Today we’d like to introduce you to Becky Khan.
Hi Becky, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Jane Around The World, founded in 2019, has been on a mission to meet people where they are and help them discover where they can be. Pioneering this effort is our very own Jane Khan; at just 12 years old, she had a dream to help the homeless and at-risk population. For her thirteenth birthday, she asked Mom and Dad if she could take some friends out to serve in the streets. Her goal was originally 1,000 bags filled with necessary items like wipes, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, chapstick, band-aids, socks, and always a note of encouragement. This branched into resourcing local shelters and ministries. Since the start of the organization, we have delivered over 5,000 care bags to our friends on the streets and in shelters. In the interim, we opened our personal home to foster children, and we quickly became acutely aware of the parallels between homelessness and foster care. With the enlightenment, we had a new charge to make sustainable difference in the homeless population by way of prevention. This can be accomplished by bridging the gap for our teens aging out of foster care that do not elect to stay in extended care. Statistically, nationwide 30% of our kids aging out of foster care are homeless by the age of 21. When we narrow that focus to Texas, 20% are instantly homeless at the age of 18 when they willingly or forcefully leave their placement or facility. Together we can greatly impact these numbers by providing transitional housing in a tiered program that will not only allow for a safe place to thrive but will provide opportunity to develop through employment, financial literacy, therapy, and so on. We officially opened the transformational living home in January 2023 and have served 12 young ladies ages 18 – 24 years old to date. Beth-Haran House, an extension of JANE AROUND THE WORLD is just the beginning of what God has planned for this organization.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Undoubtedly, anything worth having is worth working for… and this has definitely taken an insurmountable amount of work. We have experience mountains and valleys through this journey and fully anticipate that there will be many more… always is when you are following the Lord. Most immediately I think about COVID… this changed the way we were able to serve in the streets of Houston. We went from being able to pull up into most any parking lot or under any bridge to chat with and love on our friends, to getting shut down anytime we went to the streets. It’s understandable that the officials were doing their job and trying to keep everyone safe, but it made it impossible for us to reach those living on the streets. The unsheltered community definitely suffered because of the lack of ability for people to reach them. The silver lining here is that we were able to partner with several shelters and provide much-needed support during that time. One of the biggest challenges was most definitely obtaining the property to open our first transformational living facility. We made an offer and they said NO… so there were sat and waited because we knew this was the property for us. Waiting is often the hardest part. Clearly, the door was eventually opened, and we closed on the property – then we had construction… always ups and downs with that… from funding to more work than we originally anticipated… BUT the Lord always provided!
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about JANE AROUND THE WORLD?
We are in a unique position to be able to provide employment opportunity for our at-risk friends & residents of the facility through our nutrition shop located in Pasadena. Fairmont Nutrition is not owned by Jane Around The World but most definitely partners with us; our board members own the shop. The is a place where our employees can learn and grow to advance in their social/customer service skills, time management abilities, and authority navigation. It’s our mission that people will leave out better than they came in – that’s everyone from employees, to vendors, to customers.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Man, oh man, did we have mentors and advocates. None of this would be possible without the support of the community and those that have come alongside us, believed in the mission from the first bag on the streets to the first resident moving in the transitional facility. To put things in perspective… when we opened the house to residents, construction was fully complete, the 5-bedroom house was fully furnished from dishes, towels, lamps to couches, beds, and dressers… every piece was donated and put together by supporters of Jane Around The World. Individuals, families, ministries, organizations, and all those in between. Notably, SETH (Southeast Texas Housing) & Bayou County Housing Trust Fund provided support for more comfortable space for our residents with funding for new HVAC and several other major housing projects. I would be remiss not to mention our board members – Debbie Moseley, Lanier Young, Linda McKee, Emily Mendez, Darin Lee, Lara Fulcher, Misty Renner, Max Khan, Becky Khan without this group of leaders providing guidance on policies, procedures, do’s and don’ts, connections, and so on we would not be moving at the rate we are currently and certainly would not be where we are.
Heather & Brandon Smyrl of Highpoint Insurance Group gifted our first contribution that has sustained the Beth-Haran House over the first year. Their unending support and encouragement is invaluable. Honestly, Heather Smyrl has been a mentor of sorts for me – taught me leadership skills, tenacity, grit and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.
Not to sound super hokey, but… ultimately, we couldn’t do any of this outside of our relationship with Jesus. He paves the way, always… we are here with our YES to follow as He leads!
Pricing:
- $4,200 housing for a resident for a full year
- $1,500 supports House Manager for a month
- $4 bag of goodies for our friends on the streets
- $2,000 transportation for residents for a full year
- $700 feeds a resident for a year
Contact Info:
- Website: www.janearoundtheworld.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janearoundtheworld12
Image Credits
Hezekiah Pitterson
Sydney Pitterson
