Willie Mae

It's been a long time since my last blog, life has just showed up in ways that kept me from writing until I knew I had to right now. Want to talk to you about our dear, departed friend Willie Mae Bush.

In the early 2000's through our ministry which then was at Campus Church in Norcross, we were invited to do meetings with a group of women associated with Mary Hall Freedom House that lived in Gwinnett County.  We had meetings in an apartment led by myself and a group of wonderful women from Campus who wanted to serve. Willie Mae was part of that Mary Hall group.

It was evident from the beginning that there was something special about Willie Mae, and when I heard her story I found out why. In a failed drug deal gone awry her son was shot and killed in front of her, she was actually the drug dealer, which caused her to run away and hide homeless in the woods. The trauma stayed with her and fueled her own addiction which led her to Mary Hall.

There's much more to the story but when she graduated from MH she came to us at Campus where some members housed her and another woman in their own duplex and she became an integral part of our ministry which eventually became ATB in 2009. She had such a giving, loving heart and while I was employed to travel around and buy cars for multiple dealerships she was the glue that held ATB together.

When I came back to ATL in 2017 we began to grow then eventually went out on our own in 2018 her health declined and there was less involvement, but her heart was still with us and remained that way until her passing.  While this blog can't contain more of her story her love and kindness will always be honored by ATB as one of the heroes of our ministry.

May she rest in eternal peace and remain in our thoughts as someone who overcame all odds to be a strong and impacting woman!