By Venice Williams
I hadn’t yet checked the ride-sharing app on my cellphone to see who had accepted my request for transportation. That is normally my practice. But that evening, I was tired, irritable and hungry. I simply wanted to leave a community culinary event that was running way behind schedule and make my way to a nearby restaurant.
When the ride-sharing car arrived, the driver jumped out of the vehicle, screaming and running toward me. It took only a few seconds for me to see familiar remnants of the teenage girl I’d known in the face of this beautiful woman. She held me tightly, tears flowing down her cheeks, and sobbed. “I knew it had to be you when I saw the name,” she said. “Do you know how much I love you? Do you understand how deeply you impacted my life?”
This scene plays out frequently as I live into my days in the City of Milwaukee. I often re-encounter women who, as girls, participated in programming and events I crafted and facilitated. Remaining for 36 years in the same urban setting, and engaging in ministries that are up-close, personal and relevant, has set the stage for our paths to cross again. The stories these women tell me touch the deepest parts of me. They’ve held onto and still read cards I mailed to them 25 years ago with hand-written messages. They remember that I showed up at school for them during parent- teacher conferences, year after year, because their mother was at work and could not get away. They say: “I still have the Bible you gave me.” “I still read poetry because of you.” “You told me I would be a great teacher. I believe I am.” They say that each morning, when they look in the bathroom mirror, they still hear my voice asking them: “When you look in the mirror, what do you see?”
We are called to plant seeds in the fertile lives of the girls around us. Whether they are our daughters, neighbors, Sunday school students, granddaughters or our children’s friends, younger women need authentic messages that motivate them to become all that God has fashioned them to be. Years ago, I was blessed to lead a program called CHOICES together with some amazing women. Whenever we gathered, we reminded the girls that when God made them, they were made in God’s image. The Creator proclaimed they were very good. This rallying cry has not faded during my 36 years of serving through the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA. In a world with so many inappropriate messages for girls, we need to be intentional, consistent, and overflowing with grace and compassion, as we remind girls that they truly belong to God. We are called to nudge these vulnerable beautiful beings into embracing that they are oh so good. We help them sort through the voices in society, sometimes even in their own houses, that do not understand their worth.
As matured women, we also deeply need to encourage one another. This year, I am bringing back “Women Reaching Women,” a women’s circle that I birthed in the early 1990s. Too many of us feel lost, confused, frustrated, overwhelmed or lonely in “these times,” as we often refer to these moments in which we are living. One woman close to my own age told me that she feels discarded and useless. Well, I ain’t having that! We all need to know that we are valued. It means so much when we reach out and cultivate companionship with others.
In the coming weeks, I will likely stumble upon a woman who recalls a time when I was there for her. Maybe I taught her to set a table or make soup from scratch. Maybe I gave her a prayer journal when she was a teenager, for her to use to write letters to God. Perhaps when she was a young mother, I guided her to light a candle and read to her daughter every night. She could be one who traveled with me to the ELCA churchwide offices, to sit in Commission for Women meetings, where she was inspired by the women she met. It is not the actual story that matters. What matters is the time taken to be present in her life, and that I also gained from whatever measure of love I poured into her.
Together, we are all growing our faith in Christ. I am grateful that God has given me this work, and I look forward to all that is yet to come.
Venice Williams, executive director of Alice’s Garden Urban Farm and the Fondy Food Center, both in Milwaukee, also serves as minister at The Table, an ELCA worshiping community.
This article appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of Gather. To read more like it, subscribe to Gather.