We Put Our Anchor In Him! Amazingly, He takes us to places where we do things we thought impossible. We do things that to some may seem unconventional, but to Him, they are all relational to our mission, which is really simple:
Go to heaven and take as many people as we can with us! That is why we have spiritual meetings that continue to grow, like Smooth Talk, Real Talk Recovery, Xcelerate, and our Men's and Women's groups. Then we hand out free Life Recovery Bibles, Workbooks, and wristbands with scriptures on them. All this and the other 12-step groups that meet weekly are to nourish the spirit of the folks we serve. Foundational recovery is about learning how to live without mind-altering substances. Realizing that the hope is not in the dope and that we can be transformed by the power of a God who wants us to succeed and encourage others to follow that same path.
In so doing, August was just that:
2,947 folks picked up 183 recovery chips during 58 meetings at ATB
Three people reached one year-plus sober, and three baptisms
We helped numerous people in our Under The Bridge program
We donated to a homeless ministry, a helping mothers group, a missionary in Kenya, and Men of Valor*
We handed out over 1,000 free articles of clothing
And we served food or donuts in a majority of meetings
We finished constructing our new community room with 100% of the costs from donations, including our building owner, who donated money and paid for the AC/Heating unit in the renewed space. Seeing people who believe in His mission to come through for us is gratifying. On Saturday, September 16th, we launch our first monthly Bingo Devo (BD), a time to enjoy more faith and fellowship with clean fun that helps folks re-learn how to enjoy a sober life. If you wish to donate to this or join us, there will be food, prizes, and, hopefully, much joy! We also capped off the month by being awarded a $15,000 grant from The Scott Hudgens Family Foundation, our third grant. We are so honored and thankful for their incredible support.
* Men of Valor is a new non-profit developed by some from our Men's Group that can help with repairs, painting, and other odd jobs whether someone can afford their help. For details, contact Marcus at 470-846-8954!
July 2023
In July over 2900 people visited ATB, and in the midst of that, two remarkable things happened. We had eight lovely people get baptized! We baptize once a month unless there is a special request. In two-and-a-half years, 160 people have demonstrated their faith in Jesus through baptism!
Our second highlight is that 57 people received one-year-plus chips this month, more than the entire year of 2022. This increase indicates tremendous progress in ATB doing its part to help those who come to us stick around and prosper. Additionally, we broke the record by handing out chip number 58, a two-year chip for a graduated woman from Mary Hall.
Lastly, we completed construction on our expansion thanks to CrossTrade. They transformed 1200 square feet of our warehouse into a new community room. This addition opens more space for meetings and our larger groups with added flexibility.
Our game plan is clear: Keep doing what we do and do it even better! God never asks us to be complacent or rest on what we have accomplished but to complete the new tasks He sets before us in His honor.
June 2023
Happy Independence Day! Listening to all the fireworks going off last night despite intermittent rain reminded me of how unstoppable the American spirit is regardless of circumstances. So too is that of the palm tree, resilient in wind, hurricanes and drought it seems to never lose its beauty and survives every situation to thrive again.
Wherever you are today and regardless of your situation, realize that God has planted his unbreakable spirit in every man and woman to not only survive, but to thrive on his behalf. That is what propels ATB and gives us wings to fly in any season, at any time, in any place where we are planted.
Rather than giving a June Recap in depth here is a mini report with a full first half of 2023 report:
3003 people reached/ 18,705 for the first half of 2023
158 chips handed out in 56 meetings/ 1168 in 410 1st Half
7 one year plus/ 49 one year plus for the 1st half of 2023
22 Baptisms for the 1st Half of 2023
Countless amounts of free clothing distributed, food served, mentoring and counseling offered, folks helped through our Under The Bridge program for homeless and helpless, as well as support for others in the cause, that's a big part of what 2023 has been. The connections and lives being changed create the bulk of our mission and along with our amazing collaborators, that is our collective impact on our community as front line providers.
A highlight from June was our "Eyes Wide Open" event in collaboration with Peace Baptist Church of Decatur, Chabad Rural Georgia and the Clinton Foundation which brought awareness of the crisis of substance abuse, offered ways to help for those in need and spoke of long term solutions. We intend to repeat an event like this in the fall as the feedback was extremely positive.
Our entire team of Jen, Joel, Robert, Allison, Brittany, and myself thank you for your support and look forward to a dynamic serving and loving second half of 2023!
May 2023
3097 folks graduated with honors as they passed through the doors of ATB last month. 226 of those picked up recovery chips, and another 8 received chips for one year or more of sobriety!
More and more people hang around after graduating from a program to volunteer and serve as leaders, a tribute to the programs and the family atmosphere we collectively work to create. Connection is critical to recovery; it is essential to long-term sobriety. Jeff Lyle from Antioch Outpost spoke at Xcelerate on May 31, and Candace brought it with her beautiful voice and enthusiasm. With 140 in attendance, more than 20 people came forward to fully surrender or re-dedicate their lives to the Lord. It was a night of magical moments, joy, and celebration.
