Midstate Woman Goes From Homeless To Helping Others In Months

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – His head is held high. Her future is now bright, but to get here, Constance Grandberry had to endure the darkest of lows.

“It was hard. It really was,” said Grandberry, a Maury County mom.

Two months after she began nursing school, doctors diagnosed her husband with heart failure.

He couldn’t work, so Grandberry had to do more.

“I had two jobs, two part-time jobs, and then I went to school at night. And then I was pregnant with my fourth child,” Grandberry said.

The setbacks kept coming. Eventually, Grandberry and her family were deported.

“We were just going from hotel to hotel, keeping a roof over our heads, and we were looking for help,” Grandberry said.

That’s when she met Rev. Jeff Kane, the founder of Maury County’s only homeless shelter: The Room In The Inn.

“It was a hand up, not a hand down,” Kane said.

Over the past eight years, Kane and his team have helped more than a thousand Midstate families, and the need only continues to grow.

“I get one call, probably two to three calls a day, and then emails saying, ‘I live in my car.’ I was expelled. I’m working. I have family. What can you do,” Kane said.

This is why they are currently working on building a shelter called “Grace House”.

Soon, an old abandoned church will house four families as they struggle to get back on their feet.

“And that’s what Room In The Inn is, people coming in and saying, ‘I’m broken.’ I’m so alone. I’m lost and I don’t know where to turn,” Kane said.

He was talking about people like Grandberry, who recently graduated from nursing school with a 3.71 GPA.

She returned to work full-time, pays house rent and is now waiting to take the state board exam.

Her eldest daughter has just been placed on the honor roll.

“I drive by the hotel and say, ‘Thank you, Jesus,’ because it was the hardest time of my life,” Grandberry said.

Turns out all she needed was a little help.

We all need that sometimes, and Grace House will help provide that for others.

“This is going to build so many families, because I know I’m not the only one this is happening to, and this place has the potential to do the exact same thing, to take them further than they think they can go ” said Grandberry.

Grace House is now in need of clothing, furniture and volunteers.

The Room In The Inn’s big fundraiser, their fifth annual Oktoberfest, will take place on October 4th.

They will host things like a beer garden, a Weiner dog race, and live music.

WSMV4 is the official media partner of the event.

To purchase tickets, visit the 5th Annual Oktoberfest Benefit Room at the Inn – Columbia Tickets, Fri October 4, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. | Eventbrite