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Category: General Human Services

LIVING STONES INTERNATIONAL INC

 

Tallahassee, FL

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LIVING STONES INTERNATIONAL INC

Physical Address:
Tallahassee, FL 32314 6747
EIN:
20-8309980
Web URL:
www.welivingstones.org
Blog URL:
howtostaymarriedwith...
Leadership:
Gary Montgomery, Chief Executive

Legitimacy Information

  • This organization is registered with the IRS.
  • This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.

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Basic Organization Information

LIVING STONES INTERNATIONAL INC

Physical Address:
Tallahassee, FL 32314 6747
EIN:
20-8309980
Web URL:
www.welivingstones.org 
Blog URL:
howtostaymarriedwith... 
NTEE Category:
P Human Services 
P46 Family Counseling, Marriage Counseling 
X Religion, Spiritual Development 
X20 Christian 
I Crime, Legal Related 
I43 Services to Prisoners/Families 
Year Founded:
2007 
Ruling Year:
2007 
How This Organization Is Funded:
Wells Fargo Bank - $147,700
Corporate Donations - $11,045
Individual Donations - $5,185

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Mission Statement

Living Stones’ Christian Family Outreach Ministry is dedicated to helping families in crisis, individuals and couples build and improve healthy relationships between a husband and wife, their children, and family members. LSI does this by:

1) building covenant relationship between a man and woman in marriage;

2) mentoring couples who are seriously dating or engaged with practical solutions prior to marriage;

3) educating men and women on the importance of family, fatherhood, and motherhood; which includes life skills and parenting education with a focus on domestic violence, child and elder abuse as well as teen dating violence

4) providing re-entry, educational and job training to the ex-offender population to reduce recidivism

5) providing educational programs for low-income and disadvantaged populations to qualify them for homeownership


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Impact Statement

1)    Mentoring couples who are seriously dating or engaged with Living Stones’ pre-marriage education program and married couples with marriage education, which is research-based.

2)     Reducing recidivism among ex-offenders with vocational/job training/job banks, opportunities for businesses/sole proprietorships, and curriculums to include training in parenting, anger management, life skills and conflict resolution, which includes understanding domestic violence and possible root causes.

3)     Teaching the word of God through structured Bible studies to arm the spiritual body of believers with tools to withstand the nature of this world and lead healthy lives.



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Revenue and Expenses

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Organizational Statistics

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Chief Executive

Gary Montgomery

Term:

Since Jan 2007

Chief Executive Profile:

As a Pastor and Master Chaplain, Gary has been serving in ministry for over 15 years. As a former Business Owner and Executive, Gary had a career that encompasses thirty plus years in Transportation, Fleet Management, Manufacturing, Contract Administration, and Instructional Training. His companies installed nearly 8,000 vehicles nationwide with contracts totaling more than ten million dollars. Coordinating and implementing a 501(c) (3) faith-based ministry, Gary and his wife founded Living Stones, which focuses on Marriage, Family, Prison and Life Skills. Gary and his wife sponsored a Marriage Conference titled “How to Stay Married without Really Trying.” He is a National Trainer for Pre-Marriage and Marriage Education research-based curriculum. At Wakulla Correctional Institution, Gary teaches re-entry curriculums for Family Relationships I and II; Inside/Outside Dad; Life Skills, and Boundaries –“When to Say Yes and When to Say No”. Named Wakulla Correctional Institution 2010 Volunteer of the Year, he has taught the gospel to over 900 inmates throughout four counties.  Gary trains young men, especially ex-offenders how to develop and manage businesses. He has received numerous awards including the Business of the Year Award presented by the York Area Chamber of Commerce, the General Chappie James Award by Pensacola’s Fiesta of Five Flags, and as a board member building the William Goodrich Incubator Industrial Center York, PA.

