Cape couple strives to help area's needy with Heart2Help not-for-profit

After a nearly decade of ministry service, LaKishea Braxton has seen some of the neediest populations in Southeast Missouri.

She's witnessed a family with children live in a car; a pregnant woman and her husband drive from shelter to shelter with no luck in securing a place to stay.

A year ago, Braxton decided she had to find a way to help these people, so she co-founded Heart2Help Foundation with her husband, Cornell.

Heart2Help is a Southeast Missouri-based not-for-profit with a mission to support Southeast Missouri communities through free services.

Ultimately, LaKishea Braxton said she wants Heart2Help to bring awareness to issues in the region. Many people battling homelessness, drug abuse, food insecurity or other problems have come to her for help through the years.

"Smaller counties don't have big cities like St. Louis or Memphis, so I feel like people are closed to the idea that these issues are in our area," she said. "There are people here who are struggling. Just because you don't see them on a street corner, doesn't mean they're not in your area."

The Braxtons, both originally from Hayti, Missouri, created Heart2Help after they worked as pastors at New Haven Church and New Prayer Deliverance Ministries. They both live in Cape Girardeau.

LaKishea Braxton said she and her husband felt they could reach more people if they represented an entity without ties to a church.

"My husband and I worked in some of the most impoverished parts of the area," she said. "We wanted to help more people, but when you work from a church perspective, a lot of times people tend to shy away."

Since Heart2Help's founding, the Braxtons, along with several volunteers and a five-person board of directors, have serviced hundreds of people.

"We're here to help people get to their next steps in life," Cornell Braxton said. "Everyone gets down sometime and needs a helping hand. We got a heart to help those in need."

Last Thanksgiving, the Braxtons partnered with their church to give away more than 125 turkeys to families in need. They've donated toys to children across several Southeast Missouri counties. Last December, Heart2Help established a warming center in New Madrid.

Next on Heart2Help's agenda: Opening a 24-hour help center at its new headquarters in New Madrid.

The new facility will offer transitional housing for those in need as well as free meals, computer learning and General Educational Development programs.

Jayshon Johnson, LaKishea Braxton's son, works on Heart2Help's board with his mother. He said Heart2Help will strive to make its new facility different from others with transitional housing.

"I believe Heart2Help cannot just be a place of placement, but rather a lifeline for people of all walks of life," Johnson said.

LaKishea Braxton said Heart2Heart's long-term mission is to expand from Missouri to other states.

Heart2Help will host a ribbon-cutting for the facility at noon Sept. 24 at 302 Powell St. The next day, the foundation will have a comedy show to celebrate its one-year anniversary. The show will feature comedienne Ms. Shirleen at Sikeston Miner Convention Center.

Find more information on Heart2Help on its website, www.heart2helpfoundation.com, or its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/heart2helponline.