Founder’s Story
We are Gerald and Debbie Morrison founders of Serenity Pointe. We have been married since 1974, we have two sons, three grandchildren and one precious great granddaughter. Before Serenity I was a Realtor and Gerald a contractor.
In April of 2008 Serenity was born, not knowing exactly what that was to look like, only knowing we wanted to do the Lord’s will to help in any way we could those in need. We both quit our jobs and we lived off our savings account and began praying for directions.
We started by taking in displaced single moms and children into our home. We would work with them to become stable by helping them find jobs if needed and suitable places to live. We later opened a halfway house for women who had been incarcerated to learn how to make different choices in their lives to stop the cycle and not return to jail. For years we offered community classes on addiction, anger management, parenting and financial teachings.
It didn’t take long to realize that no matter how much we wanted to make a difference it took way more money than we thought, it was at that point that we decided to open our first thrift store. After a several years we had become involved with several other nonprofits in rural TN. They would have us meet with them about maybe opening a thrift store in the county they worked in. Either due to no money to make it happen or other reasons they couldn’t do so. One day I told Gerald my heart breaks for those who are doing such a good work and have no money. After much prayer we decided to open several more stores and adopt two nonprofits in the area we opened the stores and helped fund them. That is what we have done for the past 8 years. One thing we don’t do is take any pay from the store.
One Friday night about 10:00pm, the local sheriff called me and asked me to come to the jail, they had a situation that needed our help. It was a 20-year-old young lady that had escaped from her foster care home. At the age of 20 years, the current foster parents were still spanking her and did not allow her to leave the home with out them. We arrived at the jailhouse and took the young girl home to stay with us. We started searching for her birth mother, and three months later we had located her. The birth mother had turned her life around and had been trying to find her daughter. The young girl has now graduated college, married and awesome man, and they have a little girl together. This is just one of the many stories of those we have helped over the years.
The Lord will use all of us if we are willing to be obedient. There’s nothing special about us, just people who love the Lord and are willing to be obedient. Serving the Lord has been our honor full time for the past 15 years.
Debbie Morrison
Founder
Serenity Pointe