW3NKjs
• “Vivid Memories”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiyk7EBzWCM
• “Cool Breeze” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpYrdFmbaP0
• “Lose My Cool”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtzCvbubCko

We'd love to hear from you!

Do you know of individuals, companies or foundations for whom serving the under-resourced would be a common passion?  Or, do you have an email address for someone whom you think would like to hear about A Seat at the Table? If so, please contact us HERE and let us know those names and/or email addresses! We are always looking to talk to those who have a similar heart to reach across racial and economic divides in our city and beyond.  Our goal is to have A Seat at the Table chapters in major cities around the country!

Also, if you have questions about A Seat at the Table, contact us HERE as well. We want to hear from you!

A Spectacular Donation
and May 6 Give STL Day

Building on the initial successes with our first three male A Seat at the Table residents in our Shaw neighborhood home, a donor couple has stepped forward to make a spectacular donation.  They're contributing up to 50% of our next A Seat at the Table home into which we'll then move up to 4 young women to live with our second host couple.

With pending A Seat at the Table nominations of several young women, this year's May 6 Give STL Day then becomes all the more important for us. Give STL Day, operated by the St. Louis Community Foundation, makes a way for generous people to support their local STL-area nonprofit organizations.  

With your help, we could secure our next A Seat at the Table home, as we already have a second set of house parents for young women waiting in the wings!  Early Give STL Day donations start as of April 5.  Look for more details in the coming weeks.

Welcome to our 3rd Resident,
Larry Hearn

In late January, A Seat at the Table welcomed in our 3rd resident, Larry Hearn.  Nominated by his Midtown Church Pastor Aaron Turner, Larry will be transferring to Missouri Baptist University in the fall after completing his first year at Webster University.  Following a ministerial calling evident to many, Larry will major in Ministry and Leadership.

Midtown Pastor Mark Tucker reinforced that calling:  "As soon as I met Larry, I could see that he had a genuine passion for God.  Since then, he has become like a theological sponge.  He thirsts for deeper knowledge of biblical truth to accent his love for Jesus.  This is helped by his teachable spirit and desire to serve others.  He will certainly flourish at A Seat at the Table." 

Fellow Midtown Pastor Aaron Turner reflected on Larry's participation:  "I am so glad that Larry is now living with host parents Bob & Chrissy Stergos and residents Joe Lewis (Resident Intern) and Jamel Williams at A Seat at the Table.  After talking with Larry, he is so excited, and I share his enthusiasm, for I have no doubt that this program will be a blessing to Larry and that Larry will be a blessing to the program.  'Thank you' A Seat at the Table for being the hands and feet of Jesus, loving His people so well both physically and spiritually."

ABOVE LEFT: Larry reciting one of his poems, "Crippled Society." 
Check it out at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kt4Cqvxu40

ABOVE RIGHT:  Larry with friend of the organization, "Butters" 

BELOW (L to R): Joe, Jamel & Larry at Boardwalk Waffles & Ice Cream listening to
Nick Stergos play guitar

A Look at A Seat at the Table
Life Skills & Spiritual Development

In addition to college or work responsibilities, most days for A Seat at the Table residents include a myriad of job/life skills and spiritual/personal development discussions led by house parents Bob and Chrissy Stergos, as well as with other mentors and pastors in the lives of our residents.  Here’s a sampling of learning activities and discussions to-date:

Structured study sessions aside, perhaps some of our most meaningful moments come with Chrissy's cooking lessons and family meals around the dinner table...often followed by some fun games of Uno, Exploding Kittens and Pictionary!  In short, we’re having a ball doing life together!

Recent House Improvements

Thanks to our donors' generosity with last fall's GivingTuesday, we were able to secure our backyard with a new red cedar fence installed by Affordable Fencing. As you can see in the photo below, owner Stephen McAllister and foreman Casey Arnold do excellent work!

And thanks to a volunteer's skilled electrician's work, we now have numerous electrical outlets and improved overhead lighting in our basement.  That improved lighting has made ping pong matches on the recently-donated new table all the more competitive!  

Get Involved by Becoming
a Monthly Sponsor

Many thanks to those of you who have now signed up to be a Monthly Sponsor!  Your consistent support helps us build a stable, ongoing operating budget from which we can meet the educational/vocational, life & jobs skill, transportation, counseling, healthcare and developmental needs of our program participants.

If you haven’t already, please consider becoming involved with A Seat at the Table by donating on a monthly basis...even if it’s just $10, $25, $50 or $75 a month.  Here’s an example of how that could help us build that consistent operating budget:

Your monthly contribution communicates to our participants that they are supported by an army of people who believe in them and want to make a difference in their lives!  Simply click on the "Become a Monthly Sponsor" button below to set up your monthly donation amount.   On behalf of all A Seat at the Table participants who will benefit, thank you for your monthly donation! 

We'd love to hear from you!

Do you know of individuals, companies or foundations for whom serving the under-resourced would be a common passion?  Or, do you have an email address for someone whom you think would like to hear about A Seat at the Table? If so, please contact us HERE and let us know those names and/or email addresses! We are always looking to talk to those who have a similar heart to reach across racial and economic divides in our city and beyond.  Our goal is to have A Seat at the Table chapters in major cities around the country!

Also, if you have questions about A Seat at the Table, contact us HERE as well. We want to hear from you!