A local charitable organization is gearing up for a new school year in its ongoing mission to help young people excel.

The Malachi Project is an initiative begun by the River Refuge, which is described by founder Terrell Scott as “a community development corporation whose heart is to reach families, young people and people in need in our community, and empower and equip them to have a better future.”

Scott and his fellow volunteers started several years ago by giving out book bags to school kids and “grace bags” with food to local residents. The group has also put on events at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“Our mission has been to meet practical needs and continue to share the love of Christ with our community by serving them,” said Scott.

The overall goal with the Malachi Project, an after-school program that provides academic assistance and mentorship, is to serve young people and reach entire families. “We are seeing that start to take place,” said Scott. “We are tutoring the kids, spending time with them, feeding them, equipping them, teaching them basic life skills. Now we are seeing it start to overflow into the family.”

The focus from the beginning was residential areas overseen by the McDonough Housing Authority. Three or four years of back-to-school events and book bag distribution allowed volunteers to create relationships with people living in the community, and at one point they learned that most of the students attend Tussahaw Elementary School. So Scott took the next step and reached out to the leadership there.

“A lot of the initial contact for us is through the parents, but we also have that relationship with the school so we can communicate and work with them also,” said Scott. “That helps us as far as identifying students who are behind two or three years in reading, for example. We can work with them and help move them forward. We have seen a lot of success.”
The program has been housed at Bethany Baptist Church for the past three years but will be in transition soon, as a house has been purchased and will be renovated for use with after-school activities.

Volunteers come from Bethany as well as Passion Life Church, where Scott is pastor, and other places. “We just prayed and asked the Lord to send us the right people,” said Scott. “We’ve had a lot of help, a lot of great volunteers.”

Some of the children who were helped as elementary students in the first year of the program are now volunteers while in middle school to help younger kids. “Some of them were doing badly when they were first with us and are doing really well now,” said Scott. “They are now helping elementary kids, teaching them reading and math and other things.”

With the start of a new school year only weeks away, it’s time for another round of book bag giveaways. Scott said it will be done a bit differently this year, with volunteers going from neighborhood to neighborhood on Thursday afternoons over the next three weeks giving them out. According to a notice posted on the River Refuge page on Facebook, a book bag event has been scheduled July 22 and 29 at 5 p.m. at 312 Rogers Street in McDonough.

For more information, including the latest updates and several videos about what the organization is doing, visit theriverrefuge.org or find The River Refuge on Facebook.