Tuscaloosa project for at-risk kids works to raise funds through A Community Thrives

Organizations looking to better their communities are fundraising until Aug. 12, as part of the Gannett Foundation’s A Community Thrives crowdfunding and grant program. More than 700 organizations have applied to the $2 million initiative in hopes of fulfilling financial needs.

One selected group is a new project out of Tuscaloosa called Freedom Farm. It's in the process of becoming a group home for abandoned and at-risk children, on several acres of land in Coker donated by Dr. John O. Waits, a general surgeon at DCH Regional Medical Center.

Its mission statement includes "to provide a safe haven for neglected, abused and abandoned children while providing them with an anchor and a compass for life."

Waits is helping develop the project with Joseph and Erica Deason, who have been operating Be the Village, a nonprofit out of Centreville that similarly helps in-need children. The Deasons began fostering in 2020 and has since fostered more than 80 kids of all ages, races and backgrounds. They now have 21 kids living with them in their eight-bedroom home.

The Freedom Farm board met Friday morning to continue preparation for fundraising and other advancement. The Deasons have been packing — with a lot of smaller hands helping — in preparation for the move. They will be the Freedom Farm's directors once the seven other residences, along with a groomed activity area and chapel are constructed and ready to accept residents. Waits and the Deasons are communicating with Nancy Buckner, commissioner of Alabama's Department of Human Resources in Montgomery, to identify those kids most in need of a better home.

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Through A Community Thrives, Freedom Farm and other groups will have one month to raise money via online platform Mightycause, to reach a minimum of $3,000 or $6,000, depending on operating budgets, in order to qualify as a grant recipient. Through the site, donations can be made to Freedom Farm, or to one of the other projects by filtering type, location and category.

“A Community Thrives has been an excellent way for Gannett to leverage its platforms to raise attention and dollars for participating nonprofit organizations," said Sue Madden, director of the Gannett Foundation.

"Over the past five years, the program has contributed more than $17 million to community building projects and local operating expenses of service organizations across the country.”

Waits actually met Joe Deason on the operating table. As he was groggily coming out of anesthesia, Joe asked Erica to put the doctor's number in his phone. They had talked about in-need children before his procedure, and continued discussions over a breakfast later. The Deasons urged Waits to contribute to Be the Village. Waits had a grander idea, based around his involvement with Big Oak Ranch and King's Home. He had been thinking about how fortunate he was, growing up with loving, caring parents.

"A lot of kids don't get that. We don't get to choose our parents," he said. "They're the first influence in your life, and the biggest."

He saw how the Deasons were contributing to the saving of children, some abandoned, some taken from homes where drugs, physical abuse or other dire situations had arisen.

"And I said I've thought about this for a long time, about starting something like this," Waits said. "At the time, I didn't realize the extent of what they've been doing."

While Freedom Farm and the other organizations will get to keep money they raise, top projects also will qualify for additional grants, to support their change-making ideas. Top fundraisers will receive a $200,000 grant, and all eligible organizations will qualify for the National Project and Local Operating grants.

To donate to Freedom Farm's A Community Thrives fundraising campaign, visit www.acommunitythrives.mightycause.com/organization/Freedom-Farm-3. To learn more about A Community Thrives, visit www.bit.ly/3RBLMEo.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: A Community Thrives: Tuscaloosa project for at-risk kids raising funds