Tamekia Hunter Higgins Awarded $500 for Dreaming
MLK Dream Weekend wishes to congratulate Tamekia Hunter Higgins for winning our Win a Dream contest conducted in October 2009. She will be recognized at the Diversity Banquet on January 15, 2010. For your chance to win money toward your dream enter today. Deadline is December 18, 2009.
When we think of church ministries, local organizations and support groups, we think of Men, Women, Children, married couples, singles and the elderly. But we tend to forget about a very important group of people that make up 65% of the residents in Greenville County. That special group of people are our single mothers. A single mother of 8 years, I was compelled to not only share my testimony but write my testimony of my experience as a single mother. In 2006 I wrote and released my first published book, Single Mothers Dispelling the Facts. From this book, was birthed my dream, Mom&Me Ministries. Mom&Me Ministries is a Christian based support group for single mothers in the Greenville and surrounding counties. Every Mother’s Day weekend, Mom&Me Ministries host an annual empowerment luncheon for single mothers. The luncheon consists of empowering them through local resources, other single mothers testimonies, an motivational speaker and we present each mother with a gift. Throughout the year, I do one on one counseling session and mentoring to our single mothers and I host a monthly fellowship where the single mothers come together to minister to each other through the word of God and their life experiences that they deal with on a daily basis. Since 2006, I also have establish and building a relationship with the single mothers of Oakland Place Apartments which is a low income housing community in our county that consists of 90% single mothers. Even though I am very blessed and honored that God chose me for the dream, the time has come to expand the dream to where I can provide a facility for mothers for job training, counseling, economical assistance and to further their education. It is my dream for Mom&Me Ministries that we could have a facility in Greenville County to provide services to our single mothers and begin to focus on the children as well as the mothers. Mom&Me Ministries is not a ministry that promotes or encourage someone to become a single mother. But just like every other organization and support group, one is needed for our single mothers. We can not change who they are, but we can make sure that the lives of our single mothers and their children are just as important and nurtured as our married couples, our singles and our elderly. Mom&Me is to support and not to judge and condemn. We believe and our mission comes from Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one ; they get a better return for their labor. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble.” In addition to what we have established and doing for single mothers, Mom&Me Ministries is currently looking into resources and ways to make the ministry a nonprofit to be able to obtain sponsors and grants for the future Mom&Me Ministries Empowerment Facility.
A reward well-deserved! Not just because of the demographic you are reaching and their needs, but also because of your dedication and sacrifices made to support them. Thanks for having me participate as a guest speaker at one of your events. It was truly a blessing to witness the impact you have on the lives of these ladies and ultimately their children. Dr. and Mrs. King would have been proud to know you…as I am.
Tamekia, what a blessing you are. Your work is worthy of this honor. I was raised by my grandmother and mother alone . The older I get the more amazed I am that they were able to do this in the face of such hardships, and I was a single mother for several years when my children were young. Only the word of God kept me going. God bless you and your work.