Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnrice Newton.
Hi Johnrice, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am from West Texas. I was raised by my mother, who was a barber. I can recall her working long hours at the shop, and I helped her clean offices in the evenings. We did not have much financially, but I thought we were rich because we had each other and all that we needed. She was a wonderful cook and a seamstress and made all of our clothes. My teachers and friends would admire her handiwork. My aunt and great aunt and first cousins lived down the street and around the corner. We were a close clan. My grandmother was also instrumental in watching over me and making sure I got good grades. She was very efficient and orderly but never told me she loved me like my mother would. I vowed that when I had children and grandchildren, they would never have to wonder if I loved them. My parents divorced when I was young, but my father’s sister lived across the street from us, and I would ride with her every summer to go to the family farm in East Texas to spend the summer and family reunions with my dad. I thought he was the tallest and bravest man in the world. Those relationships in my life would shape who I am and keep me stable through some critical times in my life.
I was always a good student and read constantly, and I got good grades, but during my senior year in high school, I became pregnant by my boyfriend, whom I had dated since freshman year. In the 70s, you could not stay in school if you were pregnant and had to attend a school for pregnant girls on the other side of town. We were not even allowed to be inducted into the honor society or participate in our graduation ceremony, I felt like a leper for 7-8 months, no one wanted to be associated with me. I carried the entire burden of the pregnancy alone. My boyfriend wanted to get married, but I knew I wanted to go to college and was not ready. He worked and paid my doctor and hospital bills and was disappointed about not getting married, but caring for a baby, going to school, and being a wife was not appealing. My mother left the decision to me; I chose work and college. I was accepted to Texas Tech and UT Austin, but because I couldn’t take my baby, I had to remain home in Lubbock, with much regret in my heart. I wanted to know what it was like to live in the dorm, join a sorority, and live college life, but because of poor decisions and naivety, I had to deal with the cards dealt. My daughter’s birth was difficult because I was so young at 16 yrs. old, but I loved her like the very breath of life. My life was forever changed; everything I did from that moment on was for her betterment. I started Tech in 72, worked in the library on work-study, worked at the State School, cleaned offices with my mother, and cleaned hotels with my grandmother. By the time I was 18, I had rented a house from a senior citizen family friend in the community who had to go to a nursing home. My family babysat when I had to work long hours; I would not have made it without them. I had only 4 hours a day allotted for sleep and had trained myself to meditate to sleep. My grades were enough to get by because I had so many jobs, but I passed. It took me 7 years to get my BA degree in Social Welfare, but it did not say how long it took me on the diploma, only that I had the degree. During those 7 years, life took its best and worst shots– I got married and divorced and had my oldest son, and during that time, my mother died. When my mother died, a part of me disappeared that I can never reclaim. I felt lost and alone, even with a whole life going on. I was looking forward to graduation because I did not get to participate in my high school graduation, but it lost its meaning because my mother was not there. I wanted her there because I had cheated her out of seeing me graduate high school because I was pregnant. I know that grieved her heart. My grandmother, aunts and cousins were there, but I so needed my mom there. After graduating it was off to work being the social worker I had always aspired to be, I wanted to help people broken like me to be better than me. I loved what I did, and it felt good to only have one job, working for the city. But a year after graduating, Pres. Regan took office and cut all of the state-funded social service support programs, and my job was cut. All that I had worked for was halted! Now what? My best friend, who was 15 yrs. older than I was and was my new mother figure, was a nurse. She recommended I go to nursing school. I told her I feared blood, but she convinced me if I could be a single mom, I could be a nurse, and I would have stable employment—hospitals were always open. So, I decided if I was going to be a nurse, I would be an RN since I had my degree. The requirements for the 2-year RN program were that I had to take some biology and science classes, more school! By then, I was pregnant with my 3rd child and was too far along to finish the semester before giving birth, a hot mess! Here I was with 3 kids, no job, and no future. My friend suggested I go to LVN school first for a year, get my license and get stable, then take the science classes at a junior college and try again. I cried for a couple of days, then applied for LVN school with an attitude that I did not want to be there. Once I entered the school, I realized I knew absolutely nothing about medicine or nursing and was just where I needed to be. It was tough trying to feed 3 growing kids on food stamps and $400 a month from working as a nurse’s aide while in school. Because I lived in my aunt’s rented house, she lowered my rent to $200 a month, and we were barely able to survive. Often the electricity or the gas or the water, or all three utilities were off at the same time. I kept telling my babies that it was only for a little while and thing would get better. Our car was often on flat because of poor tires and needed repairs, but I had no money to spare. Our clothes were clean but worn, but my kids were well fed off of commodities (government cheese, beans, noodles, powdered milk, etc.). I did not want them to know how bad it really was. We went to church every Sunday, and I even managed to tithe $12 a month. One evening, all three utilities were off, and it was snowing outside. The house was not insulated, and there was ice on the walls. I gathered all of the blankets and pillows and pulled the furniture in the middle of the living room and lit some candles, and made a tent. I told the kids were camping. I pulled out their Bible storybook made sandwiches, and read stories to them until they fell asleep, all cuddled together. I fell to my face on the floor and cried to God, “God If you deliver me from this situation, I promise I will go wherever you send me, I will say whatever you tell me to say and do whatever you have for me to do!” I have kept that promise to this day and will until death.