After prayerful time with our expansion, we are led to delay other locations. We will remodel our current space to best utilize our 9000 square feet. Later other sites will be considered out of want rather than need, as what we modify will fulfill our immediate needs.
Finally, we will host a free community event on Saturday, June 17, from 4pm-7pm, addressing the problems we face with addiction, the resources available to help, and how to maintain long-term sobriety. Please see the below flyer. We invite you to join us and ask someone you know who may need help.
June will be busy and full of promise. Pray that we continue on the path God has set before us, and thank you for supporting that journey!
April 2023
As over 3,000 people come through our doors to meetings and in outreach groups every month we continue to develop people to lead us into future success. Our approach to creating a family atmosphere and connecting where disconnect fostered addiction helps others to find long term recovery.
In the first half of 2023 we are focusing on doing what we do better. While seeking to explore expansion through the planting of other satellite locations and adding other services that may benefit those we already serve, we are also attempting to collaborate with other like minded organizations. Stay tuned for those plans and please continue to pray that we follow the will of the amazing God we serve.
We have other good news! We began our Families Anonymous Support Group on Thursdays at 6 PM for those affected by addiction in their families. We also made the Warrior Support Group a hybrid one by adding a Zoom feature for those who cannot attend in person.
zoom.us/joinSteps to Join the Meeting 1. Click here or the image below to follow the link to Zoom 2. Enter the Zoom ID: 723 472 691 3. Enter the Passcode: 777777
Additionally, by popular demand, Smooth Talk on Tuesday nights at 7:30 will now be Facebook live. For now, you can view it on Courtney Colbert's Facebook page, but we will transfer it to ATB soon.
December 2022
We are closing out our Build Another Bridge giving campaign on December 31 and currently stand at $68,737 donated in Grants and Donations received. Below you will find more information about where we are and where we are going, how many folks we have helped in the past four years and why we need you to be a bridge-builder with us to continue our mission of being the bridge from the world of addiction and life-changing circumstances into the hope of restoration and connecting those that are lost back to God, their families and to themselves. If you are led to financially partner with us, we say thank you in advance and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a joyfully prosperous New Year!
To download our Build Another Bridge Campaign document for print or sharing with others, click here or one of the images below:
September 2022
Things have been going extremely well the past few months, with multiple baptism's, the successful restart of our HA meeting and reaching more than 2600 folks in August. We now have simultaneous meetings going almost every day of the week and there will soon be more. On our last Xcelerate which we moved to Wednesday to reach a different audience, we had 158 folks join us in a wonderful celebration.
Our next Xcelerate is September 26 at 7pm, all are welcome to join us!
June 2022 Great News! - It's Time To Xcelerate! ATB proudly announces a new monthly event to be held on a Monday or Wednesday designed to Xcelerate our faith and recovery through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Then to Xcel in all we do including how we give back to others, and to Celebrate the change in our lives! The inaugural event will take place Monday, June 27th 7 PM at ATB Raw and will include Food, Music by Candace & Proclaim, a stirring testimony from a person in long term recovery and an encouraging message from our own Darryll Stinson, former football star, author, Ted Talk speaker and Pastor. All are welcome to join us! Remembering these words from the Bible in 2 Corinthians 8:7 NASB version we look forward to bringing a night of great hope to all who come: But just as you excel in everything, in faith, speaking, knowledge, and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you,see that you also excel in this gracious work. Let's Celebrate!
May 2022 We are happy that Phase 1 of our construction and occupancy of Suite B in our present location is complete, and that we now lease all 9000 square feet in our building. This allows us the ability to hold simultaneous meetings, add additional office space, restrooms and parking, as well as another 1800 square feet for future expansion. Below is a gallery of pictures of the new space (Suite B) and some modifications to Suite A, including an expanded Women's clothing closet, more office space, and some added changes to our community room, main meeting room and my office. Come see us at any time we will be excited to show you around.
SUITE A
SUITE B
April 2022 We are thankful to have raised nearly $195,000 in our Build-A-Bridge giving campaign, have commitments for another $9,000 in 2022, and remain in play for another $85,000 in potential grants. To all who have given we are striving to make your investment in us count in re-modeling both our current Suite A and the Suite B we have moved in to, advancing our Under The Bridge homeless initiative and beginning our R.O.P.E. (Reducing Opiate Problems Effectively) program.
You can still donate at any time toward our continued efforts whether large or small as every dollar counts toward saving another life. The changes we have or are making enhance moments of connection and healing, bringing more opportunities to serve our community with maximum impact.
