We recently connected with Brenda Myers and have shared our conversation below.
Brenda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business
Being a Non-profit of 18 years the one thing I believe that everyone who chooses this type of business/journey is you ask yourself are you really making a difference in your mission. Most of the time you start with only a vision in my case after being hit by a drunk driver God spoke to me and encouraged me to help poverty related and emotional children and adults. I had no idea how or what I was supposed to do so I started hosting events in my back yard. It went from 20 kids, 100 kids, and the bigger the events the bigger the location I had to get. I can’t list all the programs we do but one of the most impactful is our Get It Off Your Chest Program each week.
It gives everyone who attends the opportunity to leave their burdens & generational curse behind. It is for all ages and genders. each week I chose a word that is inspired by God and implement it into the program. This particular evening, I chose “Grateful” In walked a guy that at one time participated with someone who was probably the most historical drug dealer in our community.
The Judge had given him probation and sent him to me for community service. The very first day we met he reached into his pocket to give me the paperwork from the judge and a big bag of drugs fell to the floor. I looked at him and told him he had one or two decisions to make either he goes to jail or throw the drugs away. He grumbled about the fact he had to throw the drugs away. However, week after week he would return to do his hours. We would talk and pray and with continuous encouragement I began to see a change.
5 years later he was my guest speaker just a few months ago. As he took the podium he began to tear up and looked at me in front of a crowd and said ” Miss Brenda I think there is something you should know the day you made me throw away those drugs is the day I was going home to kill myself. I think God sent me a angel to save my life. Thank You.
That was that moment for me when I realized this long hard journey was worth it all. He said after that he cleaned up his property and burned down the drug house. I was just thankful to be a part of his journey of recovery.
Having a Former addiction myself at one time in my life it was one of those moments where you absolutely had no question it was God intervening in both our lives. This program has done just as much for me watching the healing power through these weekly gatherings of people who care.
We are now motivated to share with the world, so each week we video live on facebook. We are having almost 1000 views on it depending on the weekly topic. One person can make a difference and a group can shut down the devil.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My story is not that fairy tell story. I played sports all my life never knowing what the drug world was all about. I met a guy that introduced me to it and the world of self-destruction began. 11 years passed and 68 pounds later I met Jesus Christ on a local bridge when I got stuck on it with no money to pass the tolls. I was blessed that day that I did not go to jail. I got home and began to get my life straight.
I went to work selling Kirby vacuum cleaners in 2004 and my road to recovery began. Then tragedy struck again this being the second time I had the opportunity to be blessed by God. He truly spared my life on this particular day.
After work one afternoon I went to a party and while standing in the parking lot a lady doing 100 miles per hour running from a State Trooper hit a culvert and went airborne flying through the air and hitting me and several others. I was lucky to be alive some was not so lucky. During my long off and on stay in the hospital I continued to have dreams of working with children. I thought at first that these same over and over dreams were odd then realized it was a message from God.
I began hosting events for kids in my back yard and it went from a few to hundreds then to bigger locations with thousands attending over these past 18 years. In 2007 we went from my back yard to becoming The Community and Children’s Impact Center an established as a children’s non-profit organization.
Building an incredible team of volunteers was not an easy task. God handpicked each one of them. Even the ones who are no longer with us was a steppingstone to the success we have today,
As time went by the events and programs grew and the lives of more and more were touched and healed. I was beginning to understand why God Chose me. See if you don’t have a story then how can you tell others that are going through the same thing that you can and will get through it if they have faith and trust in the sound of Gods voice when you hear it.
I remember being so fearful of those with business suits and higher authority feeling intimidation on every level till I began to see my growth though the simple tasks of seeing others heal and get over their fears and emotional issues through our events.
It inspired me to be more motivated to do more. I had what I thought was this learning disability that was holding me back from arenas that I really needed to be a part of but felt I was not supposed to be in with those types of people. because I was not good enough.
The courage was just not there till I met a lady name Barbara McIntrye a Former City Council in Cleveland, Texas, Her spiritual leadership and friendship finally gave me the encouragement and faith in myself to no longer be afraid. She would always say stay in your lane and stop listening to the negative because they did not give you this journey God did. Still to this day she is my inspiration.
We opened a small resale shop to provide ways to have a larger income to help with more services in more Counties and our community. We grew out of 2 locations over the years and are currently growing out of our 3rd location. Donations helps us serve our communities in a much larger capacity, provides community service for minor offenses, provides Scholarship volunteer hours, helps provide financial assistance when available and much more.