From that time until now, there have been some stumbles, fumbles, mountain tops, and downright disasters, but through it all, God is faithful. I remarried, and the marriage was very abusive for about three years. My children and I had to run for our lives to shelters or family members’ houses. I was shot at and beaten, but God delivered me from that nightmare. I was very angry with God for allowing me to go through 3 years of hell for no reason; then God reminded me that the man I chose was my choice, not God’s choice. I thought my kids needed a stable home with a father, a house and a picket fence, and a front yard with flowers. I did not think I was enough to bring up boys to be good men. I was wrong, so wrong. I prayed for peace in my home and my life, and God provided me with peace to not be afraid and to not live in fear. I was able to complete RN school and obtain my license. My ex-husband was silenced and never bothered me again. I was challenged by my pastor and his wife to come to Dallas to help with a church plant and work in a free one-night-a-week clinic the church ran. I made a lot of excuses about moving my family from the only place we had ever known, away from my support system, but eventually, God made a way, and we relocated to Richardson, Texas. I chose there to give my sons good schools and a chance to go to college; my daughter was in college at the time. The rent was high, and I had to work 2 jobs, but it paid off. My oldest son received a full-ride football and academic scholarship to Oklahoma State and was drafted to the NFL after completing college. My youngest son got a full ride to East Central University in Oklahoma for football. (I have since gone on to obtain my Master of Divinity degree from Brite Divinity at Texas Christian University in 2014.)
I volunteered at the free clinic for 6 years every Thursday and only missed 2 days (for my son’s games) with the most amazing doctors, Dr. Graham and Dr. Smiley. Dr. Graham supported me in going on my first medical mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya, and I would return there a few years later. Later I went to Bulgaria and Jamaica on medical missions, experiences that were life changing. During my work with the church that was located in the inner city of East Dallas, where the population was primarily poor black and brow families, I noticed the teens exhibiting inappropriate behavior that could lead to some unwanted teen pregnancies. I asked some of the mothers of the youth who attended if they would let their teens attend a s*x education class if I conducted it. They jumped at the opportunity and offered to bring snacks and bring other teens from the community. I recruited male doctors from the clinic and nurses from the nursing school to help field questions. That session 48 teens showed up! We divided the boys and girls up and let each group ask questions in a comfortable environment. The questions they had!! I thought if only I had this kind of information as a teen my life would be different. From that class the next year I commandeered by daughter, our youth pastor and a few volunteers to put together a curriculum as a pilot for 7 teen girls that consisted of etiquette and grooming, money management, s*x education, career choices, and SAT/ACT preparation. That group of young ladies would be some of our most challenging students because they were all from broken homes, some with addicted or incarcerated parents, poor, crowded living environments, and the like. We poured all we had into them for 3 months. At the end we presented them to society in a debutante type program, dressed them in gowns we had donated, had their hair styled, nails done, and glammed them up, they looked beautiful! That was the start of the YES (Youth Expecting Success) Program 25 years ago.
