The Atlanta Hawks in collaboration with Love Beyond Walls launched the first installment of Zion’s Closet with William M. Finch Elementary.
Zion’s Closet at Finch Elementary features a newly renovated and upgraded community resource room offering students and their parents access to free laundry, a Wi-Fi lab, new school supplies, and uniforms, as well as fully stocked groceries and hygiene products to ease the challenges that many families are facing in this economy.
According to the Kids Count Data, 18% of school-aged children in Georgia live under the
federal poverty threshold. This reality can impede a student’s academic experience negatively affecting a child’s schoolwork, engagement, and development.
A Love Beyond Walls initiative, Zion’s Closet bridges the gap providing K-12 students and their families access to essential life necessities alleviating the burden of financial stress on parents and ensuring students can focus on their education without worrying about their basic needs.
Principal of Finch Elementary and Atlanta Public Schools’ Principal of the Year (24-25), Dr. Tara Spencer said Zion’s Closet will directly help students whose families are experiencing homelessness, in transient housing and parents trying to make ends meet.
“Providing these much-needed resources help our students succeed both inside and outside the classroom,” Spencer said. “We are grateful for the support of Love Beyond Walls, partnership with Larry Nance, Jr., and community volunteers in making sure our students feel loved, seen, and taken care of.”
Inspired by their IVP Kids book, “Zion Learns to See”, the father-daughter writing team of Terence and Zion Lester are turning their written words into action with Zion’s Closet.
In the book, Zion goes to work with her dad one day and sees how he serves the community, and it inspires her to take it back to her school and tell her entire family about it.
“I was just so excited to share what I had learned from my dad, and I wanted to take it back to my class,” she said. “I told them I wanted to start my own project and come together to find ways to serve our community, so we ended up raising donations like socks, clothes, shoes and donated that to the community.”
Terence is also the Love Beyond Walls founder, who said Zion’s Closet stands for “a shared vision to offer a supportive and inclusive environment.
“Zion’s Closet also offers an essential resource hub to help schools address the needs of students who are impacted by extenuating circumstances beyond their control,” he said. “We wrote Zion Learns to See to address the residual impact property has on students and ensure every child has an opportunity to thrive, regardless of their family’s income.”
From an early age, Zion said, she has been actively involved in serving those experiencing homelessness through her dad’s organization taking part in various projects like organizing collections, conducting food giveaways, setting up closets in schools, and discussing the issue with peers.
“My parents have always taught me that we love our neighbors as ourselves and we put God first,” she said. “Loving others is an act of service, and serving is crucial because it extends God’s love to others and treats people with dignity, affirming their worth regardless of their circumstances.”
More locations of Zion’s Closet are in development with hopes of partnering with schools throughout Georgia and other states as well.
