Midstate woman goes from homeless to helping others in a matter of months

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

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

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

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

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

The setbacks just kept coming. Eventually Grandberry and her family were evicted.

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

That’s when she found Reverend 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,” said Kane.

Over the last eight years, Kane and his crew have helped over a thousand Midstate families, and the need only continues to grow.

“I get a call, probably two to three calls a day, and emails on top of that saying, ‘I’m living in my car. I’ve been evicted. I’m working. I have family. What can you do,’” said Kane.

It’s why they’re now working on building a shelter called “Grace House.”

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

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

He’s was talking about people like Grandberry who recently graduated from her nursing program with a 3.71 GPA.

She’s back to working full time, paying rent on a home and is now waiting to sit for the state board exam.

Her oldest daughter just made honor roll.

“I just ride past the hotel and I say, ‘Thank you, Jesus,’ because that was the hardest time in my life,” said Grandberry.

It turns out all she needed was a little help.

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

“It’s going to build up so many families, because I know I’m not the only one this happens to, and this place has the potential to do the same exact thing, take them further than what they believe they can go,” said Grandberry.

The Grace House now needs things like clothes, furniture and volunteers.

The Room In The Inn’s big fundraiser, their fifth annual Oktoberfest, is coming up on October 4.

They’ll have things like a beer garden, a Weiner dog race and live music.

WSMV4 is the official media partner for the event.

For tickets, visit 5th Annual Oktoberfest Benefitting Room in the Inn - Columbia Tickets, Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 6:00 PM | Eventbrite

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