In November, one of Baldwin County’s newest nonprofit organizations will open its doors and potentially begin to change the lives of ten young women.

As the final preparations are completed, the women who have seen the ministry develop from the beginning are reflecting on how God brought them all together.

Under His Wings, a ministry that seeks to bring God’s healing to troubled girls in Baldwin and Mobile counties, began to take shape in 2009 during Lorena Hunt’s daily devotional.

The vision

She read and reread Philippians 2:21, “For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”

“It made me stop and ask, ‘Christ, what do you want?’” Hunt said. “This vision just popped up—working with the girls. I bounced it off a couple of women, and they all grabbed onto the vision.”

One of those women was former teacher and school counselor Angie Michal, who now serves as the executive director of Under His Wings.

“When I was in the school system, I wanted something like this,” Michal said. “The girls would talk to me about an issue they were dealing with, and I wanted to be able to say to them or their parents, ‘Go to this home, apply for this, you can go and stay, and you can get counseling.’”

The women formed a board, and they began discussing how to turn a vision into reality. Three years later, all that separates them from welcoming girls into their ministry is a series of inspections and certifications.

The ministry

Currently, there is no program in the region like Under His Wings, Michal said.

The ministry will house up to 10 girls, ages 13 to 18, in the Under His Wings home in Robertsdale for a minimum of six months. It is a licensed facility, but will not take any government funding. Normally, a program like this would cost families at least $50,000 for a year, but Under His Wings does not have any paid staff and will not charge for its services, Michal said.

“It’s not a business—it’s a ministry,” she said.

Girls and their families will receive free weekly counseling from licensed private counselors, and they will keep up with their academic studies as well as learn new skills taught by volunteers from the community.

“It’s not going to be like prison,” Michal said. “It’s going to be a place where they can feel loved. They don’t just need a warm building—they need warm hearts.”

Because of its focus on ministry and spiritual healing, Under His Wings is more than a temporary shelter, Hunt said.

“A lot of conventional stuff can help, but it doesn’t seem to heal,” Hunt said. “God wants to heal. We can help them through all aspects—mental, spiritual, physical—we want to deal with the whole body, not just part of it.”

The house

As the idea for Under His Wings was coming together, Mary Rose Mildorf was dreaming about ways her beloved house, which was built by her husband’s hands using wood and stones from the 100-acre property, could be used after her death.

“What was really neat about my mom was that in her old age, like a rose, she really did bloom,” said Mildorf’s daughter, Marlene Mesler. “It was her time to really do ministry. She used her later years to minister in ways that were just amazing.”

Mildorf was known in the Robertsdale community and beyond for opening her home to those in need, reading the Bible over the phone to other elderly family members and doing whatever she could to spread the Gospel, Mesler said.

“This is a woman who was going into her 90s, and she could barely walk, but she had these ministries all over the place, and she had such a huge impact,” Mesler said. She’s such a good role model for women, especially elderly women.”

Mildorf wanted a way to keep serving after she left the earth, and her house was the perfect way to do it. She always had the idea that the house would be a perfect place for troubled girls because of the floorplan, Mesler said. The house has four bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, an apartment and a large laundry room—a layout designed by Mildorf herself.

“She would always say, ‘This house would be perfect for a ministry,’” Mesler said. “That was a thing she mentioned frequently.”

So when Mesler heard about Under His Wings and the need for a home to minister to troubled girls, she knew God was calling her to allow the organization to use her mother’s home. 

“The way it’s going to be used is just absolutely her heartbeat—and ours,” Mesler said. “To me, it’s just a testimony to how faithful God is. He knew my mom’s heart, and the other women on the board of Under His Wings had the same vision. It’s not one person’s dream or one person’s dream or one person’s project—it’s really everybody with the common goal of reaching out to girls in need.”

Get involved

Under His Wings depends solely on volunteers and donations to be able to minister to the girls, Michal said.

Michal estimates it will cost $450 a month to provide counseling, utilities and food to one girl.

Members of the community will be able to pledge to support a girl with a monthly donation of any amount, and people who are interested in fundraising for the organization are always welcome to share their talents, Michal said.

Another avenue for service with Under His Wings is volunteering to teach the young women a skill, craft or activity. Volunteers will go through a training session, but they don’t need to have any certification in counseling or education.

“Anybody who has a passion for girls who are hurting, call us and we’ll tell you how you can help because there’s a lot of different ways,” Michal said.

Sept. 22, Under His Wings will host a fall event and fundraiser at the PZK Hall on Highway 104 in Robertsdale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will feature arts and craft vendors, a silent auction, lunch, and children’s entertainment including The Game Machine trailer full of video games. At 5 p.m., the “Men Who Cook and Bake” will present their gumbo and cakes, and attendees can taste the recipes and vote for their favorite. Tickets for the cook-off are $10.

For more information about volunteering, participating in the upcoming fundraiser or giving to Under His Wings, contact Angie Michal at 251-459-3218 or visit www.underhiswings.info.