A Dozen Ways We Are Changing Our Community

You are invited to come and be with us at these special opportunities to serve our neighbors....see posts below for our regular events and projects each week. Lifting up lives and neighborhoods in the 74126 and 74130 and nearby.

1. Free Turkey dinners to 20 families, beginning Tuesday Nov. 15 at our Food Pantry open Tuesdays and Thursdays 3 to 6 pm.

2. Watching Restrepo movie about the Afghan war and discussion on how we can serve veterans who have served us. Tuesday Nov. 15 6:30 pm free supper included.

3. Special Thanksgiving Meal Worship Service, beginning Sunday 9:30 am Nov. 20 until 1 pm, come anytime you can for as long as you can, but the earlier the better; The Welcome Table Church sponsoring; where worship is more like a party than a program. Followed at 1 pm by the movie and then discussion on Of Gods and Men, french with english subtitles, sponsored by the missional progressives group, about French monks living in a monastery who serve their Muslim neighbors and decide to stay at risk of their own lives during battles between corrupt government forces and terrorists. Then Thanksgiving Potluck and Games on Thursday, Nov. 24, noon. RSVP for both events if you can but don't let that stop you from coming.

4. Raising $400 to provide a classroom of children at Greeley School with Christmas presents; Whirlpool will provide half of the school kids with presents; we are working with others to provide gifts to all. Join with our holiday service effort.

5. Raising $500 to sponsor the Parent Student GearUp Event, Nov. 17 at McLain High School, trying to help close the educational justice gap for our children on Tulsa's northside; this program works with parents and students to prepare them for the testing programs and to get them ready, emotionally and academically, for entering higher education.

6. Repurposing Cherokee School. We began this partnership with the OU Graduate Design Studio with a community workshop on Nov. 5. We are continuing it this month at the community center getting residents ideas and attitudes about the future of our area and dreaming possibilities and partnerships for reopening Cherokee with a community focus. We will conclude the community input at the Turley Area Community Association meeting Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 7 pm at O'Brien Park Recreation Center.

7. We are partnering with O'Brien in honor and memory of our recently deceased Board Member Linda Taylor to sponsor a community Fall Celebration event at the Park Center, 6147 N. Birmingham Ave., Saturday, Nov. 19, from 2 to 5 pm. Games, refreshments, and more. Free.

8. Feeding The Neighborhood. Besides our twice weekly food pantry, which also hands out recipes and samples of meals that can be made with pantry items, we will be distributing 125 boxes of food on Friday, Jan. 13, from 11 am to Noon, thanks to our partnership with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. Come to the pantry and sign up for the Mobile Van visit.

9. Welcoming the Leadership Tulsa participants to the Turley Far Northside area, Wednesday, Dec. 14. Come help us host this group of community leaders as they learn about our transforming community renewal work on a grassroots level.

10. The KitchenGardenPark and Orchard at 6005 N. Johnstown Ave. Due to the season we have stopped our regular gatherings, but we are still working to prepare more of the site for the next growing season. If interested in a garden, or helping with events and more, contact Bonnie Ashing through the Center or at bjashing@aol.com.

11. We are updating two of our ongoing projects inside the community center: our Community Clothing GiveAway being better organized and focused and expanding into a Community Tools and Services Lending Library, and our Computer Center. Come help and check it out in the weeks ahead as we launch them in the new year. And start to renovate our future much larger Community Room.

12. Stay tuned for news about upcoming Christmas celebrations, and New Years Eve events, music concerts, Volunteer GiveBack Days, and our Community Connections programs in Turley with the University of Oklahoma.

We have a lot going on but we can't do it without you. And we can't continue to do amazing things that we haven't even imagined yet until you help us imagine them. Thanks in advance.