Gathering Around the Table: The Transformational Impact of The Encouraging Place

For over thirty years, I have had a front-row seat to watch the transformational impact of The Encouraging Place and its dynamic leader, Reggie Edwards. 

I first met Reggie when she worked at Building Together Ministries in their mentoring program. Mothers living in Halifax Court, a former lower-income housing community in downtown Raleigh, would drop their kids off for programming and return alone to their apartments. She recalls looking out the window one day and wondering who was caring for them. From that simple question, a thriving outreach ministry to women was born. 

Reggie instinctively understands the power of relationships and the importance of gathering people together around a meal for conversation and connection. She has built the ministry of The Encouraging Place on this solid foundation. Whether she is bringing in speakers to encourage women in her Summer Camps, hosting racial reconciliation lunch huddles, gathering people for dinner and a book discussion, creating safe spaces for pastors to wrestle with the complex issues of race, or partnering with the YMCA to bring business and community leaders together for the National Day of Rational Healing, she is always focused on relationships.

The reach of the relationships she has built and the impact of The Encouraging Place on our community are unimaginable. Simple invitations to join her around a table or to speak at a Summer Camp have catalyzed individuals and organizations to change lives. Housing for the chronically homeless is being built, cycles of intergenerational poverty are being broken, congregations are engaging in racial reconciliation, and friendships crossing deep divisions are being forged. 

Not only is Reggie a bright shining light for our community, but, most importantly to me, she is one of my dearest friends. When I struggle to make sense of the puzzle pieces of my life or the world that swirls with uncertainty around me, a call to Reggie will usually right my ship. We’ve walked through many things together over the years, and I count her friendship as one of my greatest treasures. There are untold numbers of others who do the same.

Fraley Marshall