Back to Our Roots

Answering the call from the community in the tumultuous 1960s, a group of brave Jacksonians created opportunities for children in our neighborhood right in the heart of our city. And by 1968, Operation Shoestring was up and running at its first home, Wells United Methodist Church, where it thrived for twenty-five years.

Soon, though, Shoestring’s work outgrew the available space at Wells, so it expanded to our current location just a few doors down from the church on Bailey Ave. At this location over the last twenty-five years, we’ve continued to develop into an organization with a purpose of doing right by our children and community.  Now, continuing to be responsive to the needs of our community, we’re planning to completely transform our building and create a wonderful new adjacent green space and playground. This weekend we’re moving our offices temporarily back to our roots at Wells. Thank you, Wells, for doing this for us! If you visit us, just come behind the church and you’ll find us in the parsonage and another house.

And if you have any correspondence to send us by mail, please use our mailing address P.O. Box 11223 Jackson, MS 39283. Or email us at info@operationshoestring.org and call us at 601-353-6336 if you need us faster than snail mail.

Channeling the passion of the founders of our organization, we plan to dig deeper into our work serving kids, families and our whole community. Our new space will create an epicenter of learning complete with the support of an ecosystem of teachers, school and community partners, volunteers, donors and supporters—like you—all working to ensure the success of the children and families in our community. Stay tuned for more about our future plans. It’s going to be awesome!