About Our Chapter

‘She is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future.’

-Proverbs 31:25

Our mission at Chicktime Carthage is to empower women to let their light shine bright in a very dark world. We strive to be a guiding and loving hand to one another but mostly to prove to those we serve they are strong and can hold their heads high with dignity in the face of the unknown. Chicktime Carthage was founded on LOVE. That’s what we do because we are born to LOVE. We just have to be willing to do it.

“L” –Listen and Learn; “O”- Open and Options; “V”-Vision and Values; “E”-Extend and Empower

God set it on my heart to open myself to giving. Every day my thoughts drift back to the act of giving through volunteering. I live in a small community and there are not a whole lot of volunteer opportunities but the thoughts were overwhelming and it soon became distracting. I had seen many ads in the local paper about a pregnancy help center asking for volunteers. I thought to myself that it would be fulfilling work and that it would have been nice had it been around when I was pregnant oh so long ago. Like with most things, I kept putting it off. Finally, one day I bit the bullet so to speak and reached out to them. I set up my appointment for filling out paperwork and interviewing. Now all I had to do was wait!

During my three day wait to volunteer, I kept searching for other opportunities because I suddenly wanted to do MORE and I hadn’t even volunteered yet but I felt like I was on fire inside. That’s when I stumbled across Chicktime. I did my research and Chicktime may be something to help fill that void and quiet that fire. I struggled with the real decision because the Chicktime training manual said I needed a Charity Partner. So many questions started piling up. Who would that be? What would I need to do? Can I even really do this? I almost said no. I am so glad that I waited.

And then I met with Alicia at the pregnancy help center. I learned about what they do and what I would be doing once I got started and trained. There is a lot to learn! As I was telling them about myself it occurred to me that their client’s stories were much like my own.  At one time, I was an eighteen year old unwed mother to be and my life felt like it was in a whirlwind crisis. Luckily I was surrounded with supportive and loving arms and my story turned out to have a happy ending. But sometimes for others, it does not. Even with all the great work that The Pregnancy Help Center was doing, they were still struggling. So many in the community have no idea the center had been there for 6 years! That’s right 6 and I had only known about them for the past year. The community isn’t aware of the services they have to offer. And they are all FREE! My bleeding heart was about to burst because I knew then that Chicktime Carthage had the distinct power to change that and so do you!

I invite you to join me. Please reach out with any questions as I look forward to getting to know you. If you would like to receive invitations to our volunteer events, please click on the JOIN A CHAPTER button and select TN-Carthage from the drop down menu.

Sincerely,

Renee Smith

sunnyd__1979@hotmail.com