April 25, 2025
DACULA, Ga. — When members of Hebron Baptist Church delivered backpacks last year to the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services office in Lawrenceville, they saw another need and felt called to meet that one as well. Tera Melber, state trauma care specialist with Mission Georgia, said that Vittoria Anderson, Community Liaison from DFCS, was showing them two areas in which children sit while case managers are looking for a foster placement, and “she vocalized a dream of making the rooms a more inviting space. Hebron Church immediately wanted to help.”
Tera spoke with Carol Ledbetter, the missions’ director at Hebron, who applied for a grant from Mission Georgia to help fund the project.
Lorna Bius, a Mission Georgia mobilizer, said, “Because of generous gifts of Georgia Baptists to the Mission Georgia offering, we were able to provide a grant to pay for the renovations. Mission Georgia works through local churches coming together to serve a tangible need. In this case, a safe and age-friendly environment for kids and teenagers in Gwinnett’s foster care system.”
Once the funding was secured, church members began the process of designing the new space for the kids. Melber said that Tara Dowden, whose husband Landon is the pastor at Hebron, did the interior design. Kristin Avery, a counselor, helped make the space developmentally appropriate for children and teens.
The necessary furnishings were ordered and a painter was hired to come and paint the space. A team consisting of Nathanael Avery, missions’ pastor, Tait Windham, Next Gen pastor, Olivia Alligood, missions’ coordinator, Kristin Avery, Ledbetter, and Melber did the work on the renovation.
Melber said the church reached out to other area churches and invited Caroline Dale, children’s director at Ivy Creek Baptist Church and the pastor’s wife, and Jodie Marsh, Mission Georgia foster care advocate and pastor’s wife at Faith Monroe, to join in the work. They hope that the connections made through this project will pave the way for future collaboration between Gwinnett churches and DFCS.
Mission Georgia grants enable churches to provide tangible assistance to their communities and minister to the needs of the most vulnerable. Bius said Mission Georgia also provided a grant to Dahlonega Baptist Church in 2022 for similar renovations in Dahlonega.
Those wishing to contribute and support the efforts of Mission Georgia may do so by visiting the Mission Georgia website.
