{"id":173054,"date":"2026-04-22T18:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/173054\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T18:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:10:15","slug":"a-century-of-serving-children-and-the-community-the-bethlehem-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/173054\/","title":{"rendered":"A Century Of Serving Children And The Community: The Bethlehem Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bethlehem Center <\/a>has been serving the community of St. Elmo and Alton Park for more than a century. Director of Community Impact, Lillian Moore, said the ministry was originally started in 1920.\u00a0That\u2019s when a group of United Methodist women came together seeking to impact the lives of people in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur founders saw needs in specific areas around town and tried to be\u00a0really intentional\u00a0about putting roots down here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Miriam Brock started a Bible study program in 1920 which eventually grew into a daycare and kindergarten class. The Reverend Sallie Crenshaw became a preaching missionary in 1930 and taught Bible studies Sunday mornings in St. Elmo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crenshaw noticed a need to take care of children left at home while their parents worked. By 1954, Crenshaw saved enough money to purchase the land and build a new daycare in the building known as the Bethlehem Center today. In 1960 the two women partnered their ministries, and today the Bethlehem Center continues to serve their surrounding community with a variety of services for youth and family.<\/p>\n

Moore, a Nashville native, moved to Chattanooga in 2015. About five years ago she started doing volunteer work at the Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen they got a grant for innovative food security work and I was able to come in as their Grant Manager,\u201d she said. \u201cI went from managing that grant to becoming a director in\u00a0the last three years. It\u2019s been great.\u00a0It’s\u00a0been wonderful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe divide ourselves into youth impact and community impact programs,\u201d Moore continued. \u201cYouth Impact has been our original program.\u00a0That’s\u00a0what we do. We work with kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Center has an after-school program.<\/p>\n

Moore said children from kindergarten through eighth grade come to the Center after school, four days a week from 3-6 p.m. and are provided with a meal, a place to hang out and do activities, and do their homework.<\/p>\n

In their Read to Lead program children receive academic support and tutoring, learn about STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Math), create arts and crafts, participate in recreational activities and learn life skills.<\/p>\n

Moore said they have a program called Boys to Men where a dedicated mentor is paired with a young man. The mentor offers guidance, understanding and support. In return the young men learn about responsibility and community service as well as respect and communication skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s for second graders all the way through post-secondary,\u201d Moore said. \u201cWe walk with them and really find whatever success looks like for them. After high school, we try\u00a0to find that and walk alongside them and really join them on their journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the children also go on field trips to learn more about their community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have a summer camp,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

Their Jump STArt Camp provides a safe space for students during summer out-of-school time Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

Moore said they also have special activities for holidays like Easter, Juneteenth, Halloween and Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take the children Christmas shopping every year,\u201d Moore said<\/p>\n

As for the community impact side, Moore said they realized the families of these children also need support, so the Center offers case management services, a client-choice food pantry, and a small urban farm and community garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the farm outside and the farm feeds our food pantry,\u201d she said. \u201cA portion of the produce that we grow here goes into our pantry and feeds those families. It goes\u00a0home with kids after school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore said the Center helps roughly 200-250 families a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, between 50-60 families a week are getting food through the food pantry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Read more about the Farm at the Beth here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Moore said they rely on the generosity of their volunteers, partners, sponsors and donors to keep their non-profit operational.<\/p>\n

Always The Beth is their 2026 campaign slogan indicating the Center\u2019s continued steady commitment to children and community.<\/p>\n

To learn more or to donate visit\u00a0www.thebeth.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bethlehem Center has been serving the community of St. Elmo and Alton Park for more than a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,77607],"class_list":{"0":"post-173054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-patty-leon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}