A momma bear is willing to stand between her children and an entire army to protect and defend.

I met the personification of her several weeks ago when she arrived at The House inquiring what we do on our corner in Orange Mound.

“We offer secure jobs,” I explained, and she began to cry.

Her story was familiar, but her layers of need were staggering. It was late in the day, and we assured her an interview the following Monday.  Because she appeared to be only in her 20’s, we wrongly surmised her aspirations would be unfolding, and we would be a logical step in her discovering her career path.

She arrived early on Monday and pieces of her story unraveled before us as she shared the life that she had led in a wilderness otherwise known as the streets. Her past had been tightly tied and knotted in adversity. We learned she and her siblings had been abandoned by their mother, and DCS assigned them to multiple foster homes where she was sexually abused.  She lived in the streets, meaning she was homeless, unemployed, and dependent on handouts.  Injustices were her companions, and she trusted no one.  She couldn’t finish high school.   She was raped more than once along the way and has two daughters. One is special needs.

Undaunted, she has pieced together enough money to rent a worn-out, broken-down miserable three bedroom, one bath house a short distance from My Cup of Tea. She is “Momma Bear” to 4 of her brother’s sons, 3 of her half-sister’s sons, and her own 2 daughters. All of them live in the 3 bedroom dump for which her 2 siblings help match the exorbitant rent the Mama Bear calls home. Meanwhile she is applying to DCS to get custody of her deceased sister’s 6 sons who have been in foster care for a year. “I’m all they got,” she lamented as her story commanded our attention in the front office where we were all sitting.

She was resolute that she had to get her sister’s kids out of foster care, or they would never survive.

Her immediate need is furniture for the DCS inspection of her home.  I offered to go home with her and look and see what we might be able to request of friends who give generously to our mission.

Most people aren’t aware of how bleak some living conditions in our city can be. I respectfully commended her for her housekeeping in deplorable conditions. The bathroom sinks pipe empties freely into the cabinet below it where a small bowl overflows with every use.  There is a noticeable soft section in the kitchen floor that forewarns a breakthrough to the ground sooner than later. There is a boarded-up window in the living room, and menacing floor furnaces in the hall and kitchen area.

The 7 male kids sleep on 2 mattresses laid on the floor with their parent. Her daughters sleep in her bed without linens. There are 2 TVs, and a small table with 2 chairs.  There is a washing machine, but the dryer is busted.  Clothes are piled in every corner, since there are no hangers for the closets and no drawers or chests for folding clothes. Thirteen people call it home. She is completely dependent on a check she gets for her special needs daughter, and SNAP, formerly known as “food stamps,” which is government issued for low- and no-income parents.

She now has an income stream that is based on her work, and she has an army standing solidly with her instead of against her.

She is our newest employee.  She sports 2 new custom uniforms with her name embroidered.  She has been to the Neighborhood Christian Center clothes closet and has clothes that fit her amply. She comes to work early daily, in a car that sounds like a cement mixer but is able to make the round trips from home to Hanley Elementary to My Cup of Tea. She paid a small loan we gave her for a used tire back to us with her first paycheck. Now the car has one reliable paw.  She is offered our leftovers to feed her children and is only recently aware of the food pantry access and delivery Ms. Pearl brings to us weekly.

If only a small part of this story is true, we have no choice but to stand with this Momma Bear.

Cynics don’t peruse Isaiah 57 as our MCOT sisters and volunteers often do.

Isaiah 57:6-11

Our friend who calls herself “Momma Bear” has one mission in mind, and that is to get all of her cubs under one roof where she can protect them from the predators in the wilderness she grew to hate. We have a mission as well, which is to  bring light to her darkness and strengthen her resolve to trust her Creator whom we serve and obey and gladly share His grace.

In 1919, the iconic comic strip, "Popeye the Sailor" appeared, but it wasn’t circulated widely until it debuted in1929 in the daily King Features comic strip, Thimble Theatre. In 1932, fans met the affable, hamburger-loving moocher, J. Wellington Wimpy or Wimpy, for short.

While some younger folks may not know its origin, most people have heard the classic Wimpy catch phrase, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” In fact, wildly popular series like The Office and The Drew Carey Show even incorporated the line into an episode.

In the world of nonprofits, it is easy on some days to feel like a version of Wimpy – asking for help today for the promise of a future return. Unlike Wimpy who is nearly obsessed with securing a hamburger and will not shrink from asking for one, we are sometimes embarrassed to ask you for help.

Most of us reading this blog are well enough resourced that asking for financial help is something we do rarely, if ever. The rugged individualism of our American upbringing tells us to work hard and pull ourselves up from our proverbial bootstraps. So, the idea of asking for money, or much of anything else, is foreign and even disdainful to most of us.

Yet, that is exactly what the ladies of My Cup of Tea have had to do. When they came to the House the very first time, each needed help, and at least initially, it was often in the form of money to pay a utility bill or buy groceries. None have ever feigned a promise of a future return, but they have exuded gratitude.

For our part, we have been privileged to help them, not only with an immediate need, but with an opportunity to improve their lives through dignified work. They have developed genuine friendships and relationships outside of their limited networks. They have experienced food, culture, music, events, and experts with whom they never would have crossed paths. Most importantly, they have deepened their understanding of God’s love for them and persisted in their relationships with Him.

