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Editor’s Note: This feature originally ran on February 22, 2025 in the 2025 Progress edition (Troup County Is…). The Progress edition is a publication produced annually by the LaGrange Daily News. If you would like to pick up a copy of the 2025 Progress edition, please visit our office at 115 Broad Street.

Though she didn’t grow up in Troup County, or even Georgia, Sherri Brown is representative of the best of what LaGrange is.

Brown is the director of Circles of Troup County, a non-profit organization that has helped countless people escape poverty.

Sherri grew up in Chicago before heading to Baylor University in Texas for school, eventually moving to Georgia to pursue a career in journalism. After moving to Georgia, Sherri met her husband Greg and they lived in North Georgia before moving to LaGrange in 1996.

Greg served as the pastor of Western Heights Baptist Church for years before retiring in 2018.

Brown worked in journalism for 20 years, even working at the LaGrange Daily News, before she eventually found her calling.

“In 2012, I was working for LaGrange Daily News, and I got a call to write a story about the Troup Strategic Planning group. Ricky Wolfe was running it and they had done this study looking at all the issues and poverty, and they wanted something to address the poverty issue,” Brown said.

“A representative from the hospital at the planning group had heard about Circles, and they wanted to bring a chapter here and began looking to hire someone to launch the program. 

They wanted someone good at working with people and active in the community,” Brown said.

“I still remember sitting in the old [LaGrange Daily News] building, typing away and asking, ‘What are you looking for?’” Brown said. “I was just sitting there thinking, I like all of that. I was really active in community things through the church and that sort of thing. I was a writer. I knew a lot of the community. I knew a lot of the resources. And it was at a time in my life when my youngest child was getting ready to go college, so I was ready for something different and full-time, and so I did, and I’ve been there ever since.”

With the help of the Strategic Planning Group, Circles of Troup began in 2012.

“I was fortunate because I had the backing of the Strategic Planning Group. They pulled the funding together for three years, which was really helpful because I could spend those first couple years really building the program and building community support,” Brown said.

Circles is known for helping low-income families, many of whom are in poverty. They offer a 12-week class to help people become financially stable but Brown says it usually takes much longer.

“You can’t do that in six easy steps or whatever, so we stick with people on an average of about two years,” she said. “They come with us. We have weekly meetings. We have a children’s program and a free meal provided by volunteer groups, and we try to reduce all their financial barriers.” 

Brown said anyone can come to their Thursday weekly meetings, but their 12-week classes start in the spring and fall. Everyone’s goal is different with the program. Some people want to get a home. Some people want to get their kids back. Most just want to escape poverty.

“Everybody’s working on money goals, but I remember the first time, someone’s real goal was to save money to get her teeth fixed. Part of the whole issue was that she’d had an addiction issue and her teeth were bad. She didn’t smile. She didn’t speak well. She couldn’t even eat well, so there was a health issue as well as how she presented herself. She saved the money to get her teeth fixed and shifted the way she was able to present herself, which meant she got a better job, and it led to her better health,” Brown said.

“You just never know what people need to go to the next step. We don’t tell people. We let them figure that out themselves, and then we support them,” she said.

Circles doesn’t provide any money, but they can point people in the right direction.

“I don’t have emergency funding. I don’t have houses. I don’t have jobs, but we have lots of connections to those things and we can help provide access, connections and education,” Brown said.

Circles also helps provide the social equity that those in poverty sometimes don’t have. After completing the 12-week class, each person or family is matched with volunteers to help them work toward their financial goals. Over time, these relationships help them achieve financial stability.

“Having a community of people, sitting in a room every Thursday night, some of them have been right where you are. Some of them have never, but they are rooting you on,” Brown said. “It’s the most diverse space I have ever been in my life. Every Thursday night you will have old and young, black and white, male and female, Republicans and Democrats, poor and rich, and we’re all sitting in the room, and you can’t just tell by looking who’s who and we’re all there to support each other.”

“People don’t like to hear the word privileged, but it is such a privilege to be able to have family or community that can be a safety net for you, and it’s really devastating if you don’t have anyone,” Brown said.

Brown said it’s not easy but the program works if you are willing to put forth the effort. Sometimes it’s more difficult for others because of their background and barriers.

“Sometimes I don’t feel like I have a lot to offer, because some of these folks have got huge barriers. When I listen to their story, I’m not sure how they get up in the morning. It’s so hard. I’ve learned that you assume people have choices. Some people have very few choices because of their barriers,” she said. “I don’t tell people what to do. I want to but I don’t have any answers. It’s too complicated, but I think it’s an honor to be able to walk with somebody as they begin to untangle piece by piece. Sometimes it takes a really long time, and some things are never going to get completely untangled but they can just move forward.”

A lot of the participants at Circles are motivated by their children. They want a better life for their children. Most of the people in the program are single moms with kids, but men also participate.

Success is different for everyone in the program. For some, it’s getting a job or a home. For others, it’s getting their kids back.

Circles works closely with Calumet Center for Healing and Attachment, a transitional program for women after they have gone through addiction recovery. The program provides them a stable place to stay. They come to Circles and work on their goals. 

Many want to regain custody of their children.

“One woman who came through Calumet, she got a job. She’s gotten housing, she’s gotten training. She’s been sober for six years. She got her kids back. She just got married. She’s just slowly chipped away and moved forward and moved forward and moved forward and done fantastic,” Brown said.

As a former minister’s wife, Brown said her faith helps push her in Circles. 

“My faith has always been a driving force for me. We’re not faith-based in Circles, but we are certainly faith-adjacent. Almost all of our volunteers come alongside people because it is a natural partnership with faith, especially the Christian faith. We get plenty of support from local churches helping out with dinners. They volunteer to be allies and encouragers. About five of them support us financially.”