From providing food bags to the hungry and clothing to those without resources to teaching little ones to read and handing out toys at Christmas, Wesley House Community Center has served the needy of Meridian for the past 120 years.
“It’s a place that people feel comfortable coming and asking for help when it’s the hardest thing that they’ve ever had to do in their life,” said Andy Hodges, who has worked at Wesley House since 1997 and currently serves as its director of Christian Relief and preschool programs. “They know they are going to be treated well, and they feel safe here.”
On Friday, Sept. 13, Wesley House will host an open house to celebrate its 120th anniversary from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the center, located at 1520 Eighth Ave. in Meridian.
Community residents are invited to drop by Wesley House, meet the staff, tour the building, look through old scrapbooks and see what the organization is doing now to help meet the needs in the community, said Brandy Rea, who took over as executive director of the organization on July 1.
She said the center is also looking for community residents whose lives were touched by Wesley House over the years and would be willing to share their stories. They are invited to share those stories with Wesley House by visiting the office or by emailing info@wesleyhousemeridian.org.
“We are trying to let anyone know if they have a story to share, whether it was as a volunteer, they were in any of our education programs, they received services, they worked here, they lived in the neighborhood, we would love to hear those stories,” Rea said, adding they also would love for them to come and be a part of the open house.
To tie in with its 120th anniversary, Wesley House also has kicked off a fundraiser to raise donations that will go to support its various missions. Anyone wishing to make a donation can drop it off at the center, donate on the Wesley House website or scan a QR code on its social media pages.
“August 1, we started the campaign to raise $120,000 in 120 days for 120 years of service,” Rea said. “The campaign happens to end on Thanksgiving Day, and we know we will have a lot to be thankful for.”
Wesley House was founded in 1904 as a mission to serve families living in a cotton mill community on the eastern side of Meridian.
“In 1904, two women in the community just saw a need, and they just started grassroots work in the community,” Rea said.
These two women, Mrs. Elizabeth Cochran and Mrs. J.R. Whittaker, along with some women from Central Methodist Church, taught the wives of the mill workers to sew. They provided shoes and warm clothes for their children and taught them to read Bible stories. At Christmas, they brought toys, food, Bibles and storybooks for the children.
“For a long time, the focus seemed to be on education and young children and reading. They did that for years,” Rea said, based on histories found in old Wesley House scrapbooks. “It looks like they continually assessed the needs of the community and evolved when they saw a need.”
In the 1930s, a small wood-frame cottage was donated to Wesley House, giving the mission a permanent home. Over the years, after-school activities were added, as well as a food and clothing distribution program. A second floor was added to the cottage and a vacant lot next door became a playground. A missionary deaconess came to serve the mission. When the old cotton mill was eventually closed, deeper poverty hit the neighborhood.
Wesley House almost closed in the 1960s when the mission could no longer afford to hire its deaconess. In 1967, Nell Grissom, a young mother who served as a volunteer youth leader at Central Methodist, stepped up when asked to help keep the doors open until a new missionary could be found. Within two weeks, she knew she had found her calling, Hodges said.
In the 1970s, the wood-frame cottage was no longer big enough to handle the center’s program and the current center was built.
Only five other executive directors have led Wesley House since Grissom, including her daughter, Ginger Grissom, the Rev. Pam Randall and Elizabeth Graham. In 2017, the Rev. David Schultz came aboard to helm the organization, officially retiring this summer with Rea assuming his position.
Wesley House’s Christian relief efforts — food bag and clothing distributions, rent and utility payment assistance, prescription medication assistance and Thanksgiving and Christmas food bags and toy distribution — are its most widely recognized outreach programs in the community. To be eligible, however, people must meet strict guidelines and provide specific documentation, Rea said. The center also continues to offer education services, including a low cost preschool program for 2-4 year olds and GED classes in conjunction with Meridian Community College.
The center also is home to the East Mississippi Child Advocacy Center and the East Mississippi Sexual Assault Crisis Center, with Wesley House staff working with the district attorney’s office, law enforcement, child protection services and youth court to provide forensic interviews for children and vulnerable adults who have been involved in any kind of abuse allegation or investigation and to provide free trauma counseling for the children and families, Rea said.
“We are the only place in town that does this,” she said. “There are 14 Child Advocacy Centers across the state, and we are one of the 14 and we are accredited through the National Children’s Alliance.”
Wesley House is a United Way of East Mississippi agency and has an endowment through the Community Foundation of East Mississippi. It also receives federal grants through the Victims of Crime Act and the Violence Against Women Act, as well as relies on donations for many of its programs. It is a National Missions Institute and is in a covenant relationship with the United Women of Faith.
“Wesley House is here to help people step up and move on from what may be a trying or difficult time in their life,” Rea said. “The mission has always been to provide a hand up and not a hand out. For many, what they’re going through may be a temporary hardship, but if they don’t get some support, it’s harder to get out of that spot. We are here to help, but if it’s something we can’t help with because it’s not in our four mission areas, then we’ll make the referrals and get you to where you need to go because Wesley House belongs to everybody.”