WHO WE ARE
Hands and Feet Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit created to serve both the incarcerated, their families, and past offenders upon their release in both Northeast, TN and Southwest, VA. We collaborate with local coalitions, providers, angencies and churches to assist released inmates in securing housing, resources, employment, and a support network through the faith community so they can have fruitful and fulfilling lives as law-abiding citizens instead of repeat offenders as evidenced by documented and invested partners/resources.
WHAT WE DO
WE ARE CHANGING LIVES
Our primary focus is to assist inmates, their families and their children in Northeast, TN and Southwest, VA. We help their children primarily by helping the inmates and the past offenders become better people – godly people and when that happens, their kids’ lives change dramatically! The majority of inmates have children and they are much more likely to become inmates themselves and that’s one reason why we believe ministering to inmates before and after their release is so important!
The national rate of recidivism – the rate at which ex-offenders return to prison – is 67%; BUT with a mentor that drops to 14%! That’s a lot of kids who won’t have to go back thru the heartbreak of seeing mom or dad and in some cases both mom AND dad go back to prison!
There are many broken lives behind the walls and scripture gives many accounts of Jesus ministering to those with broken lives; the woman at the well…the one caught in adultery…the tax collectors…the man possessed…the list goes on. Jesus was all about ministering to BROKEN people! He didn’t just save them – He restored them! He reunified families; he made them socially acceptable; He restored them, changing not just their eternities but their lives in the “here and now”…giving them an abundant life regardless of their circumstances.
We strive to help those He entrusts to us find Him and in doing so, find a new way of life. We know internal changes produce external changes in behavior which affects them and everyone around them, especially their children.