Q1 2023 Newsletter
From our Executive Director
Dear Friends,
Will you lend Advance Memphis your Thinking Brain? Have I lost you? This concept is relatively new for me as well, but one that I cannot shake as we engage with our neighbors. I never thought I'd be asking you to be generous with your Thinking Brain, but, hey, I am. As a dyslexic with ADHD I've learned a lot about my brain over the years, and recently, how my brain works under stress—not well. Through our work with Access Consulting on a trauma-informed work culture, I now understand more about the brain and stress. The Thinking Brain when under stress asks, ‘What can I learn from this?; the Emotional Brain when under stress asks, ‘Am I loved?’; and the Survival Brain when under stress asks, ‘Am I safe?’. I am grieved by how many of our decisions are being made from our Survival Brain in our city each day. Understanding our own brain’s stress response in daily life is important to loving ourselves and our neighbors.
We use our brain every day and probably don't realize how well and also how poorly it can be used under stress. I’d bet ALL of us under stress have questioned: does God love me, does my family love me, does anyone love me, and am I in a safe space? We easily get mixed up and act out of our Survival Brain instead of our Thinking Brain. However, this skill of engaging our Thinking Brain that includes using executive functions such as organization, planning, prioritization, and emotional control is often learned through our family, or the environment we grew up in. I have learned that we are not immune to the challenges our neighbors face, but for those of us who haven’t grown up in chronically stressful environments, we have often had more training to handle them. And so let us pray about how we can share these strengths, to use them at the right time with God's Spirit and grace leading us.
As I search the scriptures, I think of Paul and how he reasoned with people, exhorted people, and encouraged people. I'm moved by Paul's desire to empathize with their struggle and help them to stabilize their lives on the heavenly treasure that is Jesus. Friends, when we live out the fruit of the Spirit, we are using our Thinking Brain.
Over the past few months, we have been using what we know about the Thinking Brain to engage our neighbors in "empathetic coaching" through a strategy called Mobility Mentoring, using staff and, eventually, volunteers as coaches. We would love to tell you how to get more involved. Join me in praying for all of us and our city, to live out the fruit of the Spirit from our Thinking Brains. May we have grace to be reciprocal learners and to truly be neighbors.
Peace,
Steve
Revitalizing the Community with the Craft Organization
If you've driven past the St. Paul Garden that's around the corner from our office in the past year, you may have noticed the garden wasn't what it once was. Through a partnership with the Craft Organization, the St. Paul Community Garden is being revitalized, once again creating a fruitful harvest, a beautiful space in our community, and opportunities for work.
Through a connection with Memphis Tilth, Milton and his wife Synolve Craft of the Craft Organization got connected to Advance Memphis. Synolve recalls noticing the garden years ago and how lush it was, but feeling a sense of sadness and urgency to help when they drove by recently and noticed all the weeds. One Sunday afternoon last Fall, Advance Memphis Executive Director Steve Nash received a phone call from Milton with an idea.
"I wanted to continue doing what Memphis Tilth had been doing in growing food for the community. Synolve and I had been asking ourselves, ‘How can we help revitalize and restore the garden for the community?’ So Steve told me that if I grew the product, he would provide the labor, and that's when I learned about the Work Life class and the amazing opportunity we had - not just for labor, but also for pouring into people," said Milton.
That Sunday afternoon phone call turned into a Monday afternoon meeting, and the Crafts went to work the next week.
"The first project was simply getting the weeds up," recalls Synolve. "People would stop us as they drove by in their cars and just thank us."
Once the Crafts and our Work Life students removed the overgrowth, they worked hard planting a collection of vegetables such as turnips, mustard greens, radishes, beets, kale, spinach and garlic just to name a few. The current Work Life class has been working diligently to prepare the soil and the beds for the big spring planting. Pretty soon, you will be able to drive by and see the fruit of their labor: corn, squash, green beans, and more, which will all be available for the community. What a difference we’ve seen in the garden in a few months' time!
What drew Advance Memphis to the Crafts was not only their desire to bring beauty and function back to the garden, but more importantly their desire to care for and empower our neighbors through this work, while sharing the love of Christ. The Crafts are dedicated to imparting social and emotional skills, team building, marketing and business skills.
"I want each class to learn social entrepreneurship skills. Not only to grow the food, but to learn how to grow the food and become an entrepreneur themselves. My goal is to eventually set up a food stand on site or take the food to the farmer's market. This is not just growing food, but growing as a person," shared Milton.
There's also a powerful element of healing that comes with working in the garden. And that is intentional! Along with crops, the Crafts have helped the students to plant a dedication tree. As they threw in the dirt to cover the roots, each student said who they wanted to dedicate it to, often a loved one who had passed.
"I always tell the students we can talk about anything in this garden. Be real. Be who you are. There's no judgment here," said Milton. And his wife echoed that beautifully, "It's amazing how intelligent, bright, and creative people are when they are allowed to be themselves! Milton is very gifted in being able to draw that out. The garden is not only a learning space, but a therapeutic space."
It is a joy to partner with a like-minded organization like the Craft Organization that seeks to equip others holistically so that they might flourish. Because of this partnership, together we are creating a self-sustainable community garden, empowering local adults, and providing resources and healthy food to the community. Please pray for the Crafts and their family as well as the students that they will impact throughout this year!
Want to volunteer in the garden? We would love to have you! Email Lizzie at emiller@advancememphis.org to get connected.
