By John M. De Marco 

BICAP grant helps ministry reach neighborhood kids.

INTERLACHEN — The Rev. A.C. Myers’ congregation in little Interlachen, Fla., continues to prove that the squeaky church gets the grants.

What is Interlachen’s secret for grant garnering? Myers makes the effort to do his homework and find out what money is available. He said the grant money purchased a paved basketball court; pool, air hockey and foosball tables; volleyball court; and a television and DVD player for a media room. A computer center offers four desktops youth can use for homework or games. A popcorn machine provides inexpensive snack food.

When Myers arrived two years ago in this community of less than 1,500 residents—60 percent of whom live below the federal poverty level—there wasn’t much for kids at the church except for an upside-down canvas stretched out to resemble a basketball court. “We really didn’t have a whole lot,” Myers said.

Now, the church dreams of building on its new resources by expanding a concrete area so it’s large enough to host a skateboard park. “We’ve got some kids that skate here in Interlachen, but there’s no place for them. Everybody runs them off.”

About 20 to 30 youth visit the church during the after-school hours these days. Myers said the youth represent a healthy mix of ages and other demographics.

“We’ve got a few elementary and high schoolers, but mostly middle schoolers,” he said. “We’ve got kids from different races, different backgrounds, different economic standings, different churches. We’re reaching a broad number of people. We’ve even got some kids who come up who aren’t attending church yet, but they’re starting to get more comfortable with us and realize that church doesn’t have to be sitting in a pew with a shirt and tie. It can be sitting on a basketball court sharing words of wisdom with a kid.”

Numerous volunteers staff the youth center, which will be open during the morning hours this summer. Wednesday night activities also take place there.

Myers said his volunteers are top notch.

“They’re probably the strongest youth volunteers around. All of them work 40-plus hours per week, and they all come in and volunteer their time with the youth. Without them this program wouldn’t be off the ground,” he added.

Last year the church received a $2,000 General Board of Discipleship grant to provide activities for senior citizens.

To research grant possibilities for the youth resources Myers visited the Florida Conference Web site and looked up funding opportunities. He searched various categories until finding an application for a grant he felt would best describe the youth ministry area. Myers applied for the money in January and received it in March. “It’s not a bad turnaround,” he said.

Since the inception of the conference’s BICAP task force in 1996 more than $550,000 has been collected and distributed to more than 150 churches.

The money comes from offerings taken at Florida Annual Conference events. Conference churches may apply for a grant to fund ministries that make their churches more responsive to the needs of children and their families in the church and community.

The youth attending Interlachen’s center have expressed their appreciation to Myers.

“They surprised me with a collage of thank-you notes and letters that they put together and snuck into my office, taped it up on the wall. That really touched me. Some of these kids are street wise, and they took the time to sit down and write these little notes. It made an impact,” he said.