It has been a fulfilling year at Dow Smith Company, and as we reflect on 2021 and count our blessings, one of the things we’re grateful for is that we’ve been able to work with two great non-profits to help them grow.

While our main focus is on church, healthcare and commercial construction, we’re always honored to get a call from a local non-profit organization that needs our services. Working with The Journey Home and Greenhouse Ministries this year has given us insight into what these organizations do and why they are so crucial to Rutherford County during difficult times like these.

We want to thank them for trusting us, and we encourage you to learn more about them.

The Journey Home

For the past 15 years, The Journey Home — located at 308 W. Castle Street in Murfreesboro — has been serving homeless and disadvantaged people in Rutherford County. The Christian ministry helps to rehouse people and provide resources and relationships that encourage faith, economic stability, wholeness, and reintegration into community life.

On a recent episode of Dow Smith Company’s podcast “From the Ground Up,” Journey Home Executive Director Scott Foster said, “Our goal is that people understand that they have value and that we can help them develop self-determination…that they actually have a say, that they get to participate, that they get to be a part of community life. And, that ultimately is the goal for each of the folks that we encounter.”

Foster said when people are in a crisis, The Journey Home’s mission is to help them reach a level of stability so that they can create a plan and start to move forward with that plan. In the community, The Journey Home works to address housing, health, mental health services, education, employment, and faith-building.

The Journey Home serves at least two meals every day, seven days a week. The organization provides clothing, hygiene items, and a place to take a shower and do laundry. “It is hard to help someone feel good enough about themselves to invest in themselves moving forward if they can’t even put on some clean clothes and have a shower,” Foster said.

The Journey Home offers a variety of individual and group volunteer opportunities, including in its Community Café and Outreach Center. The non-profit also needs folks who are handy with tools to help with building and maintenance. Listen to the podcast episode below.

You can donate to The Journey Home on a one-time or recurring basis through its website at www.lovegodservepeople.org or you can order items needed by The Journey Home off its Amazon registry at https://www.amazon.com/registries/custom/2Z80SA7UDZNKV/guest-view.

Greenhouse Ministries

Greenhouse Ministries’ commitment to our community goes back more than two decades when founders Cliff and Jane Sharp began teaching GED and computer classes to adults, and providing childcare for folks in the Franklin Heights federal housing project. The Sharps started Greenhouse Ministries to serve those who were being overlooked and underserved, and to give them hope.

“One of the interesting things was looking back to see what God knew that we didn’t know,” Jane Sharp said on an episode of our “From the Ground Up” podcast. “Had he told us what he had in mind for Greenhouse we might have paused. But we just saw the need and he had the plan…We’re just there to connect God’s children. Some are in need, and some can help, and it may turn around, but all of them are God’s children helping each other.” Listen to the episode below.

Greenhouse Ministries provides food, clothing, furniture, toiletries, bicycles and other basic necessities—but so much more. Greenhouse also offers adult education in the form of computer classes, GED tutoring, budgeting, sewing and literacy classes. Cliff Sharp said that one of the most important things that occurs throughout this process is that a true relationship is formed between staff and clients.

“If you do not develop a relationship with someone, you can really never help them. They are very appreciative for anything you give them, but you will never make any difference in their life unless they learn to trust you and know who you are.”

As Greenhouse Ministries continues to grow, Dow Smith Company is proud to be a part of their journey. We are in the finishing stages of their new, two-story, 25,000-square-foot building at 307 South Academy Street, across the street from their current building in downtown Murfreesboro. The first floor will be home to Greenhouse Ministries’ daily operation—a corporate office and counseling services. The second floor will have 18 transitional housing apartments. The current building will be used to expand Greenhouse’s Garden Patch Thrift Shoppe, and to allow the warehouse space for larger classes such as appliance repair, furniture repair, bike repair and computer refurbishing.

If you would like to get involved with Greenhouse Ministries’ mission, they need volunteers and financial contributions. Greenhouse relies on 500 volunteer hours every week. You can sign up to volunteer or to make a donation at www.greenhousemin.org.