Simple things – like yard work – can be overwhelming when you’re grappling with a much more important task: caring for family.

That was the case recently for the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries in Gardendale, which gives a “helping hand up” to families in difficult circumstances. Volunteers from the Plant Miller Chapter of the Alabama Power Service Organization (APSO) are lending their helping hands to support the ministries.

The home shelters four women and their children for 12 to 18 months, as staff works to help the women become self-reliant and gainfully employed. Pathways Professional Counseling in Birmingham, a sister ministry to Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes, provides free therapy and services to the families.

“The goal is to get them self-sufficient, where they have good-paying jobs and can support themselves and their families. The mission is on making life better for the children,” said Judd Hamilton, Miller APSO president. “We want to help make things better for them.”

The Miller team spent a recent Friday beautifying the yard with colorful bedding plants and doing exterior cleanup. The volunteers used part of a Good Roots Grant from the Alabama Power Foundation to buy plants and mulch.

The scope of work ballooned the night before, when a storm littered the yard with large limbs from oak trees. Miller APSO members brought chainsaws to cut tree limbs, while also removing leaves and debris from the roof and cleaning the gutters.

Miller APSO volunteer Dion Oliver moved large tree limbs from the property. (Maureen Hallman / Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Ministries)

Miller APSO volunteers cleaned the roof and gutters. (Maureen Hallman / Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Ministries)

A Miller APSO member removes tree limbs. (Maureen Hallman / Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Ministries)

Miller APSO bought plants for the home with help from a Good Roots Grant from the Alabama Power Foundation. (Maureen Hallman / Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Ministries)

A Miller APSO volunteer pressure washes the home. (Maureen Hallman / Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Ministries)

Several Miller APSO members helped during a volunteer work day at the Alabama Baptist Children’s Home in Gardendale. (Maureen Hallman / Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Ministries)

Chris Miller, manager of Plant Miller, pressure-washed the driveway while others cleaned the sidewalk, which had become dangerously slippery with a layer of green vegetation.

Hamilton said the Miller APSO Chapter will continue partnering with the ministry throughout 2023 – working to brighten the surroundings and improve the lives of the youngsters and their families at the home. Hamilton and chapter board member Dion Oliver have discussed strategies with Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries’ Development Officer Maureen Hallman and Case Manager Valencia Pritchett. In the next few months, the chapter plans to replace the home’s 30-year-old refrigerator, range, dishwasher and inefficient light fixtures. On June 8, the team will return to the home to re-stain the wooden deck.

“This home is necessary for helping at-risk people,” said Hamilton, capital project manager at Plant Miller. “The mothers are at risk for being homeless, and the children are at risk for going into foster care. This is about helping them make a re-entrance and a sustainable life. This is definitely something our chapter wants to be a part of and sow into. Wherever the need is, we want to step in, help where we can and make the most impact we can.”