CEO/Executive Director Statement:

 

We are living in perilous times. We found that in homes where fathers are absent, it costs taxpayers in a four county area of Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, and Wakulla over $700 million. The family is the key to a stable and strong society, but our challenge is breaking this trend making fathers more responsible for their children and helping their families out of crisis.

Living Stones is on the frontline as an advocate for healthy families, fatherhood initiatives, and re-entry programs for ex-offenders to assist them in jobs, housing, and educational pursuits. Our staff and volunteers are dedicated to providing families the tools to stay together; children to grow up in a stable and safe environment; and fathers to take responsibilities for their households.  

Our current goal is to provide ex-offenders job skills and training to assist them in successful re-entry back into their communities and families. It takes resources from individuals, organizations, and businesses to halt the decline in our neighborhoods and invest into people’s lives. The center provides a clearinghouse for married and engaged couples to meet for coaching and mentoring sessions; fatherhood education provided by researched-based curriculum; online Christian college degree program for theology; homeownership qualification and training; social agency referrals for ex-offenders; and a Friday youth night.

 

We can take back our communities, neighborhoods, and families with your financial support. In keeping with our vision, Living Stones has and will continue to seek private and public funds for the continued viability of the organization. As our motto states, Living Stones will strengthen one marriage at a time, save one family at a time, and raise up one child at a time.   

 


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Highest Paid Employees & Their Compensation

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Program: Prison

Budget:
$15,000
Category:
Human Services
Population Served:
Male Adults

Program Description:

Living Stones is active and on the frontline mentoring fathers in and out of prisons on the importance of being active in the lives of their children. We offer a five and twelve week class of Family Relationship I and II to inmates at Wakulla Correctional Institution, where we provide opportunities for men to understand their roles as fathers and parents, how to set boundaries, and manage their anger and conflict resolution. Living Stones is also working in re-entry training and transitional programs for both inmates and ex-offenders. We provided certificates to 65 men and 50 men respectively. To date we have educated over 500 men. Our greatest need is now offering these classes in Spanish and to the community.

 

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Program: Marriage

Budget:
$10,000
Category:
Education
Population Served:
Adults

Program Description:

Secular research has confirmed that marriage is a blessing.  Married men and women are healthier, wealthier, happier, and more faithful, feel more personal fulfillment and have better relationships with their children.  Children from married unions are more successful, physically and emotionally healthier. Marriage is the “glue” that holds families together and ultimately our communities.  Families are the building blocks of communities.  Communities are the building blocks of nations.  And nations are the building blocks of civilizations. Living Stones helps singles, couples, divorcees and widowers understand and implement biblical instructions on marriage and family, and to live it every day. 

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Program: Fatherhood

Budget:
$25,000
Category:
Education
Population Served:
Male Adults

Program Description:

 According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, over 25 million children live apart from their biological fathers. That is 1 out of every 3 (34.5%) children in America. Nearly 2 in 3 (65%) African American children live in father-absent homes. Nearly 4 in 10 (36%) Hispanic children, and nearly 3 in 10 (27%) white children live in father-absent homes.

Children in father-absent homes are five times more likely to be poor. In 2002, 7.8 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 38.4 percent of children in female-householder families.  A child with a nonresident father is 54 percent more likely to be poorer than his or her father.

Living Stones has been involved with several father training programs and has launched its own fatherhood initiative to meet the growing demands of our courts and families to have fathers actively involved in the lives of their children. This program is for the community of the Big Bend Region. Our goal is to become a statewide initiative for fatherhood in Florida.

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Program: Start Smart

Budget:
$5,000
Category:
Education
Population Served:
Adults

Program Description:

Most couples face their most serious challenges during the first three to five years of marriage.  Through active marriage preparation, many of these problems can be avoided, or at least minimized, so they don't become toxic to an early marriage. The goal of marriage coaching is to get couples to surface, probe and discuss key issues BEFORE they get married.  The Start Smart program offers a step-by-step outline guiding you through the process. In Start Smart we ask engaged couples (and seriously dating) "Do you want the 5-year plan or the 50 year plan?"  Our willingness to share our lives and marriage experiences with engaged couples is a key component to the "50 year plan." Living Stones works with a proven research based program for Start Smart and as National Trainers have facilitated training for dozens of marriage coaches and successfully mentored 10 individual couples before marriage. 

