We provide nutritional snacks and meals.

We provide snacks and meals to supplement the food that youths in the community get from home and school. This is particularly important when school is closed for holidays, for a bad weather event, or out for the summer.

We provide a safe place for recreation.

This is a place where children whose parents cannot afford to enroll them in an afterschool program can come to kids to play corn hole, toss Frisbees, and played football, make s’mores over the fire pit, or just run around and play with our dog, Carolina.

We provide educational enrichment.

As former home educators for more than 25 years, we are use to providing a nurturing environment where children can learn in a fun, organic way. Sometimes youth come to our home and sit around and play a game of Uno, or play board games like Monopoly, Scrabble, or Yahtzee. There are also times when we have an impromptu math quizzing game, a random spelling bee, or a storytime session.

We provide jobs and vocational training for older youth.

As the owner and operator of Cauthen Enterprises, a limited liability company that facilitates retail sales for small businesses in the form of pop-up markets, Deanna Cauthen has been able to provide part-time work for youths at pop-up market events that take place in the City of Stone Mountain from March to December, each year. As a high skilled woodworker, and an experienced handyman, Andrew has also been able to provide training in carpentry skills and lawncare.

We provide field trips.

Our field trips have included spending the day at Six Flags Over Georgia, overnight camping at Stone Mountain Park, hiking at the Roswell Mill Waterfall and Mill Park, viewing the statue of the late civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis in the square in City of Decatur, and a day trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee to ride bikes.

We provide a connection to other spiritual resources.

Because many of these young people don’t have parents who go to church, there is nobody to even bring them. Offering them the opportunity to come to church is a mere extension of the ministry work that we are already doing in our home, and exposes and allows them to connect with the larger body of Christ, however, youths do not have to come to church to be a part of the program.