St. Luke's Speakeasy coming up on September 9

Get your tickets here.

Bishop's Breakfast returns on June 15

The Bishop's Breakfast returns to St. Luke's on June 15 at 7:30 a.m. Featuring a hot breakfast, fellowship, and words from Bishop John, it's becoming a tradition in the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee.

To RSVP, contact us at christopher.sanders@stlukescommunityhouse.org .

St. Luke's Speakeasy returns September 24

If you haven't already seen the news, the St. Luke's Speakeasy makes a return on September 24 at Houston's Station located at 434 Houston St in Nashville.

Last year's event was a blast--a night of gaming, dancing, good food, good drink. And this year promises to be more of the same with improvements. The space is not only larger, but it gives you more of the feel of a speakeasy. Best of all, the event takes place on a Friday night this year so you can party from 7:00 to 11:00 and not have to pay for it the next day...well, not too much.

A special thanks to the event chair Shelby Adams and the event committee for all your work!

Get your tickets here!

Price: $50 for regular tickets gaming chips, food and beer,wine and the specialty drink
$100 for VIP tickets include extra gaming chips, access to VIP area
with High Roller poker table and full bar.

Date: Friday, September 24, 2010

Time: 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.

Location: Houston Station
Street: 434 Houston Street
City/Zip: Nashville, TN 37203

West Nashville Community Development Partnership helping repair flood damaged houses

Stephanie Lee of the West Nashville Community Development Partnership discusses how her group is helping repair houses damaged by the flood in West Nashville. For more information, email her at wnpartnership@stlukescommunityhouse.org .

Help St. Luke's respond to the flood devastation in West Nashville

You can donate food by contacting us at christopher.sanders@stlukescommunityhouse.org or 350-6936.

You can donate funds here.

To volunteer, contact us at christie.bearden@stlukescommunityhouse.org or 324-8375.

Your volunteer effort and your donations of food and funds will help one of the areas most devastated by the storms. We are grateful for your support.

Poverty in the State of Metro Address

This morning Mayor Karl Dean gave his state of Metro address, which outlined his look back over the past year and his look ahead into the next budget cycle. It's a way of checking over priorities and giving a signal for Metropolitan government's direction in the coming year.

Toward the end, there was a considerable section on poverty. We've quoted it here with some commentary at the end:

Second, we need to invest in efforts to help those most in need in our city. Nashville is an affluent community. But in contrast, we also have a growing number of people living below the poverty threshold. The challenges these individuals face every day in their lives are real. It’s the basics that many of us take for granted – food, clothing, a roof over our heads.

This year, we completed a community-wide process to develop a Poverty Reduction Plan. Reducing poverty is a complicated task. And this plan is appropriately comprehensive in scope. It looks at everything from workforce development to daycare, from housing needs to health services. I’ve charged Metro Social Services with overseeing the implementation of this plan. But it’s going to take all of us – government, businesses, churches, nonprofits, individuals – to see it come to life. In our budget, we will ask the Council to approve funds to support this poverty initiative. Reducing poverty won’t be easy or simple, but it’s something we must do.

We all know that one of the best ways out of poverty is education. But for too many adults in our community, going back to school or acquiring a technical skill isn’t a viable option because they lack the most basic foundation for learning – the ability to read. Adult literacy is something I’ve learned a lot about in the last few weeks. Dollar General, a great corporate citizen in Nashville, partnered with the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber’s Public Benefit Foundation to commission a Community Needs Assessment for Adult Literacy.

The assessment uncovered what, to me, was an astonishing fact: roughly 12 percent of adult Davidson County residents lack basic reading and comprehension skills. That’s not just a statistic, those are people – 52,000 people living here who are not able to read. If we’re going to continue to thrive and progress as a city, we have to reach out to those individuals and give them the opportunity to learn to read. To help us do this, Dollar General has generously offered to fund half the salary and benefits for a position in our Metro Government to work on adult literacy full time. I attach such importance to this effort that this position will be in my office so that I can focus on this everyday. This person will work with service providers and advocates to create a more coordinated approach in how we address adult literacy in our city and in the region.

The Mayor's remarks sound a number of positive notes. First, we learn that the Mayor will ask the Council to approve funds for the Poverty Reduction Plan that was discussed last year and earlier this year. Committing dollars is the strongest way to show that Metro government is serious about moving forward with poverty reduction. But it is also important to note that it is a starting point to attract others to the table. The language of partnership between Metro government, religious bodies, businesses, and nonprofits is strong in the speech. We all have a role to play.

One of the revelations in the speech concerns just such a partnership. After discussing the role of adult literacy in poverty, the Mayor discusses a new adult literacy position in Metro government, of which half the salary is to be funded by Dollar General, a national leader in adult literacy! Committing staff to one of the key facets of poverty is also a strong signal that Metro is serious about poverty reduction.

St. Luke's Community House welcomes these developments and we hope to have the opportunity to work with Metro government as part of the solution to the poverty in our community.

Savvy Avenue story features St. Luke's: Great deals for a cause

Tonight's Channel 5 news featured a bargain hunter's dream--Savvy Avenue :

Savvy Avenue wants to help St. Luke's by donating $1 for every single coupon purchased during the month of April.

Photographer Anna Howard was drawn to advertise on Savvy Avenue because it made a commitment to a charity she knows very well.

She snapped at the chance to offer a photography package worth well over $200 for just $90 knowing the deal will help more than just her bottom line.

Savvy Avenue is free and offers discount deals everyday.

Check out Savvy Avenue for the rest of the month to help St. Luke's Community House.