Q2 Newsletter
Dear Friends:
Love is expensive! Love is costly. Love is valuable. BUT I very often want to be loved the way I want to be loved in a safe environment. Do you have opinions about how you want to be loved? I am dyslexic and wanted to be loved by teachers giving me the answers. They didn’t and now I’m grateful! I also didn’t feel safe reading out loud or taking tests. It didn’t feel loving to take tests and fail, or be laughed at when reading out loud and making a mistake. This didn’t feel loving to me.
Does a drug test feel loving? Advance Memphis drug tests because of love and the civil law in TN. All Staff and I take drug tests every 90 days. This is expensive to FedEx drug tests to the lab, and it is limiting the number of Work Life grads we can send to work.
“Hey Nash! Don’t you know Work Life grads need work, cash, and employers need employees?” Yes, I do! Advance Memphis knows that not many of our neighbors want to be lovingly called and held accountable to be drug free. We are a drug free employer and we long for our neighbors to flourish. We are convinced that being drug free supports flourishing.
We see and hear of the destruction from drugs every day. Drug use has many downsides: slow reaction time or falling asleep while driving a car or operating a piece of equipment at work. Bills are not paid; money spent on drugs instead of on food for the family, domestic violence, death, health issues, etc.…
We also drug test because our ultimate goal is transformation, not just getting the next job. Honestly, we are sick and tired of hearing neighbors say they are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Our neighbors who sign up for Work Life, graduate, and start working, pretty much have a common reason: they know it’s time for a change—life is not working. So, we apply the Gospel and biblical principles that can kick start transformation in their relationships with God, others, ourselves, and work. We offer support, encouragement and accountability through an addiction recovery support group that meets twice a week at our office. We see our neighbors applying their gifts and talents for others and themselves. Advance Memphis is drug testing, more than most companies these days, because… we love our neighbors.
Guess what? I’m thankful my parents, teachers, and friends loved me enough NOT to give me the
answers! I was held accountable by my parents, teachers, administrators, and friends even when I got angry, slammed my book shut, and wanted to give up. Ok, let’s keep it real, I’m sure a teacher or two gave me stronger hints than I should have received during a test; or my dad did my homework
sometimes along my educational journey. There is a fine line between helping and hurt.
Friends-love is costly and valuable! I was recently thanked by a student that Advance Memphis has
mandatory drug testing. He said he needed that help. Folks, this friend started smoking weed at age 11 and is now 60ish days free from the use of opioids. I am so proud of my friend choosing to love himself and others.
Finally, where does this love come from? Well, you guessed it-God. The Bible says God is love. Advance Memphis doesn’t tell anyone what to believe or that they have to choose to live a drug free life. We do hope our neighbors will explore reading the living word of God, be transformed by Jesus, and start living a drug free life.
Peace,
Steve Nash, Executive Director
Taking Warehousing to the Next Level
Advance Memphis warehousing has seen a lot of growth over the past couple years, and with this growth has come greater responsibility. In 2021, we began the process of selecting a Warehouse Management System (WMS) in partnership with one of our customers as a way to elevate our processes and take Advance Memphis warehousing to the next level. This year, we started implementing the WMS with one product line and we are already seeing gains.
With more visibility into inventory levels, greater accuracy on shipments, and easier communication with our customers about orders, we are confident that this investment will pay dividends for us- creating more opportunity for work in South Memphis!
Because of the success we’ve seen we will be expanding the WMS to include our largest customer Docazoo starting in July. To help you understand the magnitude of this expansion, the original product line on WMS averages 40 orders a day and the Docazoo brand averages 150 orders a day—almost 4 times the original Q1 load, plus some extra activities!
While this at times feels like a gargantuan task for our warehouse team, we are thrilled at the opportunity we have to use this system for equipping and developing our graduates on this industry-leading technology.
“Having a Warehouse Management System is really going to help us turn around quicker on knowing inventory because everything we've done manually will now be more automated,” said warehouse manager Ronald Proctor. “This is a great opportunity to train our grads on more advanced warehousing technology. We will be purchasing scanners that they will use for picking products, which will keep us accountable because we can only move products if they are scanned in and out.”