In March we added another staff member, Robert "Smooth" Colbert as our Community Outreach Director and leader of our Tuesday night meeting "Smooth Talk". Robert has extensive pastoral experience and brings a wealth of recovery and spiritual knowledge toward our efforts to minister to others. Welcome Robert, you are a blessing to us all!
Look for the new beginning of our HA (Heroin Anonymous) meeting soon as well as other special announcements in April.
March 2022
In the first of a new series of meetings that will be held at ATB, we introduce a Men's Support Group that will meet every Saturday at 5 PM at our building. This group will focus on the spiritual aspect of recovery and is open to all who wish to attend.
We welcomed 2022 in with some great news that in the last year we had reached over 25,000 people in all our meetings. As we embark on this new year journey, we will move into added space in March, expand our R.O.P.E. program in April, and welcome an open house in the Spring. Our homeless events have pivoted into more of a one on one situation as we continue to take calls and place them in better life changing situations. We will resume our monthly events in April.
We are happy to report that in mid-February we reached over $194K in donations and grants toward of our goal of raising $300K by March 31st. We thank all who have donated or provided those grants and look forward to unveiling the new ATB facilities and plans in the very near future.
If you have questions about our services or meetings you may call Glenn at 404-915-7376 or Jen at 678-232-9890.
November 2021 Another Under The Bridge and Hope thru Soap event takes place next Wednesday Nov 24th from 11 AM to 1 PM. We will help the homeless and needy with showers, haircuts and a Thanksgiving meal. All are welcome including those in sober living facilities!
Welcome Heroin Anonymous (HA) New Sunday night meeting begins November 7th at 7:30 PM - sponsors available!
Introducing our Build A Bridge Giving Campaign Our goal is to raise $300K in Donations & Grants by 3/31/22 ATB is taking a step forward in 2022 to accomplish three major goals: 1. Expand our building space to add more meeting, office, and general space including more parking and restrooms. 2. Continue our Under The Bridge program to assist the homeless and helpless with enhanced partners and services, and 3. To develop our R.O.P.E. Initiative (Reducing Opiate Problems Effectively) that begins with a new HA Meeting (Heroin Anonymous) in November of 2021, spreads out into support meetings and special awareness events for family and friends, and enters our school system within the middle and high schools to promote awareness and support groups of peers and parents. We have the staff, volunteers, athletes and counselors available to make this work.
We will continue to maintain all the other foundation things we do within 2022 in faith based and 12 Step meetings, food and clothing distribution, mentoring and counseling, as well as referral services for transition and sober living facilities. Though our goals are lofty and our ask is great, we believe God has a mission for ATB to accomplish of impactful service to break the chains of all types of addiction and save our future generations from bondage and even death from this subtle pandemic.
We have helped nearly 70,000 folks in three years of existence and can measure our success rate by the thousands of changed lives that have been reclaimed as productive citizens and family members within our communities that stretch throughout Georgia, and into neighboring states. We need your help to partner with us in this valiant endeavor. Here is how we reached our ask of $300K:
$30K for our build out and expansion
$20K to continue Under The Bridge
$250K to fully implement R.O.P.E.
While some of these funds may come from grants, they are not guaranteed until sometime in 2022, so we ask that you prayerfully consider donating within the current year, and of course your donations are fully tax deductible as we are a 501(c)3 Non-Profit.
You can donate through the Donate drop down on this Website or mail us a check at 900 Cripple Creek Drive, Suite A, Lawrenceville Ga 30043. Or better yet, we will come to you and explain in depth our plans or just call and arrange a visit at our building. Whatever way you choose please remember the lives you may be changing, the lives you may be saving, and the families you may be helping to re-unite. We give you a most wonderful return on your investment in us and keep you engaged in our progress.
Thank you sincerely, Glenn
September 21,2021 We are holding our fourth Under The Bridge event to help the homeless and helpless in partnership with Hope thru Soap on Saturday October 2nd from 10 AM to 1 PM. Showers, haircuts. food and services will be available. All are welcome to join us and if you know a homeless person, send them our way please.
September 8, 2021 We are proud to announce we have awarded 6 of the 10 scholarships available for 2021 in honor of Catherine "Cat" Howard. Each one was for $1000, and we continue to accept essays for the remaining four to be given out in October and November. Here are the scholarship winners to date:
Eli McCurley Athens Tech, GA
Joslin Reagin Truett McConnell University, GA
Krissy Montemayor Laredo College, TX
Victoria Anderson Boise State University, ID
Gracie Wingfield James Madison University, VA
Shyanne Seymour Hood College, MD
August 27, 2021 We are holding our third Under The Bridge event tomorrow August 28 in partnership with Hope thru Soap from 10 AM to 1 PM. Additionally HFS is sponsoring an event in our building simultaneously to help those students who cannot afford a prom dress to come get one free. Once again we will offer free showers, haircuts and food as well as services that may help the homeless. All are welcome to join us.
