Smoketown Family Wellness Center (SFWC) is one of St. Paul’s ministry partners. Dr. Julia Mitchell, a St. Paul member, is a pediatrician at SFWC. Please consider this volunteer opportunity she has shared.
Volunteer Tutors Needed!
Please contact Julia Mitchell (julialanemitchell@gmail.com) if you are available and interested in providing homework help for elementary and middle school students this fall at Smoketown Family Wellness Center Mondays-Thursdays 4:30pm-6:00pm.
Sign up to volunteer here!
A partnership with Smoketown Family Wellness Center grew out of a group gathering to pray together via Zoom due to concerns of racial justice in the summer of 2020.
From member Julia Lane Mitchell, MD:At Smoketown Family Wellness Center, we strive to meet families where they are and provide tangible resources such as food and books as well as offer programming for youth and parents in addition to practicing evidence-based, comprehensive pediatric medical care with behavioral-emotional health support.
Our founder and fellow pediatrician, Charlotte Stites, birthed SFWC with a vision to work upstream to prevent chronic health diseases and disorders that lead to shorter lifespans. Many of our families face barriers of poverty, housing instability, unreliable transportation, and food insecurity. These inequities often lead to health disparities. Social determinants of health can be overlooked or inadequately addressed in a traditional medical setting with pressures of “productivity” on physicians. At SFWC, we value spending more time with our families to build trust, listen, and respond to families’ vital concerns.
Through partnerships with Dare to Care and New Roots, we offer shelf-stable food as well as fresh vegetables to our families.
At SFWC, we believe in the importance of early literacy and the power of the written word; we participate in the national Reach Out and Read program which allows us to give free books to babies and children at their well checkups, ages birth through 5 years. Due to bountiful gifts from the library and donors, we are able to distribute books to older children and youth as well. We welcome gifts of culturally-relevant books to give to our patients.
We value partnering with community organizations focused on helping children and families thrive. Such organizations include AMPED, the American Heart Association, Commonwealth Theatre, and Goodwill.
We value St. Paul’s support through monetary donations, particularly on our biggest fundraiser of the year, Give for Good Day, as well as through volunteer services.
To get more involved, contact Julia at jmitchell@smoketownwellness.org or call 502-242-7458.