Small Church Responds to Vital Need in Tennessee School System
Martin, who pastors a small, yet highly active congregation of 65 at Jackson (Tennessee) First Assembly learned that the information was from the previous year’s school year. Yet, what heightened his alarm was school officials informed him that the school system was on pace to have more than 400 school children known to be homeless or displaced by the end of this school year — meaning the actual number will undoubtedly be even higher.
Simultaneously stunned and moved, Martin knew that he and the Jackson First Assembly congregation could not sit by and ignore the need, especially with Christmas only about five weeks away.
“I don’t believe that many people even knew this need existed,” Martin says. “People were blown away when we started discussing how many homeless and displaced children there were . . . you might see adults on a street corner asking for help, but you don’t see their kids — they’re often at school, but they’re in this situation too and they’re hurting.”
With the strong support of the congregation and having already developed a great relationship with school leaders over the past 15 years that he and his wife, Kathy, have been leading First Assembly, Martin reached out to the school to see what the needs were.
He learned that oftentimes meeting homeless/displaced children’s needs begin with understanding what are the needs. For example, in these families, “home” can mean living out of a cheap motel room, their car, a tent, an abandoned building, or some makeshift shelter, so the needs can vary greatly. However, whatever “home” is defined as, space is almost always at a premium and electricity and/or running water are often considered a luxury.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but there’s a federal law called the McKinney-Vento Act that provides finances to make sure homeless children in every state receive an education on par with their classmates,” Martin says. “I’ve been working with Deputy Superintendent Ricky Catlett and Yevette Nesbitt, the school system’s Homeless Laison officer, to help determine the needs and the extent of those needs that we can help with beyond the act’s provisions.”
As Martin began putting the word out of the need for warm clothing, blankets, pillows, coats, undergarments, and more to the community, he found a highly receptive audience, including the business community. Many, shocked as he was by the surprising number of children in need, began to respond.
“Businesses really stepped forward,” Martin says. “I received several checks from businesses for $1,000 and a pizzeria donated coupons for 300 free pizzas — everyone who donated $100 or more received a free pizza — though most people turned the coupons back, asking us to give them to the kids. And then there was the woman who lives on the East Coast and heard about our fundraising effort over the internet — she used to live here and listens online to the radio station — she sent $1,500.”
“Pastor Garry is a champion for our kids,” states Catlett, 58. “I will never be able to repay him for all he’s done. He took the time — so many times the value of time is not appreciated as it should be — and put in the energy and effort to impact so many families in our district.”
The fundraising effort culminated with a 10-hour radiothon on WNWS 101.5 on Dec. 6.
“Four school choirs — three high school and one middle school — and two high school bands came in and performed live to help with the fundraiser,” Martin says. “The kids did a superb job, and we raised $8,000 that day alone in addition to thousands in material donations.”
Martin says that in less than two months, $28,000 was raised in cash and an estimated $20,000 in clothing, coats, blankets, pillows, towels, food, hygiene items, and more, including toys for the kids, were donated.
Prior to school being let out for the holidays, the families of homeless or displaced students in the school system were asked to come to Parkview Prep (a local school) on Dec. 20 as there were some Christmas gifts waiting for them there — they had no idea of the abundance awaiting them!
“Somewhere around 80 families showed up,” Martin says. “We had tables and racks, filled with items for them to choose from, in the sizes they needed. Every family also received at least two bags of groceries in addition to the items they selected.”
Catlett says that Nesbitt, who runs the school system’s McKinney-Vento program throughout the school year, working with an uncommon passion and skill to help students overcome the additional challenges that homelessness places on them, played a key role in the success of the Christmas surprise, organizing the distribution and communicating with families.
“After the families left the Christmas event,” Catlett says, “I took 25 boxes of clothes and toys to two different schools for staff to distribute to students who couldn’t get to Parkview and then delivered 35 boxes to the Dream Center here in Jackson,” Catlett says. “We had so many donations come in and we created so much awareness, but now we want to make sure all those donations go to families in need this school year.”
One of the families Martin prayed with that day stands out in his thoughts. A week earlier, he had learned of a mother and two daughters who had, for the last 4 ½ years, been living in different motels. He also learned the mother, just before Thanksgiving, had been diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of cancer.
“The girls were now living with their aunt, who brought the girls to the event on the 20th,” Martin says quietly. “They told me that the next day they were going to Memphis, where their mother was on a ventilator in ICU and no longer responsive, to remove the ventilator and unplug the machines . . . we prayed with them.”
Martin says his heart ached for the girls as their world, already difficult, was being torn apart. However, he learned that the aunt was going to take custody of the two teenaged girls, and volunteers made sure the girls and aunt left with their arms full and loaded with groceries.
“We tried to minister to them and encourage them,” Martin says, “and bring at least a little bit of hope and light into their lives.”
Another single mother came to the event with her three daughters. They had been homeless for an extended period of time, but had just moved into a fully furnished rental home . . . and now, she had no money remaining for food, much less Christmas gifts, for the girls.
However, a short time later, needed clothing was acquired, multiple Christmas gifts were secured, bags of groceries provided, and tears and smiles shone all around.
“God was able to turn a dark moment of time into a ray of sunshine,” Martin says.
The event didn’t just impact guests, but also the volunteers — especially the youth from First Assembly who were all asked to participate.
“The volunteers were just such a great group, and they were so blessed as they helped the families,” Martin says. “And seeing those kids come in and their excitement over just a pair of socks or a little Slinky toy — our youth were really impacted by that; it showed them just how blessed they are. And some of the kids (attending the event) our youth recognized, went to school with them, but simply didn’t realize the situations they were in.”
Catlett and Martin both say they received numerous words of sincere appreciation and witnessed countless smiles and tears of thankfulness.
“Pastor Martin has taken an interest in our school and our children and has truly modeled what a true servant pastor is to our school system,” Catlett says. “He’s made it a point to do whatever is necessary to help kids in our school system. He not only puts it out there and says what he’s going to do, he follows through and his congregation does too!”
Although some students who are homeless or displaced missed out on the event because their contact phone numbers were no longer in service, Martin says that school officials will follow-up with them as soon as the students return from Christmas break. He says there was such a great outpouring from the community that they should be able to hold at least one more giveaway, if not two, before the school year ends.
“We’ve also been encouraged to make this an annual event and double our giving goal to $50,000,” Martin says. “And with that kind of support, we can look into helping families in even more substantial ways.”
Although there’s a growing awareness of and voice for homeless and displaced students in the Jackson-Madison County School System (the two counties have nearly 100,000 residents), Martin says that many school systems throughout the U.S. likely have a shocking number of students in similar situations who need the Church — the body of Christ — to step up and step into their lives through similar efforts.
“As a society, I think we have gotten calloused to the impoverished and become reluctant to do anything because we know some aren’t ‘in need’ at all or will spend money on vices,” Martin says. “However, a lesson I’ve learned is that we shouldn’t be too quick to judge someone asking for help — we need to stop and have a conversation . . . you never know if you’re missing an opportunity to bless someone or, perhaps, God to bless you.”
For church leaders wanting to learn more about how Martin and First Assembly partnered with their school system and community to impact hundreds of lives, email Martin at [email protected] with questions or to set up a time to call and discuss the possibilities.
