Seasoned Social Worker Enthusiastic About Shalom’s Impact

Sharon Cash, Salvation Army, Program Director: Renewal Place

When you ask Sharon Cash how she feels about Memphis, her answer is swift and sure. “I love Memphis,” she says. “It’s my hometown, I was born and raised here, educated here and I’m employed here. Memphis is a great city, and it has the potential to be an amazing city,” she says with certainty.

As part of the Shalom Committee studying Family Life in Memphis, she’s also quick to admit that there’s work to do. “Access to resources is limited, and we need better resources available. There are many places offering help, but they aren’t connected. Once you tell someone to ‘call here,’ ‘go there,’ ‘bring this,’ I can see why they walk away feeling defeated,” she says.

Sharon got involved with the Shalom Project at the prompting of her pastor at Hill Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. He suggested she talk to Fenton Wright, Shalom Project Manager, about how their church could become more involved.

“I was immediately drawn to Shalom because I wanted to be part of this movement, and that’s what it is,” she says. “It’s a movement that holds up the banner of God. It’s not about coming to people in the name of money or government, but about the heart of God. The Shalom Project group is expecting a great work of God, and we’re already seeing it,” she says with obvious enthusiasm.

Sharon says that she’s found that even in her personal life, she is willing to believe in God in bigger ways than before. “We are seeing the foundation laid, hope by hope, for the transformation of our neighborhoods. People are beginning to ask themselves, ‘what can I bring to the table to help? What resources do I have to offer?’”

She’s been busy lately compiling lists of social service resources available in the city and making contact with all the churches in the 38109 zip code to distribute the lists. “We may not have money, but we have resources, we have educational and medical assistance, and all this can provide the foundation for a new hope. If I show up, and others show up, then we will create something different,” she says with conviction.

Sharon believes that the power of Shalom is that people are beginning to understand that God desires to use them and that it requires a heart for Him. “It doesn’t require money, it uses His power to empower,” she says. “That is already happening among us.”