The core of our mission is to empower adults in South Memphis, and one of the best ways we can do that is through training and equipping. Once we integrate the barcode scanners for inventory management, we will be able to directly train our workers on the use of the WMS which makes them even more marketable for future employment.
Please pray for our staff and grads as we all continue to learn and grow in this business together!
Volunteer Highlight
What we do at Advance Memphis would not be possible without our volunteers, so in this newsletter, we wanted to give a shoutout to one who has been incredibly generous with her time, resources, and talents. Everyone, meet Ms. Kristie Koontz!
Ms. Kristie began volunteering with Advance Memphis in 2019, and has had several roles during her time here.
"I've done mock interviews before, I've mentored some of the students, and now I come in and teach one of the Work Life [lessons]...I just wanted to get involved in the community, and thought, 'I've been in the industry a long time, maybe I can help in that way. I always like to ask myself, "Where can we [the church] help?"
One of our goals is not only to teach our students, but to learn from them, creating a reciprocal experience, and Ms. Kristie said that has definitely been the case for her!
"I’ve learned a ton about people in general, the injustices they face and struggle with multi-generational poverty, addiction and roadblocks keeping them from succeeding. It’s all about sharing the love of Jesus with our neighbor, and giving them the support system they never had."
At Advance Memphis, we believe in the power of community to promote real life change, "Programs don’t change lives. God changes lives through relationships. Advance Memphis staff alone can’t develop relationships with every participant and graduate – they need our help as allies," she shared.
We are so grateful for Kristie and how faithful she has been to this ministry! Visit our website for more information about opportunities to volunteer.
Team Changes
Recently, there have been a few changes among the Advance Memphis saff. Our wonderful Volunteer Coordinator, Gina Johnson, decided to take a step back from working with us to focus more on her family. She will be sorely missed by us, our students, and our volunteers. We are so sad to see her go, but we are excited to welcome and introduce our newest team member, Lizzie Miller!
Lizzie began working for Advance Memphis in late March as a Communications Intern, and has now moved into a full-time position as the Communications and Volunteer Coordinator. She is a native Memphian and loves the Lord, music, and chatting over a cup of coffee.
Completing her undergrad at College of the Ozarks, Lizzie majored in Communication Arts, with an emphasis in Journalism. During her time there, she participated in the college's Chorale and Chapel Choir, getting the opportunity to travel to both New York City and Alaska to perform. Of the two, she preferred Alaska, and hopes to return again someday to visit!
She is part of a family of 6, and grew up with her parents, Frances and David, two brothers, Thomas and Matthew, and her sister, Hannah.
Lizzie is very excited to officially be on the team here at Advance Memphis! If you have any questions about partnering with us, please contact her at emiller@advancememphis.org.
Art for Jobs is BACK in Person!
We can barely contain our excitement to share that the Art for Jobs in-person party will resume this year! On Tuesday, September 20th, you, your friends, family, neighbors, and all of Memphis are invited to celebrate the annual Art For Jobs art show & fundraiser at our 575 Suzette St. warehouse.
Yes...you read that right! As in years past, this night will be full of music, fun, food, connection and local artwork. In maintaining with the last two years, we are keeping this gathering a PREVIEW party only, celebrating the opening of our warehouse gallery for ongoing tours throughout the day Wednesday and Thursday. Artwork will go live for purchasing online Thursday, September 22nd.
The Preview Party will be the first opportunity to view the art in person! If you can't make the AFJ Preview Party on Tuesday, you will be able to come see the art during the preview days. We have heard our guests share how they've missed our Art for Jobs celebration, and our prayer is that this hybrid approach will be just the thing we've needed! Thank you for graciously pivoting with us over the past couple years.
Throughout the years, the Lord has continued to bless our efforts in ways we couldn't have imagined, so we choose to trust Him again in this next phase of Art for Jobs. Please join us in praying that this event would be a sacrifice acceptable to the Lord.
Did we mention how excited we are to see you in person?! Don’t miss out on the chance to be one of the first to see the amazing work our artists have created! See you on September 20th!