More Than Just Tea

It’s 901 Day for 1.06 million people who live in the roughly 800 square miles in and around Memphis. This includes a favorite lady who lives in Orange Mound.

Jane (That’s what we’ll call her) didn’t finish middle school. To her, 901 Day means that there are special gift-wrap assignments and more customers than usual as she works at the House in Orange Mound. Her cell phone number starts with the area code 901, but she doesn’t know that 901 is a geographic region.

She fits into the classification called Below Basic Literacy, BBL, which means she lacks the minimal skills needed to perform simple literacy tasks.   Though she has a firm handle on her neighborhood, she cannot read the road signs. Her limited world can be walked in forty-five minutes.

Jane has mastered her daily route to work on foot through eight blocks she knows by heart in Orange Mound. She leaves home every weekday morning at 8:15, passes the Dollar Store just before she reaches Park Avenue.  If she has five dollars and time allows, she stops into Church’s Fried Chicken for two biscuits and a Coke.  She continues to the corner of Park and Semmes and turns north.  She waves at the people who are passing her in their cars, and nods at one or two neighbors who are headed South to the bus stop.  She deftly steps around the countless holes and cracks in the crumbled concrete sidewalk, as if walking on autopilot.

Her mind, however, is deeply occupied in prayer with the collective needs of her children and grandchildren.  Last weekend she housed and fed 15 of the 20 who live in Memphis, in her two-bedroom apartment for three days. A storm and straight-line winds cut through Memphis on August 22nd, disabling thousands of MLGW customers. Her kids’ rentals lost power for four days. She had to miss work on Monday even though she needed the money.

Tuesday, she reached work at 3028 Carnes by 8:45 and left her imaginary backpack of intercessory prayers on the wide front porch.  At 2:00 pm, she gathered them up and reversed her 30-minute walk back home, a little more slowly in the hot and humid Memphis afternoon.

She is in control in the corner of her two-mile-radius world. The package store, work, the loan company, her sister’s “hair salon,” and her brother’s rental are all within her personal area code: 000.

Her little world is deep, not wide.  Scarcity of options makes life a little less complicated when survival is the priority. Her energy goes daily to family, food, and shelter. Poverty and time shrink a person’s map in Memphis, and level the geography to sidewalks, curbs, and busy streets.

Jane can’t easily leave the turf she knows, and as a result, the rest of the city is abstract. Political or civic rallies, voting poll locations, alternate school options, and fully stocked grocery stores are invisible unless someone gives her a ride and she pays for the gas. Resources, recreation opportunities, and shopping centers a few more miles out might feel like a different country, not the city she calls Memphis.

However, Jane is managing her two-mile radius like a dancer knows her marks. Her small world is deep with what matters: family, faith, and the ladies with whom she works.  She has sorted out ways to encourage her coworkers and is often the first to sense their sorrows. She holds her family close, and the Lord holds her even closer.

Jane is content, always at peace and at rest in a noisy world full of distraction. She has distilled what most are trying to find in the vast shallows of our troubled community. She doesn’t need a bigger map because she has, by grace, never been lost in her world. She is the leading lady in a story worthy of reading. She is honored and respected. She is one of our valued and beloved employees at My Cup of Tea.

When shopping for tea is not a priority among our many loyal customers, we give sway to the back-to-school sales, giveaways, and specials.  Though tea sales are consistent but not robust, the ladies need their income, good meals, cool and dry spaces, safety, and fellowship. For the last ten years, we have filled the late summer months with morale boosters, lectures, encouragements, and pep talks.

We invite a gaggle of professionals to join us for lunch and share insights, as we all need to find strength for today and hope for tomorrow. Recently, one of our board members developed a fresh curriculum to replace our outdated “Work for Life” program. We anticipate younger ladies will arrive in September for the new and improved My Cup of Tea employment opportunity. Stephanie White’s original curriculum is the initial course from which each will be trained.

                As they haven’t arrived, Stephanie has led a first look at our new “Preparing for Work” classes for our current employees.  All well know the flow of tea in and tea out at the House; however, none have been familiar with the possibilities of learning more about themselves, others with whom they work, and the imperatives of being dependable at MCOT.

 Our pursuit of growth has previously involved guidance from esteemed scholars, pastors, laymen, theologians, and global missionaries. Yet, it was Stephanie’s hometown voice that truly pierced the corporate shell of indifference that had settled over our team. Through the SAGE framework, her invention -- Self-awareness, Accountability, Growth, and Excellence – she has effectively recalibrated our approach to work ethic, workplace ecosystems, and our culture of prayer and release. Previously, many of our employees were so immersed in personal challenges that they could not offer their full hearts and minds to the mission of My Cup of Tea.

The predictable initial hesitancy regarding new agendas has been completely dissolved by her hands-on workshops, which have sparked a tangible revival of interest, confidence, and cohesion among our staff.

She has given us a gift that all formal education could not.  While we have learned from PHD’s and theologians, missionaries, and pastors, the SAGE framework has given the ladies a new lens to view their work, their prayer life, and their potential. The existing team, weary from personal battles and unsure of the future, has been fortified with a renewed sense of confidence and purpose. The atmosphere at work continues to be transformed.