July 28, 2021 ATB is honored to offer the Catherine "Cat" Howard Scholarship, one who was lost to a drug overdose in September of 2020. It is available to anyone who has lost an immediate family member to an addiction overdose and wants to further their vocational or educational situation. This scholarship will be up to $1000, paid directly to the vocational or educational institution of your choice. This program is limited to 10 individuals per year.
To be considered, please submit an essay of up to 1000 words on how that loss has affected you personally, and include the name of the institution to receive those funds, by mail to Across The Bridge, 900 Cripple Creek Drive Suite A, Lawrenceville, Ga 30043 or by email at acrossthebridge@att.net.
July 17, 2021 We are preparing for our second Under The Bridge event to help homeless & helpless folks next Saturday July 24th from 10 AM - 1 PM. Other collaborators such as Hope thru Soap offering showers and haircuts, 12Stone Church, Viewpoint Health, Village of Hope, Recovery Foundations, Family Promise of Gwinnett, We Are Living Proof, Grace Community Church and others will join us. We will grill food, offer added food, supplies and resources to aid these folks who may want assistance. This is our first of several monthly events to come.
April 29, 2021 We are saddened by the loss of 6 beautiful women in a van accident on April 24th who attended our meetings regularly. These ladies were part of a partnering organization who were on their way to another meeting when tragedy struck. We had baptized 3 of them and another attended church with us. We mourn with their families and offer these names that they may always be remembered for their courage to progress into living a better life:
Alishia Carroll
Kristie Whitfield
Ashleigh Paris
Normisha Monroe
Tina Rice
Rose Patrick
May they all rest in the arms of a loving, merciful God! They will be missed.
ATB proudly announces the beginning of a new test program designed to help the homeless & helpless, titled "Under The Bridge". This program will have two objectives:
Help anyone who meets our criteria who is in need of temporary help with housing, food or additional services., and
To hold a once a month event to feed, offer showers and haircuts, special services and other assistance that may be needed.
We are planning our first monthly event for June 18, 2021.
We are collecting information, donors, volunteers and collaborators to insure the success of this program. We have already received grants from Walton EMC and 12Stone Church. If you wish to donate click the Donate drop down on this site, or mail us a check at Across The Bridge Inc, 900 Cripple Creek Drive, Suite A, Lawrenceville Ga 30043, earmarked "Under The Bridge". If you wish to collaborate or volunteer please call me at 404-915-7376.
The Women's Recovery Support Group now meets every Saturday from 1-3 PM and is working through the Steps through the Life Recovery Bible Workbook. Sponsor/Mentor opportunities are available and as this group has progressed many new relationships have formed that allow for personal growth.
In March our stats were awesome, 2002 people reached in 46 meetings with 225 recovery milestone chips given out. We also baptized 11 people in our new portable baptistry and gave out over 500 articles of clothing. Many lives are being transformed and we are developing new exciting leaders whose stories are way beyond inspirational. Come check us out at anytime, just take a look at our Meeting Schedule.
We are proud to add Jennifer Coyle as a Special Assistant at ATB on a part time basis. Jen brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to our mission and is leading our new Women's Step Group. We have also added Joel Lindquist in April as our Property Management Engineer (the guy who fixes and builds everything). He and Jen both are true servant leaders. If you are also interested in serving please let us know.
We welcome back CMA (Crystal Meth Anonymous) that now meets at Friday nights 7:30 at ATB, this is a rare group that is on this side of the ATL. Call Mike at 480-322-6700 if you need more info. We have begun a Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting on Tuesday nights at 7:30 PM led by Mike C. which has taken root in the community. All addictions are welcome and again call Mike in the drop down if you have questions. We have Monday night meetings from 7:30-8:30 PM every week, and have renamed our group to "Monday Night Raw"! These meetings will be held at the ATB Building, and are All Recovery inclusive, as well as having a differing format every week geared toward getting into the heart of recovery. We ask that all who come observe the safety/health protocol outlined on the instructions on our front door. We are also open for CA (Cocaine Anonymous) on Thursdays, also at 7:30 PM. Look under info on the Current Meetings drop down for more information.
Additionally we are supporting the food distribution of Satisfeed through Life Church International and food delivery through Recovery Foundations that service our sober living community. You may donate to them directly at satisfeed.org or at recoveryfoundations.org, or if you prefer donate to ATB on this website and we will pass it on to them.
We are still available to consult, refer and to coach whenever needed, and you may reach Glenn at 404-915-7376 or Jen at 678-232-9890.
Please join us in pray for our nation, our folks in recovery and the team at ATB, as we continue to navigate these multiple situations.
Please remember that we need Men's and Women's clothing and shoes as we have many in need and we distribute this clothing free.
Call Glenn at 404-915-7376 or Jen at 678-232-9890 with questions or if you have a need .
