Our History
The first Big Brother connection can be traced back to 1948. A few caring people of the Mt. Juliet Community would get together and try to do their best to help needy families. At that time only four or five food boxes were delivered each year.
In those early years, they would purchase coal and food from Greenhill’s Market Groceries, (no longer in existence), or maybe cut wood or even carry some fresh corn and other vegetables to those in need.
In the mid 1960’s Big Brothers got more established and turned themselves into an organization. Several prominent citizens of that era helped to get Big Brothers started. At this time a lot of the Kiwanis Club members were a part of Big Brothers and instrumental in its founding. They would collect money through road blocks and individuals. Business leaders would then take the money to Lebanon Tennessee Big Brothers. At Christmas the food boxes were made up in Lebanon and some of the members would pick up as many as were needed and bring them back to Mt. Juliet for delivery.
In 1976 Big Brothers was chartered as a 501c (3) non-profit organization as Mt. Juliet-West Wilson County-Big Brothers Inc. In that year about twenty (20) food boxes were delivered. They would meet in the old Mt. Juliet Elementary school.
As the population of West Wilson County grew, so did the need for assistance. Big Brothers moved their operation to the Mt. Juliet Middle School in the early 1980’s and that number increased to approximately fifty (50) boxes. During this time, mostly used toys were given at Christmas.
In the 1990’s the Christmas toys program was named The Mothers Toy Store and only new toys were collected.
In 2005 the food box program and The Mothers Toy Store were moved to the Mt. Juliet High School. The Mt. Juliet High School Students and the ROTC work hand in hand with Big Brothers each year. Christmas 2007 a total of six hundred (600) boxes were packed for three hundred (300) needy families to receive and approximately four hundred (400) children received toys.
If you or someone you know would like to be a member of Big Brothers to help change lives, please call 615-641-0577 or contact us through this web site. We are a local charity covering West Wilson County Tennessee and not affiliated with the organization known as Big Brothers Big Sisters.