Hannah Home Shelby Auxiliary hosts Tablescapes luncheon

When Jennifer Autwell came to King’s Home, she had lost custody of her two children, was pregnant with her third child and was battling addiction.

“A year ago, I had lost all hope,” she told attendees at the Hannah Home Shelby Auxiliary Tablescapes luncheon.

Autwell said the support she received at King’s Home helped her find a job, become free from drug addiction and pass her parenting classes to regain custody of her children. She thanked everyone who helped her and has continued to help her on her journey.

“Strangers from the past six months have loved me more than anyone in my whole life,” she said.

Autwell is one of many women in need of the services provided through King’s Home and Hannah Home, said King’s Home President Lew Burdette. When women come to King’s Home, whether they are escaping abuse or addiction, Burdette said they benefit from the long-term programs and support at King’s Home.

“Moms can’t get lives put back together in 30 or 60 days,” Burdette said. “… In a two-year period, Mom can get life put back together.”

The core of King’s Home is “putting feet to the gospel,” Burdette said, and providing strength through Christianity.

The Tablescapes Luncheon is one of the largest fundraising events for Hannah Home Shelby Auxiliary, and around 175 women attended on April 6.

“We are grateful for everything you do to make sure women and children and teenagers have a place to go and are well-loved,” Moser said.

Patricia Barnes, founder and CEO of Sister Schubert’s baking company, was this year’s keynote speaker at the luncheon. She shared her testimony, including how she was able to help individuals and families through her baking.

After Sister Schubert’s baking company had grown, Barnes said she was approached by missionaries to Ukraine. They asked her to come along on a trip, and she accepted.

“It was way out of my comfort zone, but God said, ‘Go,’ so I did,” she said.

When she visited, she said she saw the dismal condition of state-run orphanages, and she helped start Sasha’s Home to help children who were orphaned and abandoned.

On one of her many trips to Ukraine, a baby boy whose mother had been murdered was brought into the home. He had clubbed feet, and a woman at the home said it was likely he would not be adopted.

“Mind you now, I had been put on the plane by my beautiful, wonderful husband George, and as he’s hugging me and loving me and telling me goodbye, he said, ‘Now you remember that we already have four children,’” Barnes said. “I said, ‘I do know that.’ … I said, ‘I’m just going over here to love my babies from Ukraine. They’re already ours because we’re caring for them.’”

After she learned that the boy, Alexander, would also have trouble receiving medical care for his feet, Barnes said she felt compelled to make Sasha’s home a place where orphans and those in need would be able to receive medical care.

Two days before Christmas, her husband asked what she really wanted for a gift, and she said it was to give Alexander a chance to walk and be what God planned.

“He has for the last 12 years been our fifth child,” Barnes said. “And Alexander David Barnes, I was told he couldn’t do anything more than walk flat-footed. He is on the golf team, plays soccer, could run circles around everybody in this room.”

Barnes said she is thankful for the blessings Alexander has brought to her family, and she said she hopes everyone involved with Hannah Home receives the same benefit from those they help.

“People come in that bless your lives and bless the others around them more than you ever could have imagined,” Barnes said.