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Vol 20, No. 6 • November 2020
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Helping others in troubling times is the goal of tireless worker By Lucy Weber Zowee Jamison Shanks has a heart for helping others, and the education, training and deep faith in God to get it done. This busy woman, who is a wife and mother, wants to reach others who are hurting and needing help. She does this through her job with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health Region IV in Corinth and her work with Zowee Shanks Ministires, Emily’s Home and her recent project, R4R. She is also a certified clinical trauma professional and certified grief counseling specialist. “My heart and my passion is to take care of God’s people by giving and showing love. The world needs hope, and it is up to God’s people to give it,” she said. “I started Zowee’s Ministries and Emily’s Home to be a blessing to the community. It was birthed to do benevolence and feed the communities that are in need. My long term goal is to open up a girl’s home,” said Shanks, who grew up in kinship care, another form of foster care. “Being a former foster child, I feel that God has called me to help people heal from the inside out.” Emily’s Home is a 501c3 non-profit that started in the Mississippi Delta in 2014. Emily’s Home gives back to the local community. “Currently, we partner with five Walmarts and an Auto Zone to give donated items for free to the community. We have service in the past year in Alcorn, Prentiss, Tishomingo, Tippah, Coahoma, Tunica, Desoto, Quitman and Tallahatchie counties,” Shanks said. “Emily’s Home is a ministry that is basically the hands and feet of Jesus. Our mission is to take care of the forgotten ones. He said in his Word that when you do this to the least of them, you are doing it unto me,” she said, referencing her favorite Bible verses found in Matthew 25: 35-40. Started as Emily’s Closet, Shanks said the non-profit began by giving coats and gloves to children in need in the Delta but grew to support a local senior high school class that was trying to help each other with financial needs. Emily’s Closet raised $20,000 in four months to sponsor the class. “It’s Return Address: P.O. Box 1292 Corinth, MS 38835
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mind blowing what you can do with community support.” In 2015, two Emily’s Closet opened thrift stores in Desoto and Quitman counties to provide high quality items – received as donations from local retailers and other community partners – to the community at discounted rates. The goal was to use the profits to open a safe haven home for young women, ages 1621 who have been abused, left homeless, sex trafficked or aged out of the foster system. “However, the goal of Emily’s House was designed to give, not sell so we closed those stores. I went back to work and that’s how I ended up in Corinth,” Shanks said. “Since then, from 2016 till now, I have been at Region IV.” Through Emily’s Home non-profit, at least 10 families are sponsored each year at Christmas. Last year, Shanks said she drove through the region handing out 30 baby dolls to grandparents to give as presents. “The Lord laid it on my heart to fill my car with the dolls and drive. Once I was out, He told me to bless grandparents with the dolls for their granddaughters,” she said. “This Christmas we want to build a village in Africa. It’s going to take $25,000 to do it. We are believing in God to have it done.” During this year’s coronavirus pandemic, Shanks started R4R, LLC (Responder 4 Responder). Her mission is to help those who help others, especially children. “Every leader needs encouraging and I have learned that they too need a safe place to bleed. R4R is the safe haven for responders.” More information about Shanks’ ministries can be found on her website, www.zoweeshanks.com Zowee Jamison Shanks