Elisa Goodwin, Mission: Hope, and Stacy Georges, Special Needs Respite (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 356)
Elisa Goodwin, Mission: Hope, and Stacy Georges, Special Needs Respite, joined host John Ray to share the service work of their respective nonprofits, success stories, how listeners can get involved, and much more. North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Mission: Hope
Mission: Hope is a Christ-centered organization committed to equipping churches and leaders to bring about sustainable transformation in isolated villages. 
For over 20 years, they have tackled critical needs in some of the most remote areas on the planet. Led by the vision and adventurous spirit of Dr. Ben Mathes, their organization has provided medical care for millions and led thousands of people to experience new life in Jesus.
In 2017, Rivers of the World changed its name to Mission: Hope to reflect its broader reach beyond the river.
Their goal today is to continue building upon our rich history. While their work has expanded beyond the river, our heart and vision remain the same: doing whatever it takes to bring hope to the hopeless.
Their model looks at a village as a whole, working with the local leaders and churches to distinguish their assets as well as their greatest challenges. Their process heavily involves indigenous leadership for assessing the village and providing solutions to needs. Together they transform impoverished villages into sustainable ones.
Elisa Goodwin, President/CEO, Mission: Hope
Elisa Goodwin is currently President/CEO of Mission: Hope, an Atlanta-based, international nonprofit serving through local leaders in the world’s most remote villages to build sustainable solutions to their most urgent issues. She has spent the last 15 years in nonprofit service. Prior to that, she was a bank executive in small business banking and retail for more than two decades. For those considering for-profit vs. nonprofit careers, she can definitely provide perspective. Elisa attended Towson State University and received a B.S. in Mass Communications. She also received an MBA from Clark University. Her office is in Alpharetta, Georgia on the Jackson Healthcare campus
Special Needs Respite, Inc.
Respite care is a form of short-term substitute care for children with special needs, be it mental, emotional, or physical, and is provided by someone other than parents or the usual 24/7 caretakers of the child. It gives parents a break from their exhausting job.
As a group, parents of special needs children are more stressed, and even more at risk for divorce, or worse. Also, according to ARCH National Respite network, three-fifths of family caregivers age 19-64 surveyed recently by the Commonwealth Fund reported fair or poor health, one or more chronic conditions, or a disability, compared with only one-third of non-caregivers. Respite is something that parents of special needs children desperately need. Although programs in Georgia exist to help these parents, such as the NOW waiver, there is a very long waiting list and very little money available. Many families, as a result, don’t have funds available for such an essential service, putting a strain on them physically, emotionally, and financially.
Special Needs Respite helps bridge the existing funding gap that many parents have when trying to get childcare for their special needs child. They can provide funds that will pay qualified caregivers to care for these children when no other way to pay is available to the parents.
Company website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Stacy Georges, Founder and Executive Director, Special Needs Respite
Stacy Georges holds a B. A. in Therapeutic Recreation from Purdue University. Becoming a parent was her real education with all its challenges, and especially interacting with parents who had even more challenges with children with special needs.
Founder of YourRespite special needs child care, Stacy started Special Needs Respite to help meet the needs of even more parents of children living with special needs. She is available for speaking engagements to churches and civic groups to further the community’s understanding of how to minister to Special Needs families.
Stacy and her husband, Tom, reside in Roswell, GA.
Questions and Topics in this Interview:
- Why should people partner with Mission: Hope?
- What does transformation look like?
- How are you seeking holistic transformation within your own team?
- How important is stewardship to you? Share a success story.
- What is the most immediate need?
- What are volunteer and mission trip opportunities?
- How did Special Needs Respite get started?
- What does Special Needs Respite do?
- What are needs caregivers runs into?
- How can people help Special Needs Respite?
North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray, and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.
Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.
