Franktown, an inspiring ministry
For Wayne Howell, co-founder of Franktown Open Hearts, “it started with a dream and a prayer.”  Howell felt a calling to serve the inner-city youth of Williamson County and with a little help from friends and a lot of help from God that is what is happening.  Deriving its name from the street language slang for the city of Franklin, this ministry is known as "Franktown.”

Many will tell you it doesn’t take long to see Wayne has a huge heart for these kids and for the town of Franklin.

Franktown's mission is to bring spiritual and physical hope to Williamson County's inner-city youth by "being Jesus" in their lives and by teaching them critical life skills.

They do this by literally fishing the youth out of their neighborhoods, bringing them to activities, tutoring and their favorite thing, feeding them home cooked meals.  Over the course of a year, Franktown will serve around 150 boys.  Weekly, they can consistently expect to see 50 boys.

“Fifty boys we plan on seeing every week,” said Ryan Roth, Franktown’s program director.  “We pray for all of them on a daily basis.  For the 150 boys we will help, there is maybe three times that many here in Franklin that need help.”

Roth shares that young men face many temptations out there and they want to provide a place to go to resist that temptation.

“We aren’t big enough yet for our own facility,” said Roth.  “We partner with these churches and have an office at the WAY-FM offices for our center of operations.  We would love to have someone volunteer to share a warehouse facility with us.”

Roth and co-director, Dan Alexander, came across Franktown while volunteering when they played on the arena football team, the Nashville Kats.  Alexander also played for the Tennessee Titans.  When volunteering for Youth Encouragement Services, they heard there was opportunity in Franklin.

“I didn’t think there were poor people in Franklin,” said Roth.  “But what we found was a large number of people living in abject poverty right here in Franklin.”

What started as a volunteer job is now a full-time “day job” for Roth and Alexander in November 2009.  Their hope is others will take advantage of the volunteer opportunities that center around the weekly interactions with the youth.  Franktown needs drivers to pick up the youth and take them to the activities.  Mentors are truly needed to spend time with these boys.

“We ask that mentors commit to spending two days with the youth,” said Roth.  “It can be one day at one of the activities and on another day, taking the youth out in to the community or to your home for one-on-one time.”

Help with meals and tutoring are also on the long list of needs for this ministry.  You can check out the list of volunteer opportunities by clicking here.

The focus on Monday nights is academics. After dinner at Fourth Avenue Church in Franklin, students and tutors will go to the learning center upstairs.  The small groups work on homework or basic skills appropriate to their level.

Upper classmen may participate in ACT/SAT test- preparation. At the end of the academic session the boys will gather again for a closing lesson and prayer.

For the boys who wish to participate, dinner & bible Study is the focus on Wednesday nights.   After dinner at Christ Community Church, Jr. High will go to FACC to participate in their youth activities.

High School participants have a lesson at Christ Community lead by a Franktown volunteer and often join in a large-group event with the high school youth from CCC.

After a home-cooked meal at CCC on Thursday, the boys are usually transported to the Poplar Grove School gym for an evening of recreation, usually basketball. Summertime activities are outdoors at CCC. Some weeks there will also be a guest speaker from the community.

One of the greatest needs for Franktown volunteers involve working to establish relationships with many local congregations and individuals that will help provide the youth rides to the service of their choice.

On Sundays at FACC the kids can join in worship.  Donuts and lunch will be provided along with a Sunday school class.  Families are encouraged to participate in their own church together, but if that is not available to the youth, FTOH provides the studies.

Franktown also offers young men the opportunity for education outside a traditional classroom.  The young men learn marketable skills, such as the building trades, music production, computer applications and career preparation. Occasionally, special events will be planned for participants in good-standing.

If you would like to hear more about Franktown, you can check out their website at www.franktownopenhearts.com and check out the videos.  If you have questions or are interested in volunteering, you can contact Ryan Roth at mailto:ryan@franktownopenhearts.com or call him at 615-915-9066.