Our History
S.T.A.R.S. is an outreach program of Abounding Love MInistries Inc. and functions as a year-round youth enrichment program. S.T.A.R.S. was founded by Apostle Albert W. White back in the fall of 2005. The program began with only an after school program that was made up of under a dozen students. By the summer of 2006, the program had over 200 students enrolled in its summer enrichment program. Since its inception in 2005, S.T.A.R.S. has served over 2000 students, while establishing several programs along the way including: Bible & Basketball, Saturday Camp, School Break Camps, the SEC (S.T.A.R.S. Entrepreneurship Course) program as well as its Scholarship program. In the last 19 years, S.T.A.R.S. has partnered with other orgranizations such as, YMCA of Baton Rouge, BREC, Sharon Hills Elementary and our largest supporter, First Presbyterian Church Downtown, to fufill its mission.
Our Mission
Abounding Love Ministries, Inc., S.T.A.R.S. (Students That Are Reaching Success) mission is to help youth reach their full potential by teaching and training them in every area of their lives. Through providing educational, enrichment, and recreational activities, the youth will develop a more positive self-awareness and academic success. It is the goal of this program to help youth in the community improve academically, socially, physically and morally.
Our Goals
- To promote academic student growth in Language Arts, Reading and Math skills.
- To develop college-oriented youth
- To raise the self-awareness levels in participants and boost their confidence by teaching social, coping, and life skills.
- To provide homework assistance, remediation, and improved scores on LEAP, I-LEAP, and GEE test preparation to all students.
- To provide recreational and enrichment opportunities for students of all ages.
- To promote balanced nutrition by providing nutritional hot meals in the summer and nutritional snacks to all participants.
- Strengthen Families
- Increase Literacy
- Provide youth with multiple diversified experiences
- Provide "Parents Nights" for families
Our Leadership Team
Minister Sue Evans
Executive Director
Minister Sue Evans is a 2-time graduate of Southern University. She as has a Master's Degree in Social Work and has worked in education for 38 years. She worked alongside Apostle White to create the S.T.A.R.S. program. Min. Sue has worked as the Executive Director since its inception.
Suzan Hartford
Program Director
Ms. Hartford is a native of Baton Rouge, LA and a graduate of the S.T.A.R.S. program. She has participated in the S.T.A.R.S. program since its inception in 2005. Following her completion of the program, she went on to study at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette while also being one of the first recipients of the S.T.A.R.S. Internship Program. Since returning back to Baton Rouge, Ms. Hartford has worked with the STARS Program in various capacities from classroom facilitator, dance instructor, creative director to now, Program Director.
Evangelist Rose Willis
Community Liaison
Evangelist Willis currently serves as our Community Liaison. She has been a part of the S.T.A.R.S. Family since 2006 where she began as the Coordinator for the feeding program. In 2008, she became the coordinator for the Saturday Camp Program that operates in the Melrose East community. She has a heart for the community and is dedicated to making positive change in the lives of the families we serve.
Apostle Albert White & Pastor Adraine White
Founder/CEO of S.T.A.R.S. & Pastor of Abounding Love Ministries
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.