About Us
Area Relief Ministries (ARM) is a faith-based, nonprofit organization that has been serving West Tennessee since the 1970s. Originally created as a collaboratively-funded nonprofit in Jackson, Tennessee, churches across the community worked together to support its endeavors to assist individuals at risk of eviction, utility cut-off, hunger, and homelessness. Nearly fifty years later, although ARM has experienced steady growth and embraced opportunities for change along the way, its collaborative nature with local churches at its core has remained unwavering.
Today, ARM provides five distinct programs reaching two primary areas of service to our community:
EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE (including case management and follow-up for individuals with urgent needs) and HOMELESS & HOUSING SERVICES (facilitating shelter opportunities, transitional housing, and employment programs).
We are incredibly grateful for the generous community support which helps to fund our faith-based, reliable services while embracing best practices that are trauma-informed and synergetic.
Our Mission
Area Relief Ministries’ mission is to strengthen our community by providing services that alleviate suffering, promote dignity and foster hope for those in need as an expression of the ongoing ministry of Jesus Christ.
As a long-standing community partner who deeply cares about the greater Jackson area and its people, we empower individuals in need from all walks of life to become self-sufficient while maintaining their dignity. We believe that our commitment to maintaining a strong network of churches and unified organizations not only makes us distinct, but our concerted efforts are also building our community into a better one.
Our History
1977 – The Greater Jackson Fund for Emergency Relief was chartered as a non-profit organization through a small collective of local churches.
By pooling their resources, one of their primary goals was to prevent any of the individual churches within the collective from becoming overburdened by the needs of their community. The fund was guided by local ministers on a rotating basis until it was deactivated in 1980.
1982 – The Greater Jackson Churches Fund for Emergency Relief was formed.
Representatives from several local churches joined together once again in response to the increasing number of emergency assistance cases emerging within their community resulting from the recession of the early 1980s.
In 1982, church representatives met and discussed the urgent need to reactivate the fund – this time creating an action plan that included a salaried person designated to oversee all of the daily operations. Thanks to a financial gift from the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, their strategic planning became a much-needed reality.
Since over forty churches assumed the extensive responsibility for both contributing to and supervising the fund’s administration, the name was changed to “The Greater Jackson Churches Fund for Emergency Relief.”
1983 – The fund became a member agency of the United Way of West Tennessee.
This funding provided financial stability which allowed for staffing, along with increased access to vital resources, to address the emergency needs of individuals and families in the greater Jackson area. Additional initiatives included the formation of a food pantry and Crossroads Shelter (using a rented church building repurposed for the year as a safe haven during winter nights).
1991 – The fund was renamed and became officially recognized as Area Relief Ministries.
The Board of Directors and the Executive Director created a mission statement focused on providing emergency aid and helping people in need become self-sufficient. They recognized the need to help people break out of the poverty cycle. The name was changed to “Area Relief Ministries” to reflect their mission in a more distinguishable way within the community.
2006 – Executive Leadership Transition
Following the retirement of Mrs. Mary Tyler, beloved ARM founder and Executive Director, the ARM Board prayerfully selected Lisa Peoples as Executive Director.
2007 – “Room in the Inn” Successfully Launched
By utilizing its existing historically strong partnership with local churches, ARM launched a new program to provide emergency aid and seasonal shelter during the cold winter months in the absence of a permanent shelter in West Tennessee.
2009 – Relocation to South Church Street + “The Open Arm” Successfully Launched
Thanks to the generosity of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, ARM obtained the space necessary to begin The Open Arm, a centralized hospitality day center conveniently located adjacent to their administrative offices in Jackson, Tennessee. In addition to further streamlining daily operations, this relocation also provided expanded opportunities for increased interaction with the homeless community.
For nearly a decade thereafter, ARM went on to provide a wide range of community services: offering assistance with utilities via a federal grant program, purchasing homes through its Move Home program to provide affordable standard housing to low-income families, and operating a student-focused tutoring and mentorship program, The HUB Club, after school and during the summer.
2017 & 2024 – Executive Leadership Transitions
After prayerful consideration, the ARM Board selected seasoned leader, Mike Roby, as its next Executive Director. Bringing with him to his role both civic engagement and professional experience, Roby served for six years until his retirement in 2023.
At the beginning of 2024, ARM experienced a smooth executive leadership transition following Roby’s retirement with the ARM Board’s appointment of Fred McKinnie as its newest Executive Director. Serving highly effectually as ARM’s Director of Operations since 2017, along with his combined nearly 15-years of overall ARM service, made McKinnie both a well-deserved and compelling choice to continue seamlessly moving the ministry forward.
Looking Ahead…
Although Area Relief Ministries looks a little different forty-seven years after The Greater Jackson Fund’s inception, its heart to reach those in need remains truer than ever. Regardless of what the future holds, ARM’s governing volunteer Board of Directors, along with its deeply passionate and dedicated staff, will always ensure that its mission will live on.