As our organization begin to grow so did our followers. We hosted many huge events one of my favorites was called Hug A Tree/Kiss a Fish. I remember the day when it all began through the voice of an 8-year-old boy. That particular day I want some Brenda time and decided I would just go fishing all by myself. I stopped at a local store to get worms and to put all my tackle together when out of the store came a little blonde haired blue eyed little boy around the age of 6. As he seen me his dad came out of the store, and I heard the boy say Daddy daddy I want to go fishing! The man replied “Son you know we can’t do that come on.
God always has this way of getting me involved as I stood there, I just felt I was supposed to do something. I approached the man’s truck and tapped on the window and said ” Sir I am not trying to mind your business, but may I ask why you can’t take him fishing. He replied back I just lost my wife, I have 5 children, and I am probably going to loose my job. We just can’t afford it. My heart just broke right then.
I looked at the little boy and said ” Give me your number because you’re going fishing. I had some amazing team leaders Caroline, Larry, and Chris Coles family who were the fishing king’s I contacted them and within a few weeks they helped me get everything donated to host a small fishing tournament with 79 kids. Next year it was 200 kids and family members, then 500, then 900 all the way to 10 years later with over 3400 in 2019 we were able to invite poverty related and special needs families to a completely paid 3-day adventure. One of the highlights of my journey. However, we are working on doing it again in 2025.
Then suicide tragedy hit my household and community and the attempt to save my granddaughter from the same thing we had to stop doing this event. My granddaughter’s boyfriend of 4 yrs. took his life and it put all our community and leaders on a desperate struggle to keep our other youth including my granddaughter from following the same destiny.
As I struggled to keep my granddaughter alive, I was praying one day when a man approached me while I was mowing and said he needed to talk to me that he had been stealing off our back dock. As I found this extremely unusual, he began to tell me that he was given community service at our Thrift Shop and I wasn’t there that day. He said ” Ma’am people kept talking about how you help kids, feed people, and always doing stuff for others I just felt so ashamed that I just needed to come and GET IT OFF MY CHEST! I said what did you say? He repeated it again I just needed to GET IT OFF MY CHEST. I said OMG that’s going to be the name of my new project.
We are now into our 3rd yr. of this program. Each Thursday night at 6:30 I pick a word “Topic” and use it to create an evening full of positive and sometime negative topics that will make the kids and adults rethink what life has to offer, what they need to heal through other people’s stories and allow them to get it off their chest to start the healing process. I am telling you what the joy and sometimes sadness that comes out of that room is only through the guidance of Jesus Christ. It is so powerful that I truly believe every community needs to Get It Off Their Chest. Its simple but powerful. We work with the lost, the crushed, the hopeless, the discouraged, and the suicidal. Through the grace of God we are saving lives.
The most impactful, saddest and joyful moments of what we do to date is due to the recent tragedy of the 11 yr old Audrii Cunningham who was abducted by her family friend and murdered not 5 minutes from our shop has opened a nation of wounds for anyone and everyone who has been sexually abused including many of my youth kids. It triggered so many to the point suicide conversations were being considered again. There were two particular young ladies that while I thought we were inspiring them turned out to be the inspiring us.
One of the young ladies had been lured out of our community weeks prior to this tragedy and the other has been going to court for the past 3 years trying to put away the person who abused her and her sister. When this happened in our community it hit these young ladies very hard. They came to me with talk of suicide again. I explained to them death was not an option. Later that evening I came across a Hershey grant that has now encouraged them to tell their own stories. They made their own slideshows, got contributions for shirts and bracelets that will have their mission displayed loudly “Don’t Mess With Me I Will Tell”. Now they are healing in a positive way and opening opportunities for others to heal.
All I could say was wow! What we are doing is making a difference. Everyone’s lives and stories matter. My journey started with a tragedy, started with many bad decisions but in the end I know that without my story there would be no healing or purpose. I am not proud how my journey began but I am grateful that God used me to share my story to get closer to those who need saving.
We are in the process of raising funds to open a first ever emergency crisis center and that’s a whole other story straight out of God’s story book. How is came about is just a miracle and how a young woman in need came to me in a desperate time of need has opened our hearts to take on this huge task. We are in dire need of financial miracles that will help us open this location. I already know they have been handpicked I am just waiting. If you would like to be a part of helping us save lives you can contact me at (936)499-2632.
