Woodlawn ministry opens house

By DeeDe Pinckney on Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Community residents were invited to check out the new location of Sunshine Gospel Ministries in Woodlawn during an open house held on June 9. The event showcased what the ministry has to offer, including the soon-to-be-completed computer technology center, open to all community residents, which has received a $40,000 grant from LISC/Chicago.

The new center, at 500 E. 61st St., will house 10 open-access computers as well as a computer technology classroom equipped with 18 new laptops.

An array of classes will be offered, ranging from basic computer literacy to more specific training in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher. Possible Saturday seminars could include such topics as online safety, emerging technology, and financial literacy.

Members of the Woodlawn community of all ages and skill levels are benefiting from the programs and classes offered. April Cook, mother of student Davonti Cook, spoke highly of the ministry's initiatives.

"If kids know better, they will do better," said Cook, who has enrolled her son in a technology class and summer camp, also offered by Sunshine Gospel Ministries. "Ever since my son started participating, he is doing better," she said, recalling that Davonti's teachers noticed a positive change in his behavior.

Cook also praised the cost of the computer literacy classes: free.

Brittany Gunn, a counselor for the summer camp offered by Sunshine Gospel Ministries, said the center is needed because many in the community lack the resources to purchase a computer, and some "do not know how to even use a computer." 

The center is partnering with the Chicago Public Schools' After School Matters program to sponsor an apprenticeship program for 14- to 19-year-olds, during which students will learn about the business of web design and develop a site, while receiving a stipend for their work.

Primary instructor and technology center director Vincent McCaskill said the apprenticeship is designed to give "the individual resources to start their own business."

Marie Hale, one of the parents attending the open house, said there is a need for "people willing to be missionaries right in their own communities."

Sunshine Gospel Ministries hopes to fulfill this need by creating a positive environment not only for the children but the entire community. Hale said she has seen positive change and attributes it to the "positive, Christ-centered" work of a ministry with "tremendous influence and a different atmosphere."