Offering Hope Through Addiction Recovery
One of our goals at Advance Memphis is to help our neighbors pursue economic stability, whether that be through job skills training, finance management, or our new Mobility Mentoring program. But often there are roadblocks that come up, causing them to stumble on that journey. One of the most challenging roadblocks to overcome is addiction. Our addiction recovery group, Overcoming Through Christ, was created as a way to both encourage and continue to build community for our neighbors who are struggling with substance abuse.
The group meets every Tuesday and Thursday and is led by Mr. Charles Grey, volunteer and husband to staff member Ms. Thelma Polk. He said that it’s similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. “We’ve adapted the 12 step-program of Alcoholics Anonymous. We [also] use the Recovery Bible as a tool surrounding recovery. It includes the 12 steps in AA, but it relates each step to Scripture and helps you understand the way to go.”
Volunteers, called sponsors, also play a role in the class and share from their own experiences of recovery, Mr. Grey said. “Sponsors are a guide, someone who will listen and give you their experience. God didn’t build us individually to do everything [alone], so that’s why we need each other.” These sponsors not only provide encouragement, but motivation as well, according to Mr. Grey. “We try to bring other people who can share their experience of how they became sober.”
Addiction recovery is a process that must be taken one day at a time, and it’s a journey that Mr. Grey can relate to on a very personal level, as he recently celebrated his 34th anniversary of sobriety. “I know the 12 step program works, because I live it,” he shared. “I was introduced to recovery in 1988, and got sober. I had a couple of days in 1989 that I slipped back, so I started over and haven’t looked back.”
While the community aspect of OTC is foundational to the class, the decision to begin recovery must be a personal one. “It can become nerve-wracking when [you] have less positive results, but it’s based on the individual,” Mr. Grey said, “The success rate depends on the individual and the choices they make.”
Often, Mr. Grey said the choice to turn to substances for comfort is rooted deep in someone’s past, which can impact the vision they have for the future. “Most people struggling with drugs are dealing with personal hopelessness.” But that doesn’t mean that hope is lost, Mr. Grey said. “Here, they can get a clear view of that vision, and it’s all a process.”
Even after being sober for so many years, Mr. Grey shared that he still attends recovery meetings himself. “There was a question once, why do I still go to AA? Basic answer is that I want to. Because when I came here, there was someone here for me.”
We’re so thankful for OTC, Mr. Grey, and the volunteers who devote so much of their time to helping our neighbors on their own journey to recovery. We ask that you lift up this class and its leadership in prayer, that the Lord would bless their efforts and that those who are considering help would seek it out.
Graduates Help Restore Clayborn Temple Stained Glass
In 2021, we shared about a new relationship with Pearl River Glass Studio, Inc, a company that specializes in stained glass restoration. They had begun a project with the Historic Clayborn Temple, and as a result, learned about Advance Memphis.
Andrew Young, the owner and chief designer for the company, was excited about the project, but needed a space to do it in. “We were developing a plan for renovating the windows at Clayborn,” Andrew said. “We needed a room to do it and were wanting to involve Memphis residents in construction.”
While searching for a space in town, Andrew was referred to Advance Memphis through a mutual connection and got in touch with our Executive Director, Steve Nash. After hearing more about our organization and available warehouse space, Steve and Andrew began to plan what a relationship might look like. Now, work is in full swing, and not only do we provide space for them to create the stained glass, we’ve given them a bit of help too!
“The Suzette warehouse has worked perfectly. It’s close, gives us the space needed to do stained glass construction, and gives work opportunities for [Advance Memphis] students, ”according to Andrew. “Some of the people that have come from Advance Memphis have shown a real aptitude and interest in stained glass, which has been very positive.”
Clayborn Temple was originally built in the late 1800s, and was the first location of Second Presbyterian Church before they sold it to the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Temple later became the location for the “I Am A Man” demonstrations of African American sanitation workers protesting discrimination and unsafe working conditions. The Clayborn Temple was also the location of the infamous conflict between marchers, police, and the National Guard when tear gas bombs were thrown into the sanctuary during a protest, smashing several of the original windows.
Because of the building’s history, partnering with local Memphians for the project was important to Pearl River, Andrew said. “One of the ideas behind working with Advance Memphis was that we were going to be able to bring new skills and training, so there’s a community aspect. This is something that the community did…It’s benefiting the community, and that’s part of the dream that Martin Luther King, Jr. had.”
The construction of the windows is almost complete and the building is now in phase three of the renovation project. The Historic Clayborn Temple plans to re-open in 2024, and we’re so grateful for the work that Pearl River Glass Studios has done in partnership with our neighbors. We can’t wait to see the result of their labor!
6 adults graduated from our first Work Life class. We currently have 9 enrolled in our second Work Life class, along with 5 in our Faith & Finances class.
55% increase in total volunteer hours for the first quarter of the year compared to 2022
45 people joined us in prayer for our January 12 Hours of Prayer. This was over 1,300 hours of combined prayer for our organization, city, nation, and world!
1 new employee - Welcome Dell Lampkin as our General Manager of Warehouse Operations!
2 new tenants are leasing space at our office - Tameka runs a healthcare business called Caring Angels and Josh is the VP of Product at SolarKal (a solar energy consulting company)
3 assets were purchased by Faith & Finances graduates using our IDA matched savings program: 1 business purchase and 2 vehicles
You’re Invited: April BLOCK PARTY
Mark your calendar for Saturday, April 15th—It’s time for your favorite Advance Memphis Block Party! Join us at the St. Paul Garden around the corner from our office on April 15th from 11 am - 1 pm.
This is a great opportunity to reconnect with your Ally group or meet new students and friends of Advance!
Use this social media to invite your friends via text or social media.