Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnny Mims.
Johnny, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The grace of God. Only the grace of God could have not only gotten me started but got me to where I am today. This isn’t ‘me.’ It’s me and Jesus honestly. I’ve been able to stay motivated through watching my Grandfather live a life that he did. When you actually like what you do and like where you come from, you feel a sense of responsibility. I have a responsibility. Watching him and other Mims family members inspired me to look for ways to give back and help ‘my fellow man,’ my community. This is my community. My community got me where I am today.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course, it’s been a smooth road. If a smooth road was made of hell rocks, potholes and fire. But, really, when you’ve grown up in a city like Atlanta, a city that’s always in constant growth year after year, decade after decade. and you’re trying to be apart of the ‘doing squad,’ if you’re not “in the click,” it’s hard to navigate in Atlanta. Even though I was born and raised here, it is still hard. They make it more difficult. I can go out of state and do business in other cities and it’s so much easier. Especially Black Atlanta, we’re pretty hard on each other and that makes it difficult at times. BUT, when you’re committed to making a difference and changing lives of your fellow man, you find ways to push through the struggles.
My Fellow Man – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m most proud of the way other people have embraced our organization. Even in different countries. We have done mission work in other countries and meeting people that are genuinely appreciative of whatever you can do for them, you can’t beat that. To me, you (regular people), it doesn’t seem like much. But to them, it’s HUGE, its everything. That’s what really makes me feel like I’m doing something for my fellow man. We provide assistance to single parent families, students in college, high school athletic and band departments, personal teacher stipends to teachers that use their own personal funds to enrich their classrooms or student’s lives. That’s what we do. We help those that help but need help themselves. You have people that didn’t have and didn’t know where they were going to get it from, but me and my Jesus brought it through.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The most proudest moment I’ve had in My Fellow Man was when a dear woman in the Dominican Republic who had been working for me and some of my close friends/business partners for about 15/16 years. We always met in professional settings so we had never known where she lived. We grew with this woman, she watched us grow. We knew of children graduating or being born, all kinds of stuff. We were close and we loved working with her. She had become family. But she was such a proud woman, she never let us know how or where she was living. We came to find out that she was living in a shed shack with limited things that we had like it was nothing. And she would come and work with us and not say anything. So when she got ill, we found out how she was living and it broke us. We knew immediately we had to do something. So we built her a house. Right on the land of her shack and made sure that she had everything she needed. That, even thinking about it gives me chills and warms my heart at the same time. Those are the life-changing moments that keep me encouraged. Knowing we could all come together and build her a house from ground up, and watching that family be so humble. Humbling.
I pray that everyone that comes under me understands how important it is to give back, to stay involved. In the local community and in the government. You have to say something, you have to vote. My Fellow Man just desires to make sure that the common man has a fair shake. The most unlikely person has an opportunity. That homeless person, that mentally ill person, those children that don’t have much but it’s not their faults or even their parent’s fault. Life just happens. I pray that we pay more attention to those people and do our part. No matter how big or small. Just do your part. Inspiring others to move in their lives like that, for me, would be a proud life moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.myfellowman.org
- Email: info@myfellowman.org
- Instagram: @myfellowmanatl
Image Credit:
Photos by The D1 Group
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