The Student Missions Team at Flint (TX) Baptist Church completes an impressive week of service to their own Community through a partnership with Hand Up Network. The group of almost 120 students and leaders from the growing community just South of Tyler, Texas overcame the challenges of COVID19, Texas Heat Advisories, and a lot of very challenging work to bless their fellow East Texans. Projects consisted of 10 Hand Up Network Response Teams focused on a variety of Community needs working alongside the City of Tyler’s “Keep Tyler Beautiful” Team, the Kingdom Life Academy, and the Training Center at Hand Up Network.
City of Tyler facilities that received support were the Glass Recreation Center, Fun Forest Water Park, Hillside Park, and the Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum that is a Texas Historical site in Downtown Tyler.
Kingdom Life Academy is a North Tyler ministry that provides education for youth. The Mission of Kingdom Life Academy is to educate, equip, and empower students through Christ-centered, problem-based, real-world learning experiences so that students will –
- humbly influence and serve others through Christ;
- possess valuable life knowledge and skills that enable them to break destructive cycles;
- concurrently graduate Kingdom Life Academy and complete a vocational certificate program of Tyler Junior College.
Hand Up Network’s training facility houses its Victim Services, Mentoring, Retail Training & Resale Store, as well as the organizations Offices.
- The Victim Services Team provides immediate support to Victims at the point of victimization and continues to work alongside the victims through the medical, legal, and stabilization process. Hand Up Network is a founding member of the Smith County Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Team alongside our local law enforcement agencies, medical providers, and higher learning institutions.
- Once stabilized, the Hand Up Mentoring Team joins in the effort to ensure that the victims and those in need of a fresh start in life have a support system and access to quality resources to begin to restore their lives and get back to making a positive impact in their community.
- Hand Up Network’s Retail Training Center provides a hands on opportunity to learn all aspects of working in retail from Inventory Control Management, Merchandising, etc. as well as provides resources to support the overall work of the ministry.
- Hand Up Network Response Teams are engaged in Community Outreach, Community Services like their effort here with ETX City Reach, Emergency Response for natural disasters or their current ongoing work supporting multiple counties of East Texas with COVID19 services, and their Prayer and Support Teams.
HAND UP NETWORK™ is a 501c3 non-profit based in Tyler, TX that has assembled an international team of leaders with decades of experience with a desire to come back home and bring focus to those in need in local communities. The Network offers long-term programs to people seeking a new season in life and response teams designed to address community issues and emergency response. The Network provides intentional volunteer opportunities for people wanting to provide support within their programs and opportunities to engage via Response Teams. The Hand Up Network was awarded the Guidestar Platinum Seal of Transparency for 2020! This is the highest level of achievement possible.
