When Karen Brown was homeless with three young boys, she turned to her community for help.
The Air Force veteran was the first graduate of the program that now drives the NATASHA House, a transitional home and outreach service for women and their children hoping to achieve a fresh start. Twenty years later, she serves as the organization’s executive director.
Brown has been involved as a leader with the nonprofit – whose name stands for New Alternative Toward A Secure Home Atmosphere – since it opened its residential center doors in Yorktown in 2010.
That year NATASHA House started its annual basketball tournament, which continues this weekend, starting at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Denbigh Community Center in Newport News.
While many other groups raise money in the spring and summer with golf tournaments, Brown said a basketball tournament brings in a fresh crowd. The idea was first suggested by young volunteers at NATASHA house, who thought it would be a way to reach out and gain more male involvement with the organization.
“A lot of men are raised by single moms, and it was a good way to get them on board to begin to garner support from them on an annual basis,” Brown said.
Brown’s twin boys, raised in a single parent household, will be playing this weekend. Now 24, they earned scholarships to attend college and are both working as engineers.
Their mom experienced firsthand the benefits of NATASHA House’s financial literacy and management initiatives, which tournament proceeds fund. Its HomeMakers Program includes mental health and financial counseling, coaching for budgets and debt issues, and a savings account to put toward homeownership.
“I’m a living testimony to it, because here I am,” Brown said. “I went from homeless to being a teacher and now an executive director. Changing lives one family at a time.”
NATASHA House works with other community agencies and charities to provide well-rounded support for area women, and Brown is grateful for their unified effort in accomplishing the mission.
She said the basketball tournament is a labor of love from local groups, with many businesses sponsoring the event and the Denbigh Community Center offering its space. DITS basketball, an athletic organization under John Davis, has partnered with NATASHA House to run the tournament in double-elimination style.
Brown appreciates Davis’ guidance and management — not knowing any better last year, she scheduled the tournament during March Madness.
“I said ‘What’s that?’ I learned,” Brown laughed. She opted this year to plan the tournament for month not already jam-packed with the sport.
Ten teams are currently signed up to play this weekend, but a few spots remain open to play in the five-on-five games.
Brown is excited to see the tournament continue to grow and change, and hopes next year to open it up to middle and high school students, as well.
“We expect to do it this year and for it to get better each year,” Brown said.
To register or make a donation to the tournament, click here. No payment will be accepted at the event.
For more information about NATASHA House, visit its website.