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Program: Fiscal Builders

Budget:
$10,000
Category:
Housing
Population Served:
Adults

Program Description:

Living Stones offers the following services to assist you with homeownership:
Financial Literacy, skill building for budgeting and savings; Business Literacy, career goal setting and entrepreneurial training; and Maintenance Literacy, longevity on how to maintain and sustain homeownership.  These classes are offered free to low and moderate income individuals and couples who are seeking affordable housing for themselves and their families.  Classes offered are Budgeting, Building a nest egg, Renter versus homeowner, Credit rating, Credit versus debit, Fiscal Builders 101, Fiscal Builders 201, and Retirement, to name a few.
 
 

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Funding Needs

Living Stones current needs are renovations of our donated building by a bank to house the programs within the community; where both members of the neighborhood we reside can participate, as well as have opportunities for mentors and internships with the local colleges, Florida A&M University and Florida State, and for ex-offenders in needs of services for housing, jobs, and ministry coming from Wakulla Correctional Institution. 

Our projected budget is $275,000 for all programs. To date we have generated approximately $55,000 in both funds and in-kind services. This gap of $220,000 is what is needed. Living Stones is pursuing outside private and public funding sources. One goal is to become a United Way agency which would facilitate other sources through organizations locally and throughout the county. We are seeking unique ways of generating funds through other fundraising techniques. Any philanthropy donations through private sources are welcomed.


Volunteer Needs

Our staff and volunteers have increased substantially this year by ten members. We presently have recruited four additional mentors and educators for the prison and fatherhood initiatives. We now have on board a bilingual Hispanic board member to help with our Spanish speaking curriculum. As we are engaging the community, we now have many opportunities to recruit board members, volunteers and interns, as well as future staff.


Request for In-Kind Contributions

Any donated materials would be appreciated, i.e. floorboards for subfloor, drywall, fluorescent housing and lights, fans, concrete, kitchen cabinets, doors and windows, carpeting/tile, and decking material, to name a few items for our second facility.  We have been fortunate to receive furniture from the state for non-profits. Additional volunteers and interns are welcomed.

 

To raise funds to provide education classes for fathers, mothers, teens, marriage and engaged couple for the low-income and at risk population, mentoring and re-entry for ex-offenders to include job training and business opportunities, as well as educational training for the disadvantaged population to qualify for home ownership.


News

In God's Service
July 26, 2010

Last month, I was honored and humbled to accept the Wakulla Institution Volunteer of the Year Award. I count it all joy to share the good news of hope, faith, repentance and truth with men to trust in Christ which will transform them into Godly men. Thanks go to Warden Russell Hosford, Senior Chaplains Steve Fox and Sugrim Singh for allowing me to teach various re-entry curriculums such as Family Relationships, Fatherhood, Anger Management and Boundaries. Being selected for this award is humbling due to the many men and women volunteers that have been serving for years on the front line touching the lives and hearts of inmates.  Volunteers such as Mike McFadden, Dan Nase, Raymond and Mattie Johnson, Bob and Mary Rumbley, Charles and Barbara Schrader and Reverend Dixon to name a few. These volunteers give of their love, time and resources to make a difference in men’s lives. These are true Christians that go after the lost sheep and rejoice when one lost sheep is found.

 

Living Stones Recipient of National Fatherhood Initiative's Capacity-Building Grant 
September 28, 2010
National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI), with support from the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Family Assistance, is pleased to announce 26 capacity-building awards, one award in the amount of $25,000 for each of the organizations below. The purpose of these awards is to develop these organizations' capacity to effectively serve families and fathers in their communities. Click here to view the 2011 awardees.