The program has expanded to include college tours (one year, we flew them to Washington DC), community service, health and wellness, and drug and alcohol abuse prevention. Since its inception, the YES Program has served over 400 young men and women ages 13 to 18, with only 2 of them not finishing high school; only 2 getting arrested before finishing high school; only 7 becoming pregnant before finishing high school; 68% go on to attend college (85% of those attending were first-generation college attendees/graduates), military or trade school; 35% completing college with degrees; 15% have advanced degrees and our first student is in a PhD program this year at Stanford. We mentor them for life. Each time one of these young people walks across the stage and receives their diploma, they walk in the place I did not get to walk. When we send them things for their dorm rooms, I decorate the room I did not get to live in. Each time they call and tell me about their college experiences I hope my mom hears them and is proud of this work.
Also, during this time at the church, I taught Bible study to the women, and one evening, we had a very moving “Waiting to Exhale” Bible study where one of the women told me the following Sunday that she had been a domestic violence victim as a child. She went on to tell me of the horrific details of how her mother was abused as well. My words to her were word of empathy, “I know how you feel.” Because I truly knew how she felt because of my own experience, but I had never shared my experience with anyone. I told her that her story would help other women to share and begin the healing process. She said she was not very good at writing, and I offered to write her story down for her. She came to my office the next day and began to pour out her heart; I was overwhelmed! I asked the other women in the class if any of them had experienced domestic abuse, and hands went up around the room! I realized I was in the room with kindred sisters, and we were all carrying this burden. I began a 12-year journey of collecting women’s stories who survived domestic abuse and survived because of their faith. I solicited female pastor friends to reflect on each story written to provide a spiritual enlightenment for these heavy stories. The last story God commissioned me to write was my own (that took 2 years alone). In 2016 on Mother’s Day week, I released “Healing Voices: Women of Faith Who Survived Abuse Speak Out, Volume 1 by J. Harris.” I am currently working on volume 2 and will continue writing volumes until the Lord calls me home. From this ministry, I began to help women who were actively fleeing dangerous domestic abuse situations by putting them in hotels for a few nights until I could get them into a shelter bed or with safe friends. The first person I rescued was the pastor’s wife who I had come to Dallas with to help plant the church! I did not know she and her children were in danger until I received a call one day for help. From that point on I knew this was a needed ministry. Today, we call that ministry the We Care Ministry.
Of course, we never have enough money to run the programs. There have been many years where we have operated on sheer faith and times we were blessed, but the lean times outnumber the plentiful times. The need is there, and the workers are few. I would do over and over again because of the promise I made to God on that cold night by candlelight because God and I have history and has never failed me yet.
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?
Teen pregnancy at age 16, divorce, and raising 3 children alone on very little income. Putting myself through college while working 4 jobs. My mother passing away when I was 22 years old.
Domestic abuse in marriage that would lead to fleeing to shelters and family members and living in fear.
Conducting the YES program for teens on very little money and having to use my paycheck to fund the program, but so many of the youth are thriving and have completed college who were first-generation attendees and are raising healthy families.
The never-ending challenge to acquire adequate funding to keep providing services to the youth and the women and children fleeing dangerous environments.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have been a registered nurse for 40 years and have loved every moment of it. I have worked in critical care, ICU, step-down, workers’ compensation, home health care, clinical research, Parish Nursing (Faith Community Nursing), and community health nursing. I was selected as one of the Great 100 nurses in Dallas, Ft. Worth, in 2001. I have conducted programing with Tapestry Ministries for 25 years.
I am a 32-year domestic abuse survivor.
Out of my Parish Nursing (Faith Community Nursing), I learned to practice my faith and nursing practice in a more harmonious way. I am able to think outside of the box on how to serve others in with passion and use my nursing skills as way to wholistically bring these programs into the faith communities.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Nursing is more than a job; it is a ministry. Your patients can read you as soon as you encounter them and tell if you care about them or not. If you are in it just for the money, think about doing something else.
Your children are your greatest ministry and deserve your best you. Don’t let jobs and situations drain you, and take time away from the important times that you need to be there for your children. Jobs and situations come and go, your children are yours forever.
Whatever God gives you to do, do it well, even if it seems unnecessary and does not make sense. Trust that it is a part of a plan bigger that you could ever imagine.
Your greatest tragedies can be your greatest ministries and opportunities to serve others. Sometimes, you are the only one in the room who can truly say, “I know how you feel.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tapestrycares.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tapestryministries?igsh=cnQydHVka-HY3OWZr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tapestrycares?mibextid=LQQJ4d