If we’re looking for the tangible, the concrete, we find it in the data:

• $2 million in wages paid
• 125,000 hours of dignified work provided
• 25,000 meals served from the generosity of volunteers,

benefitting more than 100 women and their extended families in this slice of Memphis called Orange Mound.

On Tuesday, December 3^rd, nonprofits across the nation recognize Giving Tuesday. It is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and while we’re all feeling more grateful for our loved ones, we hope some will act on that gratitude and donate to a worthy cause. At My Cup of Tea, we typically send an email and post on social media, but Giving Tuesday is not an emphasis for us. But this year is different.

With higher prices and costs for goods and services and less disposable income for most, our bottom line has been impacted. We are not desperate. The doors are not closing, but it is harder than it has been and the prospect of serving more Orange Mound women than those on the payroll today is dimmer than in past years.

As Giving Tuesday, December 3^rd approaches, please consider how you might support the work we are doing in Orange Mound. There are two main ways to give: a one-time donation online or by check or monthly through our sustaining donor program, The Blend.

We can’t promise to pay you back the following Tuesday, but we can assure you that we are changing lives one cup at a time.

     Socially, everyone shares space, time, and oxygen daily among people with whom they have no interest or compunction to be involved.  Present but unseen, they may fall into categories of old, young, fat, thin, smart, slow, liberal, conservative, believer, non-believer, Republican, Democrat, American or “other”.  “Dismissed” or “canceled” are current expressions used broadly among Generation Z and all too often among those of us unwilling to see everyone in our midst as people made in the image of God.

      Rick and I have recently completed an intensive week of study, tours, and reflections in England and Scotland among ten talented scholars of history and

theology.  We enthusiastically shared space, time, air, room, and board with them.

      Coasting on their credentials, I touched a first edition of the Guttenberg Bible. I sat at the desk of C.S. Lewis, and I stood in the space where Archbishop Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer.  We were convinced by the abundance of facts and artifacts that England’s courageous church leaders of the 17^th and 18^th centuries sparked, and then set aflame, the Reformation of the Church and the translation of the Bible into English for commoners. The Puritans brought the Bible to America and Christian education in America took root.

      Four centuries since, many in our country have canceled the veracity and value of the Bible, and many more are woefully biblically illiterate.

      Our fellow travelers, on the trip through England and Scotland, were united in mission to explore solutions to evangelize those in Generation Z who are unaware of God’s plan of redemption, His love for His creation, and His mercy and kindness to all who breathe our air and live in our spaces.

      While our focus is different, I was thankful for opportunities to share with the group what is underway in Orange Mound at My Cup of Tea.

       None of the ladies at The House have heard of the Guttenberg Bible or imagined the historical record of men and women who were martyred for bringing the Bible to the people. They and we are the beneficiaries of the heroes of our faith.

“For whoever will confess Jesus is Lord and believe in her heart God raised Him from the dead, she shall be saved”.  Romans 10:9-11. Unlocking this truth was the catalyst that brought the Bible within reach four centuries ago and is equally impactful today.

      I often reflect on our mission at the House:

…to walk with women beyond the boundaries of poverty and neglect and assist them in building stable lives. We transform lives by providing meaningful employment packaging and selling tea, nurturing cross-cultural, trusting relationships, fostering respect and understanding, and prioritizing and demonstrating authentic community with the women we serve and our neighbors in Orange Mound.

      Economic headway is static and difficult to measure optimistically. Current inflation and government subsidy deflation has discouraged our ladies’ climb out of poverty and amended their hopes and filed away their dreams for a time.

      Growing in faith, however, we are on track.  Four of our women have joined the “whoevers”, and all are grasping biblical insight and have expressed genuine seeking hearts to embrace the Lord’s plan and purpose for themselves.

      Only a few of our employees have a high school degree, and their public-school education legally bypassed prayer in the classrooms and courses on Christianity. Nevertheless, there is a fresh and genuine thirst for Truth without knowledge of the foundational integrity of our Christian faith.

       I reminded my fellow travelers through England and Scotland that these ladies are no less valuable in the eyes of Jesus than authors, scholars, martyrs, or kings. The Bible has over 400 references to caring for the poor in the cities, on the sidewalks, and the slums. The Lord is no respecter of rank or PhD’s. Every space in time is fertile for the spread of the Gospel.

      Through our individual friendships and opportunities to serve in Orange Mound, we have received favor at My Cup of Tea. We are serving “manna” to all levels of spiritual appetites.   Matching the need for safety, security, and significance with the guidance of the loving Holy Spirit is fulfilling our mission of 12 years and fortifying our purpose for the future.

      My new friends, with whom I shared the visit to England, will participate in the ignition of a much-needed revival of faith in North America. They are dedicated and anointed to further the Kingdom of God. Much like the First Century Church, their prayers, networks and resources will be powerful in the hands of the Lord.

      But our prayers are equally powerful, and we honor the same God who answers them.  As one of my new friends commented as we were departing, “We are dedicated globally for the rebirth of the lost among influencers of the 21^st Century, and your mission field is one block in Orange Mound”.  

This is our space, our time, and our empowering Spirit-filled oxygen for enlightenment. Our ladies of Orange Mound are already changing the neighborhood for good by sharing the Gospel.