GraceWorks Fairview announcement
Starting in July, GraceWorks will move to a mobile services model in Fairview to serve more families experiencing poverty.
“The board and the CEO have restructured our service model and believe this restructuring will enable GraceWorks to serve more people and pour more funds into the Fairview community,” a formal statement from the GraceWorks Board of Directors and CEO says.
GraceWorks West will move out of its current location at 2382 Fairview Blvd. June 30. Residents will still obtain food through plans to increase mobile food pantries from an average five per year to initially more than 12 annually. These mobile pantries may also include Hickman and other surrounding counties.
“An expansion of mobile food pantries will allow us to feed more people in a four-hour day than what we have been able to feed in a month with a physical site,” said GraceWorks CEO Valencia Breckenridge.
GraceWorks is looking for a church or business partner to lend a small office space the first week of each month to use for providing rent and utility assistance, which are typically due at that time.
The ministry’s Fuel Bag program will continue in Fairview schools. Fuel Bags contain food for students qualifying for free/reduced lunches on weekends.
GraceWorks will continue to explore other options to increase Fairview residents’ access to services the organization provides.
GraceWorks West was established in 2014 as a satellite office of GraceWorks Ministries to meet the needs of the Fairview community. GraceWorks main office is located in Franklin.
The GraceWorks board emphasizes its continuing commitment to serving Fairview families in need.
“Our goal is to spend less money on a building, and invest that money in a sustainable, lean, efficient model of service that reaches more Fairview residents in need,” Breckenridge said.
The full formal statement from the GraceWorks Board of Directors says:
GraceWorks West will have a new model in Fairview as of July 2019. We are moving from a brick and mortar model to a Mobile Services model, which means we will not continue to maintain our current rental site in Fairview. The Board and the CEO have restructured our service model and believe this restructuring will enable GraceWorks to serve more people and pour more funds into the Fairview community. In keeping with Goals 3 (Provide relevant and sustainable services through a high-quality experience) and Goal 6 (Replicate the GraceWorks mission where God leads) of our Strategic Plan, we are addressing sustainability of our services as well as reinventing ourselves to have the nimbleness to replicate the GraceWorks mission where God leads. Fairview is the first pilot of this model. While this restructured version of GraceWorks in Fairview is in a preliminary stage, here are some known key points we would like to highlight:
- GraceWorks West will move out of the current location at 2382 Fairview Boulevard, Fairview, TN 37062.
- GraceWorks plans to dramatically increase our Mobile Food Pantry from averaging 5 a year in Fairview to possibly up to 24 a year which may include Hickman and other surrounding counties. This mobile model is our response to the great need for food as demonstrated by the number of requests at GraceWorks West as well as the high attendance at our Mobile Food Pantries. An expansion of Mobile Food Pantries will allow us to feed more people in a four hour day than what we have been able to feed in a month with a physical site.
- Because we want to continue to address the other needs of our Neighbors in Fairview and surrounding communities we are looking for a church or business partner to lend GraceWorks a small office space the first week of each month for us to administer rent and utility assistance during this critical time when they are typically due. As is currently the case, GraceWorkers will provide this portion of Neighbor Services.
- GraceWorks will sustain its Fuel Bag program to the Fairview schools.
- We will continue to work on other ideas that will increase the community’s access to GraceWorks services in Fairview. We expect to collaborate with our loyal Fairview volunteers, supporters, and community partners in designing this new outreach model.
We want you to hear that GraceWorks is still strongly committed to serving the neighbors of Fairview, and plan to more efficiently address the needs in this and surrounding communities. We have simply reexamined and redesigned our approach. Our goal is to spend less money on a building, and invest that money in a sustainable, lean, efficient model of service that reaches more Fairview residents in need. We ask you to pray with us as we make this transition. Pray that we see God’s vision throughout this process and that we serve our Fairview neighbors on a larger scale than we have in the past.
