ATLANTA (ABP) — Some mothers call it the love lottery. Other moms describe it as a lifesaver. Basically, it's something that gives them a sense of belonging, they say.
What began in 2003 as a community support group for single mothers in Richmond, Va., has evolved into an eight-week, faith-based program replicated in churches and communities nationwide.
The program, called “A Fresh Start for Single Mothers and Their Children: Community Outreach Project,” provides education to women who often feel they have no one to turn to for help. More than 150 mothers and 200 children have participated in the program in the past three years.
Fresh Start national coordinator Sylvia Stewart said the idea for Fresh Start came from frustration among a few single mothers.
“These women felt they did not fit in and were being judged or looked down on by the people at their church. And because of this discouragement, many of them were not attending worship services anymore,” Stewart said.
Stewart saw the need to get these women and children back into the church — and to connect them with other mothers who faced the challenges of single parenting. Many also dealt with abuse, poverty and despair.
“The single woman lives in a very lonely place,” Stewart said. “Fresh Start is about instilling hope, forgiveness, prayer, and tapping into the power of God to bind up the broken heart and use it all for God's glory.”
Jane Stout, the Fresh Start leader for Bethlehem Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., coordinated the program at her church. According to Stout, the program was a wild success — the ladies bonded together more closely than they had expected.
“Our mothers learned so much from it that they wanted to keep meeting throughout the summer,” Stout said. “They each have somebody now they can talk to and relate to. It took a lot of the loneliness away.”
While Fresh Start employs a “subtle evangelical approach,” according to Stewart, it teaches straightforward, practical topics for single mothers.
Topics include budgeting, interviewing strategies, domestic violence, car care essentials, self-defense strategies and starting a relationship with God. Each week, a local professional leads a training seminar, which also helps women network with community leaders who can provide valuable help and resources as they progress.
Rick Clore, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia, has seen the Fresh Start ministry improve over the last year.
“Single mothers and their children are among the poorest and most severely distressed in our nation,” Clore said. “Fresh Start offers churches a non-judgmental, hope-filled approach to meeting the needs of single mothers and children in their communities.”
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