Life360 Birch Tree, led by Brandon Tate, is transforming an abandoned shoe factory into a community center where children and families can gather together and build healthy relationships. The factory is located across the street from the town’s Life360 hub, where Brandon and his team serve our Nutrition Services program to over 1,600 kids each day.
Since moving to Birch Tree a year ago, Brandon has been interested in turning the 42,000 square foot old shoe factory into a community center and that dream is becoming a reality! With the help of a Convoy of Hope team that is visiting October 13-15, as well as donations from across the community and the state, Birch Tree will be able to have a safe place for kids and families to gather together.
With Birch Tree located in the most impoverished county in the state of Missouri, locations like these are essential for children in the community.
The mayor of Birch Tree, Lou Colaiannia, said, “Having a functional community resource center in Birch Tree would have a tremendous impact on the overall health, development, and wellness of the youth in our city. It’s important to be able to offer a safe place for children and families to congregate and develop life skills, maintain a level of fitness, and recreate. The entire community would benefit significantly.”
Life360 Birch Tree is aiming to raise $20,000 to complete work on the building, including water and electrical, building two bathrooms with showers, putting up walls, and more. They are aiming to raise as much of that as possible before the Convoy team arrives in order to maximize what the team will be able to accomplish. The initial push will be to prepare the building to move the Nutrition Services program to the space. From there, work will continue to transform the space into a functioning community center.
Life360 Birch Tree Community Development Partner Brandon Tate said, “I am not sure anything could have prepared me emotionally for the response of this community when they heard the good news of what we were looking to do with the Old Shoe Factory. I trust that God has been guiding my steps through this whole process and placed on my heart His desire to restore a broken building that seems to be unusable and too far gone in order to remind the people of this community that nothing is impossible for Him and that He can do the very same thing in their lives and in their situations.”