A Hand Up – Hope House – Director of The Hope House: Kelly Reagin

Our mission is to connect with broken men and women and with a hand up, provide an opportunity for finding hope for a better life.

At A Hand Up, we provide safe and structured housing for men and women who have experienced devastation from addiction. Our team works together to create a loving and accepting environment that creates hope for healing. We are a Christ-centered community, with 12-step recovery principles based on Celebrate Recovery. We offer a discipleship curriculum that includes morning devotions, transferable work skills, leadership class, parenting class, and relapse prevention. 

Our Request:

We submitted the grant proposal to help fund improvements to increase the capacity for seating in the cafe. With increased seating, we will increase our revenue. This will enable us to continue to create more support for individuals seeking freedom from addiction. The cafe is where our female participants develop transferable work skills for the first 90-120 days after entering the program, such as time management, customer service, food prep, and Barista training. The Hope House Cafe not only serves to prepare our residents for outside employment but also gives hope to our community.

Alpha and Omega Outreach – Executive Director: Wanda Officer

Our mission is to promote the spiritual growth of youth from single-parent families by ministering to their mind, spirit, and body through the gospel of Jesus Christ. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov 22:6)

We foster our youth’s educational needs through various programs: our afterschool partnership with Baylor School, an annual Black History program (“Leaving a Black Legacy”), spiritual enrichment through weekly Bible study. We also offer summer camp through our partnership with the City of Chattanooga Community Development, and vacation Bible school (VBS) through our partnership with New Birth Global Missions. We meet physical needs through our partnership with UT Agriculture and Master Gardeners of Chattanooga by providing fresh vegetables in a community known as a food desert.

Our Request:

We would like to expand our outreach by increasing the number of people we reach through our free services. AOO is a legacy-building organization, and funds will be used for our celebration of God’s faithfulness through our 25th anniversary. We celebrate how God has provided for the organization in abundance to do His will to serve generations of families. The original projected number of participants was 100, yet the number of guests could increase to 200 because of this generous funding. In offering this five-hour event at no cost to the public, we will share the gospel in ways that magnify the joy of the Lord! We will feature spoken word, singing, dancing, and gospel-centered presentations highlighting the history of AOO. This event will also mark the summer kickoff for the Alpha and Omega Day of Caring that will be held later in Summer 2025.

Girls Inspired – Founders Jucinta Rome and Bobbi Stock

The mission of Girls Inspired is to cultivate the innate potential for girls living in marginalized neighborhoods by offering academic support, life skill education, mentorship, new experiences, and safe housing. We offer an in-school program for girls at Brainerd High School, where we connect them with information, community resources, and new experiences such as: career options, community service projects, and college tours. We offer academic support for our club members on an as needed basis from trained professionals. Once a week, we offer Prayer Corner where participants share their answered prayers and can deepen their friendship with Jesus. Weekly we offer an after-school program at the East Lake Boys and Girls Club for elementary aged girls that focuses on self-awareness and self-management, social skills, decision making, and relationship skills. Finally, we offer transitional housing at Serenity Point for women ages 18-24, where their rent includes utilities, food assistance, and limited transportation services. During their stay, residents complete a life skills curriculum covering personal finance, career planning, resiliency, adulting, and communication. The house provides a unique environment for residents to test, prove, and eventually believe in their own abilities to live independently. Success is measured by the development of employment, and other individual goals that facilitate a resident’s effective transition into their own independent housing.

Our Request:

The tangible need Girls Inspired wishes to meet with this one-time gift is a 15-passenger transit van. The van will be used to provide transportation support for Girls Inspired participants, as well as for our Serenity Point tenants. Girls Inspired will utilize the vehicle for local trips such as transportation to community service projects, summer leadership meetings, and out of town trips like college visits and retreats. It will also be used to transport Serenity Point tenants to work and to medical appointments.

Scenic City Women’s Network – Executive Director: Renee Nail

The Mission of Scenic City Women’s Network (SCWN) is to encourage, equip, and energize today’s Christian working woman. Founded over 30 years ago, SCWN was established in prayer, which is a chief distinguishing factor between us and civic or professional groups. Our vital programs are carried out in the marketplace and provide spiritual support and inspiration that fit a working woman’s 9 to 5 window. We offer Bible studies, weekly electronic devotions and Bible readings, monthly inspirational luncheons, our Praise Breakfast, and prayer initiatives including the annual 9/11: A Day of Remembrance, the Intercessory Prayer Team and Networking, relevant webinars, and others. We have been blessed to serve hundreds of women who have participated in our many programs this past year, praising God as members share how their lives have been transformed because of SCWN walking with them through the seasons of their careers, impacting many lives for Jesus!

In 2023, SCWN launched a new equipping program, Leadership Symposium “God’s Running Your Business, Are You on Board?” and hosted a second Symposium in 2024. Featuring a Keynote speaker and a panel of prominent CEO’s, we had significant turnouts as we discussed how implementing God’s principles in business make an impact on the work environment, clients served, and even the bottom line. Results were overwhelmingly positive with a 99% positive survey response rate, asking for a return event. With such a welcome response, SCWN will create and develop a Leadership Curriculum to equip leaders, sole proprietors, managers, and emerging leaders. 

Our Request:

With a grant, we will develop and implement the Leadership Curriculum based on godly principles using the framework from “Leadership NOT by the Book” by David Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby. Funds will also be used for comprehensive marketing and PR. We will develop strategic communications about the Leadership Symposium that will result in even greater participation, visibility, and impact with the community, and will approach businesses, churches and our membership to get the word out through their networks. With your help, God’s Kingdom will be expanded and faith carried even deeper into the marketplace!