Caze Elementary School

Caze Elementary School is a K-5 school on the southeast side of Evansville, at the corner of Green River Road and Pollack Avenue. They are a feeder school for Harrison High School.  Many of the students are from limited income homes and have limited childhood experiences. The students follow five Core Values everyday: Ready, Responsible, Respectful, Honest, and Safe. 

Aldersgate UMC formed a partnership with Caze in 2020, providing nutritious food for at-risk students during school breaks, supplies for a Cougar Den that offers awards for good behavior, and an Appreciation Day (with the Kona Ice truck) for students and staff.

Ways to get involved:

1.     Mentor students at Caze once a month during breakfast. 

One of the missions for Caze is to remove barriers for students.  A lot of kids come to Caze with adverse childhood experiences, such as violence, incarcerated parents, neglect, and abuse.  One of the ways to help the kids be successful is by creating a nurturing, positive relationship, hence the Mentorship Program.  One day a month the students will take their breakfast into a room set up for students and their mentors to meet.  The breakfasts are from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m.  New mentors are needed each school year.

2.     Join an Aldersgate team to teach a cooking class for Caze parents.

Planning for the first cooking class will begin in September, 2022, to teach parents to prepare a crock pot meal.  The class is planned for the February timeframe, 2023.  The cooking class will be held in the Aldersgate kitchen. The participants will eat a prepared crock pot meal and prepare ingredients for a similar meal to take home.  Caze plans to donate a crock pot to each participating family.  Depending of the success of the first class, others may follow.

3.     Donate items to the Caze Cougar’s Den where students can purchase them using points they earn for following expectations and showing great character.  The following link goes to the school’s wish list on amazon where purchased items are shipped directly to the school:  https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3LLSTF6FXO3YO?ref_=wl_share

The Caze parents also suggested the following ways to help the families in their neighborhood.  Aldersgate can provide these services if people are interested.

1.     Provide the following classes.  Volunteers may help identify requirements and/or locate qualified instructors for the following classes:

a.     Financial Planning Class: How to budget income to pay bills and save.

b.     Child Behavior/Relationships Class: Teach parents to set expectations for children, etc.

2.     Provide activities at the school for parents and families.  Volunteers may join a group to identify, plan, and direct self-care activities for parents.

c.     Suggestions include painting and music.

d.     The activities will generally be in the evening after school.  One or two teachers can stay after school to watch the kids and Aldersgate volunteers can help.  Caze suggested a possible dinner with a few activities.

3.     Help supervise children in the evening while parents take classes or participate in activities.

The contacts for this ministry are Elzie McBride at 812-550-4717 (cell), elziemcbride@gmail.com or

Pat Miller at 812-471-8440 (home), 812-204-6780 (cell), pwmiller471@gmail.com