Lois Coleman was born into a warm and loving family.Her father was a minister and Lois was
brought up with strong values.Her
parents demonstrated the highest standards of love, diligence, innovation,
discipline, respect, godliness, and excellence in al things.Her strong family roots gave her a solid
foundation, from which she developed a burning desire to serve inner-city children
and to give them the kind of love she received as a child.
Lois knew she wanted to help
young people excel morally and academically, so she mounted a basketball hoop
in her backyard and held cookouts for the children and teenagers in her
neighborhood. The children soon began
calling her “Mama Lois.” She later formed
a club, called the Cultivators Club, to teach girls grace and manners.
Then at the age of 47, Mama
Lois had a life-changing while employed at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. Two years later, in 1972, Mama Lois joined to
minister on high school campuses ad Field Staff. Focusing on evangelism and discipleship, Mama
Lois also ministered in inner-city Atlanta, Chicago, Africa, Bermuda, and Florida.
Returning to Birmingham, Mama Lois worked with the Wales
Gobel Ministry for over nine years. As a
result, the Cultivators Club grew from being just a club to girls actually
coming to live in her home. These girls
were taught the same values she had been taught as a child. Not only did she work with these girls, but
also worked with various agencies to send scores of inner-city children to
camps each summer. It wasn’t long,
however, before Mama Lois realized that there were more girls needing assistance
than bedrooms in her home. She had a vision: to open a home to serve girls who had been abused or neglected.
Overcoming the big obstacles
of funding, incorporating, purchasing property, and renovating, Mama Lois and a
large host of volunteers opened that home in 1992, calling it Grace House
Christian Home
for Girls. At age 69, Mama Lois
implemented a plan for operating this home: to provide a nurturing environment for girls from crisis backgrounds,
where they could receive plenty of love and encouragement in a family setting.
At Grace House, Mama Lois,
the staff and the volunteers strive to help each girl reach her full potential
in a loving, nurturing environment. Educational, social, physical, emotional and spiritual needs are
addressed. In addition, children of the
community are served through a weekly Bible Study on Saturday mornings, which
serves over thirty students. It is because
of Mama Lois’ influence that many success stories of girls have been told over
the years. Many donors, corporations, foundations, and the community continue
to support these endeavors.
Mama Lois’ vision grew--she
had a new dream: to build Grace Village,
a complex of houses, facilities and staff to affectionately help large numbers
of children grown into adulthood. In
1998, and Executive director was hired to direct the growing needs of
administration and fundraising. Mama
Lois’ new position as Founder and Chairman Emeritus enabled her to engage in
extensive public speaking and fundraising. These personnel changes resulted in the launching of a Capital Campaign
in 1999 to raise funds to build more group homes and a community
clubhouse. On June 1, 2001, this dream
became reality with the groundbreaking for Grace Village! There are now a total of three group homes
operating in Fairfield, AL, which house up to 24 girls total. What began as a dream in one woman’s humble
home is now Grace House Ministries, poised to make a difference in the lives of
many young women and children in the 21st century.
