We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mercedes Bristol. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mercedes below.

Mercedes, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

At the age of 57 I became a single grandmother with the challenge to raise 5 of my 11 grandchildren. In a short time I learned that there were many obsticles in raising 5 grandchildren with limited resources. I felt overwhelmed by the lack of support and therefore, I joined a small group of Abuelos y Nietos where I realized I was not alone and that there are many other grandparents who were in the same place I was and they also needed support. I learned that there were agencies that would support Seniors and children, but nothing that would support grandparents who were raising their grandchildren. Another grandmother and I decided to start making awareness of the lack of resources that provided to this population of Older adults. We started connecting with Judges, Senators, State Representatives, and community partners. Soon after, I was asked why I would not become a nonprofit and one day I finally decided to start the Organization and become the link between Child Protective Services and Kinship Caregivers.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We are an organization that it’s purpose to help other grandparents who get their grandchildren without any proper documentation for the children that they get either from Child Protective Services or by the parents that neglect to take care of their children either because they are incarcerated, death or other cercumstances.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What helped me build my reputation has been to advocate for the need of all the thousands of grandparents that are raising their granchildren. Since I started making awarness there has been many grandparents that have reached out to us. Our organization is the only one that is doing what we are doing. Therefore, we have gaind a respectful reputaion from many State and Federal Officials.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When we started the advocacy we did not have any income. When I started the first support group, the Northside ISD contracted us which made our 1st income. Then we were noticed by a Philonthropist who donated a large amount of money. I then hired our Program Administrator that help get us organized and we started our social media and we have gotten more support. So we did not start with an initial capital. We started by faith and God has provided what we needed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.txgrg.com
• Instagram: @tx_grg
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/txgrg2019/
• Youtube: @txgrg