Against the Grain in Franklin Doing Good Works

• There are 12,129 single mothers in Middle Tennessee


• 5,721 have pre-school children


• 4,730 are unemployed


• 4,914 do not have a high school diploma


• 7,277 are below the poverty level

Do the above facts surprise you? A statement from the Against the Grain website, "That doesn't sound like much of a life does it? But that is the reality for thousands of single mothers in Middle Tennessee and they are begging for a way out. . . begging for dignity and a hope for their children."

Rob and Meredith Kendall at Against the Grain in Franklin, TN are on a mission to empower single mothers to become self-sufficient, knowledgeable, productive members of society. Their vision includes specific goals that include making a greater impact in Williamson County and expanding their work in to Middle Tennessee, opening offices in other areas of the country, and developing a residential community specifically for single mothers where their families can live while the mother going through Against the Grain training. AtG goes one step further by wanting to position themselves to help these mothers move toward home ownership after the AtG training is complete.

For single mothers, there is hope for their family by joining the 180 program. Taking part in the program is a two-year commitment of group and individual training. The program is designed to break the family cycle of dependence on governmental programs that provide food and shelter for the families. The participants take classes such as Budgeting 101, self esteem classes, Purpose Driven Life, and two six-week parenting classes. This part of the training involves a life-coach for each participant and lasts one year. The second year continues to include the help of a life-coach and the mother works to implement all the tools she learned through the program. AtG and the life-coach assist her with implementation of her customized plan and provide her accountability measures.

In April, five mothers graduated from the first year of the program and will spend the next year taking classes every other week and will continue working with their mentors. On the AtG website, one mother quoted, "As I came to class and met all the other mothers that had stuff going on in their life almost the same as mine it made me open up and stay focused. Now I rate my self esteem a 10+++. I have to thank the 180 program for my help they inspired me that there was life at the end of my tunnel."

To help reach their goals of helping these single mothers, AtG conducted two fundraisers last week. On May 7, they conducted a Golf Scramble at the Vanderbilt Legends Golf Club where teams could play for $600. The weather was a big worry as to whether the event would occur, but the weather cleared and the tournament was a success. On Mother's Day, May 10, there was a Walk-a-Thon where the weather was not so cooperative. Walkers showed up to support AtG but lightning thwarted the walk after two hours.

In talking to Rob Kendall, I have learned that giving is down 32% this year for AtG. The fundraisers went well but not as well as the past few years. Individual donations from our monthly giving partners is down as well as our one time gifts. Realizing this is probably typical of non-profits this year, Rob still hopes gifts will continue to come in to AtG.

Against the Grain could use your support in several different ways. There is a donation page on their website http://www.atghope.org/ and another very simple way to support AtG is to make your homepage goodsearch.com. This is a search engine that is powered by Yahoo and has commited to give a penny to AtG for every search done with AtG as the selected charity. Instructions on how to do this are also on the AtG website.

Here is a list of items that are needed.

Wal Mart gift cards ($25 increments)

Gas gift cards ($25 increments)

Reliable Car for Single Mom

Land for Single Mothers Community

Volunteer Office Help

Babysitters for Thursday and Saturday morning classes

If you would like to donate any of these items please contact Meredith at 791-7885 or email info@atghope.org .

To read more about the Kendalls and how they came to work on this mission for single mothers, go to http://atghope.org/?page_id=34 and see the miracle of their story.

Miriam's Promise - Making Families

"One adoption won't change the world, but it will change the world for that one child" is the idea behind Miriam's Promise, a Nashville-based full-service non-profit agency serving families and children in Middle Tennessee. They are a full-service crisis pregnancy and adoption agency offering free counseling, real choices and open adoption. Miriam's Promise derives their identity of Miriam through the bible story of Moses. Moses sister, Miriam, is a heroine who looks after and protects her infant brother. She works to ensure his safety in a turbulent time when all male babies were in danger. Miriam's Promise trys to do just this and works to ensure the well-being of children before, during and after birth.

Several families I am acquainted with in Brentwood have greatly benefited from Miriam's Promise through the adoption process. These families hold this agency close to their hearts and continue to take an active role in their fundraising efforts in the hopes of helping other families. One board member became involved not through adoption, but in her interest to assist with adoption and hopefully help stop unnecessary abortions. But for whatever reason one might serve this agency, many volunteers are needed to keep this service available. It is a place of hope and peace, and a place where you can watch the miracle of families happen.

Here are several ways you can volunteer:

Miriam's Promise has been extremely blessed by the generosity of many local churches and civic groups. They regularly receive donations of infant clothing and baby care items for our clothing closet. These items are given to our clients and to other organizations that serve young moms. These gifts must be organized into bins by size, sex, and type so that these items can be easily found by counselors. Volunteers who could do this task are needed on a regular basis.

Babysitting for support groups is another way to volunteer. Approximately 16 ongoing support groups occur each year for adoptive families of older children, trans-racial families, waiting families, and birthparents. Many of these families have very small children who need babysitting services during the monthly support group in which their parents are involved.

Miriam's Promise holds two major fundraising events each year. In the spring, they have a dinner, art show, and live auction called Pasta and Promises. The artists selling at this event donate a portion of their proceeds to Miriam's Promise. Volunteer duties include tasks such as logistics, catering, decoration, artist development, silent and live auction, ticket and table sales, and communications.

In the fall, a team Golf Challenge is hosted by Miriam's Promise. For the Golf Challenge, players raise money before the date of the tournament, and then play golf and receive prizes based on how much they raised. Volunteers are vital to make these events a success. Miriam's Promise need help with pre-events, sponsorship development, prize development, catering, and "day-of-event" needs such as registration, golfer relations, beverage cart drivers, and accounting of contributions and pledges.

Volunteers are also needed in specific technical areas such as marketing brochure development, client information systems, and archiving closing records for adoptions. If you would like to know more about helping Miriam's Promise, please check out their website http://www.miriamspromise.org/ and check the "How You Can Help" section. You can also call their office, located at 522 Russell St., at 292-3500.