Grab your boots (plus your tickets), and get ready for the 3rd Annual Esther's Night Out Barn Dance on August 17, 2024, where proceeds will be used to benefit local women in need. Help the organizers pack the beautiful Pine Needle Plantation from 6-11 pm, and enjoy music, dinner, a raffle and a silent auction with prizes like TVs, grills, jewelry, firearms and much, much more.
Lori Brent and Tanya Wright are the organizers behind the local Christen-based non-profit service known as ‘Esther’s Place’, which is devoted to helping women and children that are living through difficult situations such as poverty, homelessness, addiction, and other traumatic experiences.
You can help support this mission with the purchase of a ticket to the barn dance for just $20, which includes access to the silent auction, one entry into the raffle, and a delicious BBQ dinner. Purchase additional entries into the raffle for $10 to get an even better shot at winning one of the awesome prizes that have been donated by generous community members, including TVs, grills, jewelry, firearms, gift baskets, and candles.
Plus, join the volunteers from Esther's Place at Connection Church on Thursday nights for line dancing classes, so you can gear up for the boot scootin' boogy on August 17.
More about Esther’s Place:
Brent and Wright knew when they walked into the brick house located on East Grady St., it was the perfect place to set up shop for the services provided by Esther’s Place.
“We wanted to create a space that was like a home…and girly,” said Wright. "When the women do come in, they feel like they're just coming home.”
A clean, bright house with a kitchen, bathrooms with showers, washers and dryers, and a salon, welcome the women of our community who are in need. Here they can get a hot meal for themselves and their children, have their clothes washed and even get a haircut.
Most importantly, they can come to receive support, a listening ear and guidance, whatever their circumstances may be.
“Lori and I, we want to show that love that Jesus would,” said Wright, “Whether they're in addiction, whether they're homeless, you know, whatever that is, just to love them right where they're at. Like Jesus.”
Every week Esther’s Place hosts devotional mornings and bible studies, as well as support groups for women going through difficulties like loss and family struggles. Take a look at their weekly schedule:
Monday
- Mornings with God 9:30 - 10:30
Time where we spend together reading devotionals and sharing our hearts with one another
Tuesday
- Mornings with God 9:30 - 10:30
Time where we spend together reading devotionals and sharing our hearts with one another.
- Afternoon Bible Study 2:00 - 3:30
Studying God's Word together.
Wednesday
- Mornings with God 9:30 - 10:30
Time where we spend together reading devotionals and sharing our hearts with one another.
- Widow to Widow 11:00 - 12:00
Widows at all stages of widowhood come together and share in the hardships that only another woman who has lost her husband can understand. We cry together and yes, even laugh together!
Friday
- Mornings with God 9:30 - 10:30
Time where we spend together reading devotionals and sharing our hearts with one another.
Saturday
- Statesboro Moms of Addicts 10:30 - 12:00
This is a group of ladies who support each other through sharing their experiences and believe in healing through friendship. Meetings are the 2nd and 4th Saturday each month.
Brent and Wright believe that “unity in community’ is how they can accomplish their mission of empowering women, so by partnering with other nonprofits and local services like Freedom Through Recovery, Open Hearts Community Mission, Foundation Resource Center, Choices of the Heart Pregnancy Center, the Hope Chest through Fostering Bulloch, Union Mission and Safe Haven, Esther’s Place helps connect women to resources that will get them back on their feet and living happy lives.
“None of us can do everything, but if we come together as a family, we can do it,” said Brent, extending special thanks to Tiffiny and Tracy.
Esther’s Place received its 501(c)(3), non-profit credentials last year, and is completely funded by the community, so fundraisers like the Night Out Barn Dance and Esther in the Boro market are absolutely essential to allow them to continue their service.
Visit the Esther’s Place website or click this link to buy tickets to Esther’s Night Out to support their mission, and to find out more information about the services they provide and how you can help the women in need in our community.