Our Story
On a cold winter’s day in 1998, Ann Clark walked past the Salvation Army’s homeless shelter and noticed the overflow of people waiting outside for shelter. Clark took action and set up a temporary shelter for them in the basement of her church, St. James Methodist Church. Clark decided to maintain the temporary shelter throughout the coldest months of the year, founding the Bigger Vision of Athens shelter as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
After Ann Clark relocated across the country, a retired couple from the same church, Barbara and Richard Andersen took on the responsibility for running the shelter. When asked why she decided to spend her retirement in this way, Barbara Andersen said that “It’s more interesting than winning a game of golf or bridge or anything else I might do in my retirement. Helping people is the most rewarding and enjoyable thing you can do.” The Andersens mustered the resources to keep the shelter open throughout the entire winter and worked to expand Bigger Vision's services.
After several years of moving from location to location, Bigger Vision opened a permanent shelter facility on 95 North Avenue in 2012. Local businesses and churches donated the resources to renovate the building into a functional emergency shelter. Later that year, the building's previous owner, William Campbell, generously forgave Bigger Vision's mortgage, ensuring that the shelter will operate at 95 North Avenue in perpetuity. The facility allowed Bigger Vision to shelter 35 individuals every night of the year and provide expanded services such as showers and laundry. Today, Bigger Vision's hundreds of community supporters allow us to offer a diverse range of high-quality services to people experiencing homelessness in our community.
As we move into the future, our “Bigger Vision” continues to expand with the entire community’s help. In the years ahead, we hope to grow and develop to help more people living in homelessness in new and innovative ways in order to facilitate their journey back to sustainable living.