Our Beginning
Faces of Hope Children’s Therapy Center began in the heart of our Executive Director, Leslie Face. Leslie is a single mom and has two young sons— both have autism. The youngest of the two was also born with a congenital heart defect that caused him to go into congestive heart failure at 3 weeks of age and required open heart surgery only 7 weeks later. After struggling to find therapists, spending their all of their savings on therapy, and watching her marriage crumble under the strain, Leslie began to feel an incredible burden—not only for her own precious children, but to all of the children and families facing autism and other special needs.
After Leslie shared her frustration with her pediatrician, Dr. Timothy Eidson, he suggested she visit a therapy center in Murfreesboro to see what help they might be able to offer. In the spring of 2007, Leslie made her first trip to Special Kids, Inc.. Before she left that facility she knew that God was calling her to open a similar center in Sumner County, Tennessee. Following their advice, Leslie wrote a business plan and began to pray that God would send her to just the right folks to get the job done.
On October 8, 2007 Faces of Hope Children’s Therapy Center, Inc. received its charter from the State of Tennessee. Glenn Schirg, Leslie’s father and “Grampa” to the original two little “Faces of Hope”, and Jason Erlewine, a dear family friend, co-founded the corporation. On October 22, 2007 Leslie met with Mr. Bob Atkins, former senior executive of the Gannett Company, Inc., president and publisher of Middle Tennessee Publishing Company, and current Community Relations and Business Development Officer of First State Bank. With Mr. Atkins support and direction as the Chairman of the Board, the Faces of Hope Board of Directors quickly formed and met for the first time in November, 2007.
“Our journey, though it has just begun, has been amazing! There is no question that God is at work and is greatly to be praised!” says Leslie. “My prayer for Faces of Hope is that we have a center—one place—where children and families can come and find the help and hope that they need. With God’s help, Faces of Hope is going to positively change the lives not only of the children we serve, but of their siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, future employers, and the community at large!”