Jane Sharp

Provide a meal for someone who is hungry, give clothing to someone who is cold, offer medicine to someone who is sick; these are only a few of the things Greenhouse Ministries does for the community. Greenhouse Ministries, founded by Cliff and Jane Sharp, provides many services for the public including food, housing, clothing, counseling and job training. “We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” Jane said.

The couple say they believe that getting connected with the community is what makes a difference in their lives. “We are not evangelistic in the sense that we are preachy,” Jane explained. The couple explained that everyone who comes in gets prayed with unless they decline the offer.

Cliff Sharp

Building relationships is what drives the ministry. “It’s exciting,” Jane said. “It doesn’t take but one or two people who come back and say thank you to keep you excited.” One such expression of gratitude was made, says Cliff,  just before Christmas, when a woman who had been coming in for food came into the office with a big box of food to donate. “She’d been through her computer class and so she has a job, she’s working, and she wanted to be able to give back this year.” “And that,” said Jane, smiling,  “is the reward. We want them to get the joy of giving back.”

Anything the community can do to help is appreciated. Greenhouse Ministries shares whatever it can and asks that others do the same. “This isn’t Jane and I’s ministry,” Cliff said. “It’s a community’s ministry.” The ministry has a learning center where classes including computer skills and literacy are offered. But, added Jane, “budget and parenting are two of the most life-changing classes we offer.”

The couple started Greenhouse Ministries mostly for two reasons: primarily, they wanted to help people, but they also wanted to give people a place to volunteer. This non-profit organization depends on members of the community to make a difference. Some people come and counsel, some people come and work in the food pantry and some people come teach classes. “We have a very small staff,” Cliff said, “so we lean heavily on volunteers.”

On the second Tuesday of every month, the organization holds an orientation class for anyone interested in volunteering. The meetings provide an overview of the ministry and let the volunteers choose what they would like to do. If someone has a passion to teach something specific, the staff tries to make it happen. “We’re not set on what we’ve got going right now,” Jane said. “We’re open to people’s dreams.”

Greenhouse Ministries offers free medical and legal services that can be costly at other places. “Those are two things a lot of people won’t do because they think they cost a lot of money,” Cliff mentioned. But at Greenhouse Ministries, a nursing clinic is open twice a week, thanks to a woman who volunteers. “It is amazing the things she has found just doing screenings,” Cliff said.

The Garden Patch Thrift Store

The organization also partners with the Bar Association; they send attorneys to do a free legal clinic every Thursday evening. Volunteers who work with the ministry are able to provide some services all year, but some are seasonal. During tax season, noted Cliff,  “We figure income tax for people–free for people who make $50,000 or less.” This is possible because of the United Way’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

They hold backyard events every summer, including oil changes for single moms and the elderly. They also hold an event to fix bicycles for children. Greenhouse Ministries offers whatever they can for those who need help. “We feel like when people’s lives are falling apart,” Jane said, “there’s definitely something missing that they might not know.”

This ministry wants to help people by building relationships and giving them a support system.

The Sharps say they also want to help people be in a position to help someone else. “There’s just something exhilarating when they realize that they can do the same thing to bless somebody else,” Jane said. “Sort of like a pay it forward.”

Greenhouse Ministries
309 S. Spring St., Murfreesboro

Garden Patch Thrift Shoppe open
Tuesday-Thursday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Counselors Available
Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

(615) 494-0499
greenhousemin.org