Well-known philanthropist spearheads ‘Front Porch’ for Walnut Grove

By Sophia Surret – Daily Memphian

February 17, 2025

Staring across a freshly poured concrete slab, lifelong Memphian Becky Wilson watched as her vision of a community center for all was springing to life.

The well-known philanthropist is spearheading the development of The Front Porch, a 7,777-square-foot interfaith community center at Second Baptist Church at 4688 Walnut Grove Road.

A nonprofit with a seven-member board of directors that Wilson chairs, The Front Porch has raised 70% of the money needed for the $5 million project.

Scheduled to open this fall, The Front Porch is working closely with Second Baptist to create a center that cultivates fellowship with meeting rooms, an event space, a front lawn, a grief counseling center, a café and office space.

“The goal is to have a safe place where people can stop, take a breath, meet up with people and reconnect,” Wilson said.

Wilson and her daughter, Lauren Young, met with church officials and groups that use the 16-acre property to create a center for all Memphians to use and to continue the church’s mission of inclusion and unity.

“We came up with the idea of creating The Front Porch, which we thought was the most hospitable southern thing we could think of,” Wilson said. “The whole point is to be an interfaith gathering place in the center of Memphis.”

Second Baptist Church officials said the church has always prioritized using its campus for the greater good of the community, making The Front Porch an ideal addition. It will be adjacent to the church’s 250-spot parking lot.

The campus also contains a soccer field leased to St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Grove Music Academy, Parents Day Out, Thistle & Bee’s kitchen, and an annual pumpkin patch that attracts more than 5,000 people throughout October.

Second Baptist Pastor Stephen Cook, a non-voting board member, said The Front Porch will be an oasis.

“It’s a little place of grace and hospitality, where people can come and be received warmly, no matter who you are, what you have, you are welcome,” Cook said.

The single-story building will be glass-lined with a wraparound patio lined with rocking chairs and surrounded by green space.

There will be a front lawn and a backyard abutting the soccer field, fitted with outdoor furniture for parents to watch their kids play. There will also be space for younger children and a pollinator garden.

The project’s designer is archimania, and the general contractor is Grinder Taber Grinder.

A coffee shop, Second Helpings Café, will anchor the center. The café will be run for the first three years by Young, who owns Sweet LaLa’s Bakery.

Like Sweet LaLa’s, the café will sell products from local nonprofits including Thistle & Bee, Madonna Learning Center’s Bluff City Toffee, My Cup of Tea, and Shepherd’s Haven.

“The culture she’s created at Sweet LaLa’s is very nurturing,” Wilson said. “People come back and forth there just because it feels good. That’s what we want to create here.”

Second Helpings Café will be the only coffee shop within a five-mile stretch on Walnut Grove Road.

“Anybody in the community can stop and have a cup of coffee and slow down for a minute,” said Front Porch Executive Director Melissa Todd. “We want people to feel like this is a place where when you walk in, everybody knows you, everybody wants you there, everybody cares about you.”

The café will include a digital bulletin board displaying information about community events at the church, schools, and elsewhere.

“If you come in and get a cup of coffee and a cookie, you’ll get the temperature, date, and you’ll find out what’s happening this month,” Wilson said.

The café will also provide boxed lunches and breakfast pastries to those renting meeting spaces, which include a large and a small room.

The event space can seat up to 99 people in theater-style seating and up to 75 with tables.

Todd oversees the event calendar, leasing of meeting spaces and offices, and coordinating monthly free events. These events may include music, theater, speakers, and other activities aimed at bringing people together.

“We want corporations to realize that we’re here so they can have meetings here,” Todd said. “We also want to create a place for families to have reunions, weddings, graduation parties, and anything else they might need.”

Three office spaces will be available for lease, with a preference for tenants who work with children, given the proximity to five schools.

The remaining offices will be shared by Second Baptist Church and Milla’s House, a grief center affiliated with Baptist Centers for Good Grief.

The decision to relocate Milla’s House from Midtown to The Front Porch was, according to Wilson, a “God moment.”

Originally planned at 7,200 square feet, the building expanded to 7,777 square feet after the grief center joined the project.

“Seven is the number in the Bible with great significance, the number of completion,” Wilson said. “We couldn’t have planned it that way. That’s just the way God planned it.”

Wilson said the project benefits from its setting on a beautiful, tree-filled property.

“God has been so good to bring people to this,” she said.