May 27—For the past week, a series of home tours, known as the Wilson County Parade of Homes, has been helping raise funds for a Lebanon non-profit that helps provide temporary living space for youth, and resources for families.

"The Bridge House is near and dear to my heart, because I've been in there," founder of Reid & Company Construction Reid Hinsley said. "I've actually helped them build out some space in their current location. From that, I've sort of had a front-row seat to see what they're doing and see some of the kids that come in there. It tugs on the heart strings."

Hinsley sat down with John Widrick, the director of the Bridge House, approximately four weeks ago to set up a parade of three homes to raise money for the Bridge House's needs. Tickets to tour the homes were $30 per person. As of Thursday, almost $20,000 had been raised before the final event.

"What he's doing for Wilson County and homeless youth in general blows me away," Hinsley said. "I've seen a three-month-old baby in there and up to 17-year-old kids."

The Bridge House has existed in Lebanon for around two years and was refounded in October 2022.

"Our mission is to lead youth out of homelessness and to empower them to live a life that will change a life," Widrick said. "We do that by providing housing for children and youth and wrap-around care for foster and adoptive families and families in crisis. We've had over 300 kids come through our doors in those months."

The Bridge House's 3,000-square-foot location has the ability to serve up to four kids at a time. The kids can be anywhere from one week old to 17 years old.

"We've seen all those different ages come through pretty regularly," Widrick said. "These kids that are coming in are sometimes very heavily abused. They're kids that sometimes have bounced around from foster placement to foster placement. Some of them can't even be in a foster home, just because they're aging out, and unfortunately, people don't want a teenager who's 16 years old. They stay with us until DCS (the Department of Children's Services) can find them either a foster home or an adoptive home, or a residential or group home."

The Bridge House helps kids across Middle Tennessee.

"Our location is filled with volunteers that are certified through the state," Windrick said. "We have various different amenities at our location, like basketball hoops, an arcade downstairs, kitchens and all those kinds of things."

The wrap-around care that the Bridge House provides is meant to help with foster-care retention.

"We provide mentors for kids that are in foster homes through our volunteers," Windrick said. "We also have families that may need resources. Maybe they're just starting to foster."

Jennifer Gallahard is the house coordinator for the Bridge House.

"I'm a therapeutic foster parent, so that's what led me to want to be a part of the Bridge House and its mission," Gallahard said. "The Bridge House is truly a house that is built by the community. All of our funding comes strictly from donations, and it truly takes a village to keep it going."

The money raised over the course of the week will help the Bridge House better accommodate the children it cares for.

"One of our values at the Bridge House is radical hospitality, and we want to roll out the red carpet for these kids and case workers," Gallahard said. "In order to do that, it takes a lot of fundraising and donations to keep that going. The money that we raise from this goes 100% towards the Bridge House. Every kid that comes into the Bridge House gets a haircut, gets a new bag. They get new clothing. They get new shoes."

The Bridge House provides more than just a place to stay and basic needs.

"These kids need support," Gallahard said. "They need to be loved on. This is such a traumatic time that they're in with removal (from their homes). This is just a way to be a part of that and help bring healing to such a tough time in their life."