Nonprofit Partner Spotlight: Martha O’Bryan Center
“When I finished my G.E.D., I decided I wanted to go to college,” says Michelle McCann. “The Martha O’Bryan Center was right there helping me complete applications and take the necessary steps I needed to get accepted.”
McCann’s dream is to become a social worker. She wants to help people struggling with poverty, just as the Martha O’Bryan Center helped her. “[Recently] I found out that I have been accepted to attend Berea College in Kentucky on a full scholarship. Martha O’Bryan has been there with me for this ride for as long as I can remember, through my falls and through my strengths.”
Every day, the Martha O’Bryan Center empowers people just like Michelle McCann to realize their full potential. On a foundation of Christian faith, the Martha O’Bryan Center serves children, youth, and adults in poverty, enabling them to transform their lives through work, education, employment, and fellowship. The families served by Martha O’Bryan in Cayce Place – Nashville’s oldest, largest, and poorest public housing development – and the surrounding East Nashville area are faced with multiple barriers to success. They live in extreme poverty, in a high-crime area, and do not have ready access to transportation or technology options.
Volunteers play a crucial role in Martha O’Bryan Center’s work. While there are plenty of ongoing volunteer opportunities, one of the organization’s biggest volunteer needs is coming up in June. The 27th Purity Miss Martha’s Ice Cream Crankin’ and Summer Social takes place on June 7, and hundreds of volunteers help make this important event and fundraiser a success. With more than 500 gallons of homemade ice cream available for sampling, volunteers who have a sweet tooth will find this opportunity a perfect fit! With four shifts over three days, there are plenty of ways to get involved.
Volunteers also play a role in the Center’s day-to-day activities, including supporting the Early Learning Center as classroom helper; assisting kindergarten through 12th grade students with homework after school; helping to maintain the community garden; offering help as a tutor in the Adult Education and GED classes; delivering meals to seniors and homebound adults; unloading and preparing food boxes for the Food Bank; helping with healthy meal and snack preparation; and more.
