By Loretta Humble/Around the Town
I was going to fill the week’s column with happy news about our parolee, Don, who is now residing in Tyler. However, Don’s health seems to have taken a turn for the worse. While I hope this is temporary, I think I’ll wait to see what is happening before I write the next chapter on him.
In the meantime, I do have something good to write about. I visited Forever Families in Kemp, and I am in love with the folks there. It is just starting up— when I was there they had just one guest, but I am convinced it is going to be a great success and a blessing to lots of folks.
I want to succinctly tell you what they do, but I don’t want to put words in their mouths, so I’ll start by taking some words from their brochure. Okay, I juggled them around a little, but they are all their words. Forever Families is a residential faith based ministry that is committed to reaching mothers and their children in crisis. They offer Employment Training, Parenting, Financial Planning and Management, Life Skills, Addiction Recovery Therapy, and Childcare Services. For Children they will offer Educational Tutors, Personal Mentoring, Summer Camp, and Play Therapy.
I’m thinking “in crisis” means escaping from abusive situations, or mothers whose children have been removed to foster care, and who are working to be reunited with them. Maybe there are other situations, like the need for addiction detox, but that is kind of the general idea.
Women can stay for up to one year. After a year, hopefully they will have been given the tools they need to provide for themselves.
The director is June Groom. I liked her immediately. She is very open and friendly, but you can tell she is a straight shooter who can be tough when needed but never mean. She should know how to do it; she’s had plenty of experience. She has over 30 years of experience in the criminal justice field. She is retired from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and served as the director of Exodus Ministries.
I really liked her assistant director, Sharla Polish, too. She has had a lot of experience with Children’s Ministries, and will also serve a Children’s Coordinator.
They are located is the old Kemp Nursing Home, which was given to them outright when the owners replaced it with the beautiful new Kemp Care Center. The place needed a lot of work, and they’ve been blessed with a lot of volunteer help. But what really put them over the top was Lowe’s Hero’s Program. Every year Lowe’s encourages local employees to choose a worthy project where they live and band together to make a difference. Lowe’s in Gun Barrel City, with the help from Lowe’s in Forney, took on Forever Families as their project. June Groom says they never could have made it this far without all the help from Lowe’s.
And they did a great job. The place is warm and inviting. It feels like a home. And it has a gorgeous kitchen.
They now have seven suites ready for families, all really nicely done. Different members of the community furnished and decorated them. Another group of suites should be ready by the end of the year. They will be needing furnished and decorated too. Groom says the ones who decorated the first group had a great time. So maybe you know somebody who would like to work on one of these new ones.
Clients will not be charged for their services. Forever Families will be completely supported by grants and donations.
Here are some of the donations they wouldn’t mind having:
Diapers-all sizes; gently-used clothes; non-perishable canned food; bath towels; twin sheets; comforters; pillows; backpacks; school supplies; toys; toilet tissue; paper towels; laundry soap; DVD players; alarm clocks; large pots and pans; African-American hair products; high chairs; and pack and play. Of course, all items have to meet safety requirements.
If you would like to learn more about this wonderful ministry, you can call 903-498-1076, or email [email protected] or find them at https://www.facebook.com/foreverfamiliesprogram.