Granny's House

We are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Granny's House August 29, 2026!

this cannot be shaken

Happy Mother's Day!

dear volunteers: Thanks to you, we are!

dear Carla Smith Willis, we did not forget!

This semester we prioritized a lot on effective designs and methods for nurturing and inspiring our kids. As always, we give our volunteers "wide discretion and support" in how they help our kids.

We are deeply moved by the dedication of our volunteers and for supporting our kids in their school sports. We simply cannot do this work without you at Granny's House.

Thank you for creating conditions in which our kids will want to learn even after you complete your volunteer hours. Your ideas won't die.

We want to express our gratitude to Veterans United Foundation and Anderson Homes for materializing Granny Pam's ideas. Granny’s House is currently under construction, with teams finalizing structural framing plans and sourcing doors. This is a remarkable gift for our 26th year serving kids.

Here's what's going on at Granny's House.

According to 2025-26 studies, students are reading below
the proficient level. Why?

Excessive social media and short-form videos (TikTok, Reels) are retraining brains to favor novelty over sustained focus. This makes long-form reading difficult to do.

There’s a 40% drop in reading for pleasure over the last two decades. Digital entertainment has effectively replaced the "practice" time required to build fluency.

In response to falling scores, 22 states enacted cell phone bans in 2025 to increase "time on task" and student engagement.

As for us, Granny's House now has a phone locker. We have added more incentives to our Academic Motivation Program (AMP) to get kids to read more. And finally, to prepare our rising high schoolers for the deep focus required by rigorous testing, we are training them to engage in uninterrupted reading for at least 45 minutes— a critical skill for academic success.

If you would like to help, we are accepting used or unusable books to support our kids. We want our kids to read so they can learn how to think clearly.

First week back! Welcome to Years