“I was born and raised in Mobile and was third generation at Murphy High School. My kids could be fourth. 

In second grade, we moved to my mom’s childhood home, and my grandparents built a house in the backyard. The most influential people in my life were always right there. My grandparents took us on trips, did Bible studies with us, and had us over for coffee in the mornings. When we got older, we went over for a glass of wine at night. 

My grandparents were married for 70 years and died five days apart at age 93. I learned so much about serving and loving others from them. 

My husband, Christopher, and I had four children and started thinking about growing our family through foster care or adopting an older child. I found out I was pregnant, pausing the adoption process. I miscarried about the same time my grandparents died. 

We put everything on hold, but we got a message from our adoption agency asking us to host a child from Colombia for a couple of weeks. The program was for older kids who were less likely to be adopted. It was only two weeks, so we said yes and picked up 11-year-old Meagan at the airport.

 Everything changes when there is a name and a face. Meagan was so easy to love, and we decided to adopt her. A year later, our family went to Bogota, Columbia to bring her home. Megan didn’t speak English, but I learned through this that Christopher spoke a little Spanish. 

We added an older child to our family, but we didn’t know how to parent on that level yet, and it was harder than we expected. We also learned that we have support who help us on the dark days, lifting our chins when we want to hang our heads. It has been humbling because we haven’t needed people like this before. 

The international adoption process provided a glimpse into how many children are waiting for adoption. Brokenness is generational. What are families going through in these situations? To impact the orphan crisis, you have to go upstream. We found companies making solid impacts and started buying Christmas presents through them in 2017 to support their great work. Our list of companies grew each year, and it felt good spending our money this way. Others asked for our list to shop like this, too.

Our Christmas list evolved into the dream of opening a retail store in Mobile selling these goods. We started doing pop-up stores in 2021 and bought a building on St. Michael Street in downtown.The renovations took longer than we expected. 

Christopher majored in geography, and I majored in child life at Auburn. We had no business starting a business, but we did it anyway; we want our kids to be involved and learn the basics of business at a much earlier age. Our dream became a reality because of help from Innovation Portal and Mel Washington. Both work with startups and small business development in Mobile and held our hands the whole way. We thought the opening would be the finish line, but it is just the beginning. 

We opened Do Goods Mercantile Co. almost a month ago. Everything sold here makes an impact on the brokenness ultimately leading to children needing families. The fun part is picking what to sell and learning the stories behind the companies. We have food, clothing, jewelry, and leather goods. Each company gives a portion of their profits to ministries or non-profits or they employ people with living wages to make goods, using the highest ethical practices and changing the course of lives. When people have enough money, they aren’t as vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.

We also carry products made by some local non-profits: candles made by Flourish and Light of the Village, aprons made at McKemie place, and Ransom Ministries BBQ Sauce.

Do Goods Mercantile and its purpose goes back to the generosity of families who raised Christopher and me. My parents have a big kitchen table, and every Monday night for the last 15 years, my mother has cooked dinner for whoever comes. She collects people and loves to care for them.

The store supports Metro Ministries in Mobile because my mother took us there every Wednesday night to volunteer. It is still going strong, and we are collecting filled stockings for them for Christmas. 

We named it Do Goods Mercantile Co. because the goods we carry do good in some way. It’s a reminder that everything we do can make a positive impact on someone else.”

Annie

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Annie’s story is the first in a series about the Weavers—people stitching our communities together, solving problems, and showing how we can care for our neighbors. Send a message to Our Southern Souls to nominate a Weaver.