In the drizzly dark morning, a horde of small children make their way from the Fountain Gardens apartments to a car near their school bus stop where a woman they call “Granny” waits.

The car door opens and the woman, Phyllis Williams, is overwhelmed by little bodies. A young boy climbs into her lap, and others crowd into the back seat to avoid the chilly rain. The rest hover around the door, enjoying the umbrellas and gummy worms Ms. Williams shares as they wait for the school bus.

“These are my guys,” she says, with a warm smile.

The scene is typical for the “Thursday Gang” as Ms. Williams calls them, a group of kids, many with single parents, who live at the apartments in East Ridge. Every Thursday, Ms. Williams meets the children at the bus stop.

“When Ms. Williams comes out, she makes us happy,” said Allazay Hester, a 12-year-old student at East Ridge Middle School, poking his head inside the car. “She makes us feel like we are special and all of that. We call her our third granny.”

Ms. Williams, 54, who works at Covenant Transport and lives at Fountain Gardens, began spending time with the group of elementary and middle-school children when she noticed them playing outside the complex for hours in the summer.

At first she offered them water and snacks. As the children grew to know her, she began to play with them, bringing chalk to make art on the street and playing jump rope and four-square, said Nicholas Torrence, a 12-year-old student at East Ridge Middle.

“When you have nothing to do, it’s fun,” said Nicholas, whose mother works.

Sometimes, when the children tell her that a parent’s birthday is coming up, Ms. Williams makes them a gift to give, said Deondre Chambliss, 10, who sat in the back seat of Ms. Williams’ car on a recent Thursday with his little brothers Diedrick, 6, and Demario, 8.

“I give them inexpensive gifts to give to their mothers on their mothers’ birthdays to teach them to appreciate and show love,” Ms. Williams said. “I always tell them to give their mother a kiss on the cheek when they give her their present and to tell her they love her.”

Ms. Williams said many of the children have working mothers and either don’t know or don’t live with their fathers. She said she wanted them to know that she was an adult who cared about their grades, their needs, their safety and their successes.

Sherry Boles, the pastor at Ms. Williams’ church, St. John United Methodist, said Ms. Williams is the type of woman who doesn’t leave a need unmet.

“I think she has a real heart for people who are on the margin,” Ms. Boles said.

Ms. Williams said members of her Sunday school class at St. John United Methodist have helped to provide money, candy and toys for the youngsters. Over Christmas, her apartment looked a lot like Santa’s workshop, filled with gifts donated through her church and work place.

“Families come and go at Fountain Gardens, like they do at most apartment complexes,” Ms. Williams said. “I never know when the last time will be that I have an opportunity to show a child that someone cares about them and wants to help them.”