In January of 2011, God began to stir multiple people in and around Trousdale County to be “of one mind and accord.” While one group was stirred by Kathy Atwood’s plea for a backpack program for the children in “food insecure” homes in Trousdale County, another group, a church, was stirred by John Rowland’s actions to physically bring about such a program. The funny thing is, these two people didn’t even know each other at the time, nor did they know that they were both working toward the same thing - a backpack program for the hungry children in Trousdale County! This is just how God works. He brings together people whom he has stirred to bring about amazing things! By February of 2011, John Rowland had contacted the Trousdale County schools by phone and was introduced to Kathy Atwood. He told her about a backpack program that he had been helping with in another county, and he asked if Trousdale County had one of those programs. Kathy’s response was that, no, they did not have one, but she had just had a meeting with a group of people telling them that such a program was at the top of her list of things that the Trousdale County schools needed. She would later tell the church where the backpack program began, the Church of the Firstborn in Hartsville, TN, that Johnny’s call was a direct answer to prayer! By March of 2011, the first bags of food were being delivered to Trousdale County schools. This occurred through the assistance of the Trousdale County Help Center, who already had an agency account with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle TN. The Help Center allowed the backpack program to order food through them for the first year of the program’s inception. Donations began to come in to pay for these orders. Around the second year of the Hartsville Backpack program, it had grown so much that Second Harvest would require that the program establish their own agency account. So John and Kim Rowland took the required classes at Second Harvest Food Bank to be able to establish their own partner agency for the Backpack Program. (A partner agency formation is required to be able to order food from Second Harvest.) Donations continued to come in to cover the food, and the Rowlands’ accountant said that it was time for a 501(c)3 corporation to be established to be sure the donations did not ever have to be taxed. After much paperwork and a long waiting period, the prized letter from the IRS came in the mail that fully established Just Hope, Inc., which would allow the donations for the Hartsville Backpack Program to be tax free. The wise CPA, Ervin Brown, of Brown, Brown & Associates, had advised the Rowlands to make the mission and scope of Just Hope, Inc. very broad. He said, “One day, you will want to do more than just supply food, so let’s do this right from the beginning.” How right he was! Soon after the formation of the official 501(c)3, Just Hope, Inc., a board of directors was required, and Wayne Andrews became an official part of Just Hope, Inc. Wayne, with his direct Trousdale County connections, has been a Godsend and works tirelessly to keep the Hartsville Backpack Program at the forefront of people’s minds and hearts in Trousdale County. He also works with Jerry Dorris, who had the idea to start an annual car show, to make that car show the largest Just Hope, Inc. fundraiser ever! Each and every year this fundraiser grows, and that very thing has allowed Just Hope, Inc. to expand its offerings of food to the community throughout the pandemic. Just as Ervin Brown predicted, Just Hope, Inc. is expanding its services beyond food. It has now been asked to take over the Christmas for Kids program, with both Chris Gregory and Wayne Andrews at the helm of this program. It is hopeful that the next frontier of services offered will be assistance with home buying. Kim Rowland’s real estate company has already established a growing fund to begin working toward this very thing. The plan is to have enough funds to make a down payment for a family in need of shelter by the end of 2021, so that a family can both be blessed by the Christmas for Kids program and enjoy those blessings in a new home by Christmas 2021!