Chattanooga church finds a mission field in Tennessee's poorest county

Reports this month that Grundy County ranks as Tennessee's poorest did not come as news to the people who live in this former mining area.

Here on the southern Cumberland Plateau, where livelihoods and livable wages died decades ago when coal went bust, some children lack winter coats in the freezing cold. Donated food is sometimes all that a mother can put on the table. Even shoes can be hard to come by.

But in the past few years, a connection of goodwill has linked a small church congregation in Chattanooga with those who live what can be a hard life in Grundy County.

The link with Oakwood Baptist Church on Bonny Oaks Drive manifests itself in donations of food, shoes and warm clothes, snacks and money every few weeks, thanks largely to the efforts of Grundy County natives Anna Carol Dishroon and her husband, E.J.

The Dishroons, descendants of Grundy coal-mining families, collect many of the donations at their home until they can move them to the church storeroom, where they await delivery to Grundy County.

Both attended Palmer Elementary School in Grundy County as children and have attended Oakwood Baptist Church all the years they've lived in Chattanooga. But their hearts have always been tied to struggling families back in their childhood home.

After taking mission trips with fellow Oakwood congregation members to some of the poorest areas in the nation and world, Anna Carol Dishroon says she and friend Sandra Hannah Albro decided about three years ago to take on a mission closer to home and heart.

Winding two-lane roads connect the towns and people of Grundy County in a beautiful landscape peppered with some mom-and-pop businesses but few large industries. Most people have to travel outside the county to find a job.

Seven tiny communities tucked into the plateau's rolling terrain are home to the county's fewer than 14,000 people.

The county perennially ranks among Tennessee's poorest areas.

Last June, The Upshot, a New York Times news and data-analysis venture, named Grundy one of the 100 hardest places in America to live based on data points such as income, education, unemployment rates, disability rates, life expectancy and obesity. Grundy ranked 3,045 of 3,135 U.S. counties. Elsewhere in Tennessee, Campbell, Hardeman, Lauderdale and Scott counties ranked even lower at 3,056, 3,047, 3,051 and 3,052, respectively.

This month Grundy was listed as the poorest county in Tennessee, according to a study by 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware corporation that publishes financial news and opinions. The study is based on Census Bureau figures from the American Community Survey. Grundy's median household income between 2009 and 2013 stood at $26,814, compared with a statewide average for the same period of $44,298.

"This was especially poor, even in Tennessee, where statewide incomes tended to be among the lowest in the nation," the 24/7 Wall St. article states.

Local residents don't like those labels, and a page full of statistics might paint an unfair picture of rural life there, but no one disputes that when times are hard, they're even harder in Grundy.

Outreach efforts from organizations in Grundy and others like Oakwood Baptist sometimes are the difference between staying afloat and failure, according to officials in Palmer, Tenn.

The idea to reach out to Grundy County came to Anna Carol Dishroon and Albro as they returned from a mission to a Native American reservation in South Dakota.

Dishroon and Albro discussed the fact that there were people in financial positions just as desperate in Grundy. They prayed about the idea and "felt led" to Grundy, Dishroon said last week.

Ever since, "Sandra's been right by my side all the way," said Dishroon, noting that the number of helpers keeps growing.

Dishroon and her son, Grady, say the church tries to help where it can, near or far. Grady Dishroon is one of the pastors at Oakwood.

Palmer City Recorder Lisa Magouirk and Alderwoman Sue Long said the church group recently brought coats to Palmer Elementary School children who had none.

"The children have a hard time, they really do," said Long, a lifelong family friend of the Dishroons. "They just have a fit when they [Oakwood members] come."

At Christmas, "they brought tons of stuff out here for the Swiss Memorial and Palmer schools," Long said. Church members put toys and snacks into pillowcases to distribute to schoolchildren and the group frequently drops off clothing and other items for distribution all over Grundy.

"I've got a beauty shop I closed down years ago and I store it out there and just let people know I've got clothes and they come pick up what they want," Long said. "They do a fantastic job. I am so thankful for those people [at Oakwood] because we've got a lot of children in this community."

The help from Oakwood boosts efforts at Palmer's community center mission programs, Long says. People around Palmer know the Oakwood Baptist Church truck and van when they arrive.

"One guy, he came and picked out a bunch of stuff and I even took him home with it," she said. "He said, 'I'm walking.' So I knew he needed a ride to take it home."

Dishroon credits God, the church congregation and groups affiliated with the church for the donations bound for Grundy. She says Grundy County churches team up with Oakwood for some efforts, especially those that go countywide.

She described the heart-warming picture of children picking up coats last week.

"It's a mission that's close to my heart," she said.

"It's a lot of work, but there's a lot of blessings that come out of it."

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.