We at Tucker’s House have a core belief that drives us in everything we do. We believe that every child should have the ability to feel at home. We manifest this belief in our specific mission to partner with families who have children with disabilities to make their homes safer and more accessible. However, there is a myriad of ways to carry out that belief in our communities to people of every ability, race, gender, or any other qualifier you choose. We are all God’s children. We are all neighbors. We should all feel at home.
We have heard quite a bit in our culture lately about giving voice to those that are marginalized or underrepresented in our communities. Children with disabilities certainly fall in this category and our organization was founded to help give a voice to these often voiceless in our society. We also give voice to these special families who often struggle in their homes in silence. We are proud to advocate on their behalf to help them receive the help they need to make their homes places of respite instead of a place filled with difficulty, struggle, and danger.
Tucker’s House is a 501(c)3 non-profit that serves the Middle Tennessee area. Tucker’s House was founded in 2009 by Sunny Rosanbalm who has a grandson named Tucker who has Cerebral Palsy. When Tucker was 3 ½ years old she began to see the struggles that her son and daughter-in-law were having in their home with lifting and bathing Tucker. She started looking in the community to find resources for families who have a child with disabilities to make necessary home modifications. She found absolutely nothing and after significant prayer and research, she decided to start Tucker’s House. Sunny was uniquely qualified to start Tucker’s House because of her background in architectural design and working with her husband who is a General Contractor.
12 years later Tucker’s House has grown from a one-woman show to a team of 5 with an operating budget of over $500,000. Even amid the pandemic last year we were able to serve 43 families, complete 130 home projects, and create $611,702 value of impact to the community. The mission that God placed on her heart has grown into something bigger than she could have imagined and has become quite the legacy for Tucker. Sunny also reflects that “it is also a legacy for all the children we serve. It’s been these families and these children all along the way who have taught us what this community needs.”
I joined Tucker’s House in April of 2020 as the new Executive Director for the organization. As Sunny was looking to transition to be more involved in the life of Tucker and her other grandchildren, she says that God woke her up in the middle of the night with the thought that I should be the next Executive Director to lead Tucker’s House in the next phase.
I first learned of Tucker’s House through a therapist of my daughter Mikayla who was born with Dandy-Walker Syndrome and significant special needs. Sunny and our current Therapy Coordinator, Sandra Zaccari, completed a home modification plan for our home and helped us with a wheelchair ramp and a safer bed for her. Tragically, Mikayla passed away in September of 2018 due to medical complications of her shunt. After her passing, I stayed involved in the organization by helping to co-chair the annual Teeing Off for Tucker’s House golf tournament and it is now my honor to serve as the Executive Director.
I see Mikayla in the faces of the families that we serve and I bring her to work with me every day in the work that we do. I may not be with her physically on this earth any longer but I know she is here spiritually us in our mission. Our family has a tradition of ending every prayer time by asking Mikayla to pray for us in heaven and I seek to make her proud with our efforts at Tucker’s House. I am proud to be a part of the legacy of Sunny and Tucker at this great organization.
If you are inspired to get involved with our mission we would love to connect with you and engage you in our mission. The average cost of our projects is $14,000 so we are always in need of funding or donated labor and materials to help keep our costs down. You can learn more at www.tuckershouse.org, by emailing us at [email protected] or calling us at 615-310-5224.
Graham Honeycutt, Executive Director of Tucker’s House – www.tuckershouse.org
