Omaha Street School (OSS) is a faith-based, non-profit alternative high school. OSS targets high-risk youth who have been unsuccessful in traditional high schools. Students come to the school with a history of problems including: truancy, drug and alcohol abuse, emotional and physical abuse, teen pregnancy, and criminal and gang involvement.

As a non-profit high school, OSS is supported heavily by donations including financial support from our church Mission budget. (Our OSS support is in synch with the Mission Committee’s main focus of ‘youth at risk’.) The school operates on a small budget, in an old building that does not have a full kitchen. Because meals cannot be prepared onsite, various volunteer organizations, churches, and businesses have picked up the slack by providing hot lunches on a daily basis.

The staff at OSS believe that:

• all people have the potential to learn because they are created in the image of God,
• God’s truth can be witnessed in all areas of academic study,
• education is modeled through nurturing relationships between teachers
• education involves the total student in terms of mental, physical, spiritual, and social development.

Presbyterian Church of the Cross (PCOC) volunteers participate by sharing lunch with the students once a month, on the second Thursday of the month. Volunteers prepare a hot lunch, serve the lunch, and interact with students and staff, including prayer and conversation. PCOC also supports Omaha Street School academically. Volunteers serve on the school’s Board of Directors and assist the staff with class instruction. As a key mission partner, OSS annually receives financial donations from PCOC to help fund the school’s programs.

Contact the coordinator to volunteer.