Her techniques have been colorful and creative. Venn diagrams, colors to represent emotions, direct challenges on self-awareness, personal interviews, and balloon releases of prayer requests contribute to mental and emotional “spa days”.  I am equally matched by all of the ladies in anticipation of each of her teaching days. She has revived us all in time for the beginning of our big shopping season, which begins in September. She has given us the tools to re-engage with our mission. The initial wariness toward change has been replaced with a vibrant excitement.

            She has extended an invitation to vulnerability—not as a demand, but as a brave and generous offering. She has asked each of us to distill ourselves into a single word, stripping away the noise and pretense that so often guard our hearts. In doing so, she has pulled back the bandage gently but firmly, creating a sacred space where we might hear how others truly see us.

            Not every reflection has been tender. Some words have landed like unexpected stones, sharp and uncomfortable. Yet even in that discomfort, something rich has taken root. For in those unfiltered glimpses, we have been handed a mirror—not to shame us, but to grow us. What felt like judgment has become an invitation: to soften, to repent, to mature, and to become more fully who we are meant to be.

            Her courage has not been reckless; it has been rooted in a deep and patient love. She has not asked us to be perfect, only honest. She has not promised ease, only truth. And in that truth, there is grace—the kind that sanctifies not by polishing us overnight, but by walking with us through the long, sacred work of becoming.

            Her most defining moment—the one that will stay with me- was the way she turned the spotlight onto L. Cool, the woman who tends our grounds and keeps our building whole. L. Cool is the only one who quietly carpools the women who have no ride, who makes our deliveries across the city, who watches over our property on the weekends.

            When Stephanie asked us, “Who can do what she does?” no one spoke. Silence. Eyes lowered. Because we all knew the answer.

            Stephanie continued, her voice steady with reverence: “L. Cool’s work ethic is unmatched. Her efforts are the reason we stand before every visitor in beauty: the gardens, the front lawn, the majestic building that greets our community. Our brand begins at the curb, in the pride and dignity of what she tends, long before the first tea box is ever seen.” In that moment, we understood that she wasn't just honoring one woman. She was teaching us to see the sacred in the unseen.

It’s hard to believe that summer is over – at least practically speaking. Today is the first day of school for Memphis Shelby County School students. For some of our subscribers in other parts of the country, an August 3^rd start seems insane, but it has become the norm where many lack summer childcare for their children, and the scourge of dismal literacy and math proficiency scores benefits from the early start.

We have written before about the often chaotic lives of some of the ladies we have served over the years. Of course, finances are a struggle. Transportation to and from work and the grocery store is often a challenge. Gunshots, gang activity, and run-of-the-mill theft are commonplace. There are appliances that don’t work, or that never existed. Electricity is turned off because of unpayable bills created by sieve-like housing allowing the cold air to pass through.

Often the start of school is a blessing for mothers and children. It is a place that, despite all of the children and activities, brings temporary peace and stability to the lives of children. There is an assurance of a meal, often lunch and breakfast. There is structure and order in most cases – a time to learn, to play, to go to the restroom, and to be quiet. Yes, there are stories of out-of-control classrooms, disruptive students, and even teachers who perhaps should consider another profession, but more often than not, the school day is consistent and reliable.

Many years ago, we learned at My Cup of Tea the importance of things like order, safety, and peace. In fact, in the hierarchy of needs, there are times when these attributes of work at The House outrank wages. Many of the ladies have told us that they want to stay because of the environment, not the pay or the work they do. We pay a fair wage but can only offer part-time work without benefits. Given the choice between a full-time opportunity and staying with us, most have chosen us.

If you follow our work, you know we are implementing a pilot program to help new recruits learn employable skills and seek full-time jobs. It is available for our legacy workers, too. Even though the ladies pursuing this path will not spend years with us, this model must also be fashioned with order, safety, and peace. These are the coveted fringe benefits for ladies whose lives are often unpredictable and chaotic.

Debbie, our long-time operations manager, often paraphrases I Corinthians 14:33 by saying, “My God is not a god of chaos. He is a God of order.” One visit to The House demonstrates that she lives by that mantra. Every room is organized and neat. Each room has a specified activity to be performed by the ladies in that room. The materials are present and easily accessible. There is a daily schedule. It is the one place, the one portion of the day, that the ladies know what to expect, and what is expected of them.

The word peace, depending on which translation of Scripture you read, is mentioned 249 (NIV) to 429 (KJV) times. Descriptions of God often include the word peace, as in II Thessalonians 3:16, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” And, if you believe that we are made in His image (Genesis 1:27), then it is no wonder that we yearn for peace in our lives.

Each of us desires peace in our daily lives at some level. We are rattled by strings of bad news, the chaos of world events, or the health crisis of a loved one, for example. Yet, most of us never worry if there will be enough to eat, if the utilities will be turned off, or if we will be injured or worse by a stray bullet crashing through the window in the middle of the night. For most of the ladies at My Cup of Tea and the majority of children in the Memphis Shelby County School system, these products of chaos are present weekly or even daily.

We cannot solve these issues on a city-wide or even neighborhood-wide basis. We can do our part. We can pray for peace, order, and safety for the children and families whose lives are devoid of these assets. With your continued support, we can provide a few seats at a time for Orange Mound women to experience it in their daily lives.