Every angel matters! Your donations are tax deductible. I pray that if your afraid to tell your story just know it might be the one that saves a life.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
This is a really good question because when I first started in my back yard, I didn’t have a dime to my name just a dream and a vision. See what I didn’t understand at first was this was my dream and not everyone else’s. I thought just because it was a vision from God everyone was just going to jump on board and be a part of it.
Boy was I ever wrong. Even with all your supporters and cheerleaders you still have the ones that absolutely do not want you to succeed. I found jealousy hidden, I found anger because I made some honest mistakes which lead down a rough road. I found that people sometimes would rather believe lies than do research to find the truth.
I found myself doubting what I was doing more times than I could count. I said’ Brenda what are you doing you could be on a beach in Hawaii and not be taking this beating. Then a situation would come along that would grab my heart and I found myself working harder to make sure this situation would be helpful and resolved. Then again the next battle and the next battle and the next battle continue to come.
My friend Barbara, a new friend Amanda and the amazing support of my friends and family is what pushed me through the difficult times and from my emotionally worn-out self I just needed to stop long enough to listen to that far off voice say “DO NOT GIVE UP!. ” I would be reminded that I had to trust in my faith and surround myself around good positive people who truly wanted to make a difference.
I had to realize that mistakes will happen and learning from each one is what makes me and our team stronger and better at what we were doing. Some people would use our mistakes as an advantage to make us look bad But God used them as a learning tool for us to do better. And it’s still happening to this day. Do Not be afraid to fail or make mistakes you build on it and know your business or your mission is important to your community.
Sometimes I think why is it supposed to be so hard. I can’t tell you how many times my team has heard I have had enough. Then one of God’s angels presents themselves to me and reminds me that it’s not about us it’s about the people we are helping, and we have to overcome these obstacles and turn them from Lemons into lemonade. Strive for success and not failure.
I have found why the armadillo has such a hard shell on the outside, to block off its predators and the evil around them. You can’t use other people’s insecurities as your failure or to run your business or your mission like everyone thinks you should. You have to use it as your determination to work hard to accomplish more. Our mission is to serve the PEOPLE and after 18 years we are still hear making a IMPACT!
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What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Reputation is extremely important especially when your first starting out. You can be extremely successful by word of mouth, or you can be destroyed by it. Its very important to stay transparent to the public and your customers.
Nonprofits are a lot different; it is critical that all your banking and books are open to the public at any time. Regular businesses this is not required. I find that finding your way to success your first couple years is difficult.
Either people are going to love you and what you’re doing, or you will find resistance for many reasons. Sometimes its interference from other businesses who just don’t want you their because you are a threat to what they are doing, jealousy or sometimes just out of the competition aspect of your business. I found this to be true as well.
I found that meeting all the neighboring businesses got me to know them all which helped me succeed. They told people about us and we told people about them. Community teamwork is important. As our years of successful events and programs began to happen trust within the community began to happen. I believe consistency and proper advertising is important. When you live in small town rural areas its extremely important that you are trusted, and you do what you say you’re going to do.
Collaboration for our type of organization is key to our success. The larger the numbers the better results and resources. In the beginning you build on trust and performance. You help them they help you. You build your team one volunteer and angel at a time. They have to believe in you the way you believe in them as a volunteer.
I truly believe its people with passion that makes non-profits a success. With Businesses its who the people see and deal with and their passion for their job. Some are just there for a paycheck and others love their jobs that’s the places I shop at. There is a huge difference in your appearance, attitude and that smile your customers see and how they are welcomed when they enter your location.
One thing we always do is when a mom comes in with a child we give a small toy to them, if its someone who’s shoes are really bad we tell them we are giving away some shoes today, if it’s a mom with several kids sometimes I just tell the mom it a free bag day sell. It’s just the gestures of kindness that we hope spreads throughout our community. You would be surprised when you love on your customers it goes around full circle.
They are the ones that keep your doors open. They are the ones who talk about your business, and they are the ones that choose what store they shop at. Our reputation is extremely important to us and should be to any business owner, Your customers and their needs should be important to you. My mom always told me to treat others as you would want to be treated. With a hug and a smile.
Our reputation was built on honestly, caring for our community’s needs, doing what we say we are going to do, and loving the people who support us. 18 years later we are still striving to do better.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.impact-ecc.org
- Facebook: Impact Emergency Crisis Center & Community & Children’s Impact Center – Don’t Mess With Me- Brenda S. Myers