E.S.T.H.E.R. Girls

ESTHER is an after school program in its 4th year!

It is an awesome thing that the Lord is doing at the Quitman Elementary school. Praise the Lord for the lives that have been touched and changed by this program. 

Victoria Mirimanian, the founder and director, has 36 girls, 10-12 years old. They have experienced a program that has helped them overcome their current situations and discover their hidden potential.  Some of these young ladies come from stable homes. Others come from foster care. Some have a parent or two in prison, or a parent who is gravely ill that they are required to care for. Some come from poverty,  neglect or abuse. But all came hungry. They heard of the ESTHER  program and had seen girls whose lives had been changed and they wanted that too.


The ESTHER girls are required to maintain an A-B grade average and an excellent conduct record. The after school tutorial assists students with homework who struggle alone at home. Most families are below average academically and cannot provide the help the girls need. These students can for the first time know what it feels like to make good grades. Teachers are amazed at the shy student with low self esteem and poor grades, who is now successful, lively and outgoing. Better still is the girl with a bad attitude, often in trouble, who is transformed into a polite, considerate girl, now actually mentoring others. That's the mark of success!


ESTHER teaches the right way to achieve in life.

They learn team work and to care for one another. They learn gratefulness, kindness, favoring others, service and giving. These girls experience life in a whole new way. They learn that their beauty, value and worth is in discovering who they are from God's point of view. And that it starts on the inside. Some of these girls come from impoverished living conditions and experience poor nutrition and broken homes. Through a three week course in fashion, healthy eating habits and personality traits, they begin to discover a new person on the inside of them they did not know existed.


The lessons of Excellence, Service,Trust, Honor, Etiquette and Responsibility are not only taught in the classroom, but experienced with many activities.

Sewing projects teach them the skill of detail, concentration, patience and teamwork. Field trips open their horizons to new possibilities for their lives. Local service projects helps them focus on service to others. The February High Tea helped them experience grace, poise and manners at a very high level.


Now, as May 21 draws near, excitement is building in these young ladies. The culmination of 9 months of preparation is getting ready to produce a princess. The Cinderella Ball displays the extreme beauty and grace that has been discovered and encouraged in these young ladies. Victoria selects a princess dress to suit each girl. Their outfit is completed with new shoes. That Saturday will see them transformed into sparkling diamonds with first time curls and manicures. Parents have their breath taken away and weep as they see their daughters' splendid transformation, as they walk the rose covered carpet to center stage, turn and curtsy with great poise, then smile the most brilliant smile of their lives.  They receive a tiara and certificate of completion of the ESTHER course. But most importantly, they know they have been changed in heart and mind forever!


ESTHER is a program fully funded by donations. You have made a difference in the past with your gifts, your prayers, your time and your support. Once again you have the opportunity to sow good seed into good ground. Your tax deductible donation may be given to Lanes Chapel UMC, with ESTHER in the memo. The mailing address is:  8720 Old Jacksonville Hwy, Tyler, Tx 75701.  The cost of graduating each girl is $100. God's supply never fails. Thank you and the Lord bless you and your giving.