From Dream to Reality
A Thirty-Five Year Journey
Equality and Justice for All
Nearly forty years ago, the Superintendent of Schools invited me, as a school board member, to accompany him to a court hearing for one of our high school students. She was a very successful member of her junior class and the state was dealing with her living situation because the parental rights of her mother and father had recently been terminated. The court was therefore required to step in on “her behalf.”
She had no genuine advocate in the case and no real say in the outcome of the proceedings. The superintendent and I were her only advocates, totally “powerless” and supporting her only by our presence in the court room. The result was that the court sent her away to a state-run boarding school. I left the courtroom that day with a deeper understanding and tangible sense of the injustice that exists in our society.
The injustice of that life altering, courtroom experience added passion to my existing concern for the needs of others, solidifying my belief in the need for genuine, loving, face-to-face interactions with those caught in difficult life situations.
For the rest of the story
Atlas of the Lakes Area Mission and Vision
Sharing Our "Daily" Mission and Our "Ongoing" Vision
Our Mission
To build loving relationships and to be advocates for those in need, providing Christian guidance and mentoring support, resulting in over-all growth and betterment of lives.
CHANGED LIVES THROUGH
CHRISTIAN LOVE AND ADVOCACY
Our Vision
To unite the broad community in providing life-altering help
to those facing any of life’s many challenges.
Atlas seeks to be a catalyst for cooperation among churches,
Christian ministry groups, secular groups, and government agencies,
while being a clearinghouse connecting
those in need with the appropriate caregivers
FOSTERING COMMUNITY AWARENESS,
CONCERN, AND RESPONSE
TO THE NEEDS OF AREA RESIDENTS
Atlas is only a tiny piece of the huge vision of helping those in need
in the Iowa Great Lakes Area and surrounding communities.
We truly need the help and hearts of the entire community
to meaningfully accomplish this Mission and Vision.
THANK YOU FOR THE PART EACH OF YOU DO TO HELP
THOSE IN NEED WHO YOU ENCOUNTER IN THE COMMUNITY.
Also, we are eternally grateful for all you do for Atlas that helps us do the same.
BY JOINING TOGETHER,
WE MAKE A SIGNIGICANT DIFFERENCE
IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS!