6 minute read
Living Grace Homes
Charity Spotlight with Kathleen Miller
By Brenda Damian
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Living Grace Homes is an award-winning nonproft organization who won “Outstanding Nonproft” in the City of Henderson. Living Grace Homes provides a safe environment for homeless pregnant women between the ages of 14 to 24 and for up to 90 days after they give birth to their newborn baby. The mission of the nonproft organization is “To ensure young mothers do not have to sleep on the streets tonight.”
With over 6,000 homeless people in Clark County Nevada, having nonproft organizations in our community can be a lifeline for young pregnant women seeking a safe environment to sleep at night. Without resources such as these, that provide crucial support, some women literally won’t survive. Kathleen Miller who has lived in Nevada for about 25 years, is the Executive Director for local nonproft organization Living Grace Homes and made this organization possible through sheer determination to make a diference in the young women’s lives and in the community.
Creating Miracles is a Family Afair
Although bringing the vision and mission to life was driven by Kathleen Miller, she credits her family saying that Living Grace Homes would not have been possible without the love and support of her family, “There are two main families that made Living Grace happen and that is the Miller family and the Larmore family. Kathleen Larmore is the one that I refer to as my partner in crime because she and her husband purchased the house so that we could open Living Grace. Kathleen Larmore is still very much involved as a volunteer and sits on the Board of Directors. She’s the silent partner in the background, but it couldn’t have happened without her”.
As if by fate, Kathleen Miller’s daughter, Stephanie Miller also became an integral role at Living Grace. Stephanie had a very busy career that required her to travel. She was very much active in political work when she was involved in a car accident causing her that required recovery time. Unable to travel and move about much, Stephanie became involved with Living Grace and began working and taking on aspects of the organization that allowed her to utilize her political skills, such as grant writing, keeping track of data, and reports. Work that is generally very detailed and much to Kathleen’s beneft, because this type of work is not her “cup of tea.”
Inspiration
As for what motivates and inspires Kathleen Miller to keep advocating for this cause, she said, “What inspires me most is, is to see a young lady really blossom. Oftentimes when they come here, they are at their bottom. They feel like they have no place else to go. Even though it’s a very nice home for them to live in, sometimes to them it feels a little bit like jail because there’s rules and there’s curfews. Things that they’re not used to but those things that they’re not used to are also the things that caused them to be in the situation where they needed a shelter, needed some guidance and direction. So to see them go from being hurt, angry
and feel like nobody cares about them and they’ve got to do everything on their own, to where they begin to see the possibilities of where they can go from here and begin exploring what that might look like is one of the more rewarding things.”
The support doesn’t just stop at providing a safe home, through volunteers and the workers at Living Grace Homes, the women are ofered a multitude of support to help educate and develop necessary skills to thrive on their own once they have their new born and are ready to go out on their own. Some of the skills they help the women develop are things like job searching, how to prepare for an interview, efectively seek for a job, as well as personal fnance and lactation workshops. “To have a young lady graduate either from high school or from a certifcation program so that she’s more prepared to be able to support herself and her child is also very rewarding.
The Secret to Nonproft Success
For those who believe that the economy must be strong in order to follow your passion to begin a nonproft organization, you might be surprised to know that Living Grace Homes opened right at the beginning of the recession in 2007. Operating under tight margins Living Grace has managed to be successful in maintaining the maternity homes in operation. Kathleen credits some of the success to testimonials given by some of the women that were once housed at Living Grace, saying that staying there gave them the opportunity to turn their life around.
Kathleen’s story on how she managed to pull of opening the doors of a nonproft organization shows determination and tenacity, especially amid a looming recession. She says that if you have a strong desire and passion for wanting to start a nonproft organization to “just go for it! I spent fve years before I opened the doors at Living Grace Homes, doing my research. Do your homework and make sure that you know what licensing is required, what needs to be done in terms of getting the nonproft paperwork done in Nevada and see who else is doing what it is that you want to do.”
Kathleen also gives credit to Living Grace’s success to past and current Board of Directors saying that they are Henderson focused. Having joined the Henderson Chamber of Commerce for six years has been a huge beneft and provided much needed exposure to Living Grace. Kathleen recalled that not many people in the community were aware of Living Grace Homes and what they did. Partnering and joining the Henderson Chamber of Commerce and having the opportunity to share with elected ofcials and others in the community what Living Grace is all about has “given them a boost,” said Kathleen. 10 years from now Kathleen’s hope is that Phase III will come to fruition and will be an asset to phase I & II. She believes it will be a major asset in terms of giving back and giving more resources to women. While phase I & II are for 14 to 24, Phase III will be for women aged 20 and older.
How Can You Help?
For readers that have a passion for giving back to the community or are seeking how you might help Living Grace Homes continue to provide this incredible resource for young women, there are many ways to become involved. Living Grace Homes web page list monthly needs, a wish list, and non-cash ways to help. Monetary Donations are the best way you can help, but there are other nonmonetary ways they have asked people to help. They have asked volunteers to come in and teach several classes such as; fnancial literacy, life skills, and nutrition classes.
By donating, young mothers receive clothing, parenting skills, and legal assistance. Other items Living Grace has a need for is gas, groceries, electricity, insurance, or sponsoring a resident. Check out the website www.livinggracehomes.org/donate. Contact: Executive Director, Kathleen Miller kmlivinggracehome@gmail.com General Inquiries livinggracehome@gmail.com PO Box 96991 Las Vegas, NV. 89193 (702) 212-6472 LV
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Support Living Grace Homes by participating in their Mother’s Day Online Auction: https://www.cbo.io/bidapp/index.php?slug=lgh The Auction goes live Tuesday, May 5th at noon!
