I recently received an e-mail from our Senior Minister at St. Paul's UMC, Dr. Jim Bankston, about a project being spearheaded by Interfaith Ministries (IM) and 25 other Houston congregations of various denominations. 

The Digital TV Senior Initiative has been coordinated to ensure senior citizens do not lose their connection to the community through local television service.  In February of next year the FCC has mandated that TV broadcasters will be converted to a digital signal and for most of us that currently subscribe to cable or satellite services, this will not interrupt our television service.  But many senior citizens in our community still use analog televisions and antennas and may not even be aware of the FCC mandate and how this will affect them.

It is easy to help.  Each household is entitled to receive 2 DTV boxes free of charge to allow conversion of analog televisions to digital compatible.  The Digital TV Senior Initiative is requesting that each of us apply for the two certificates, free of charge, and donate those for use by the senior citizens in our community.  The coupons that are received have a very short expiration date, so it is key to APPLY for your certificates today and quickly turn-around to the project.  You are welcome to bring your certificates by the studio and we can take them to St. Paul's on your behalf or feel free to go to the website to learn more about where you can drop your certificates.

The goal of this project is to collect over 4,000 coupons.  Once the coupons have been collected, volunteers will install the conversion boxes in the seniors' homes.  To register for your coupons, please apply online at www.dtv2009.gov or call 1-888-DTV-2009.

You can find more detailed information in the document at this link:

Dr. Jim Bankston Letter:

Thank you for your support to help the senior citizens in our community.