About Our Founder

Our Founder- Debra Harris

“I didn’t want to be a statistic.” — Debra Harris

Debra Harris, Founder of Making Miracles Group Home, is no stranger to adversity. Her past experiences and her faith the Lord are what drive her to care for the women in our community who are in need. Read her story of perseverance and hope below!  

Debra’s Story

Growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, Debra Harris and her four siblings were taken from a mother who struggled with mental illness and placed in foster care when Debra, who was the oldest, was just eight years old.  The children spent more than a year in foster care before custody was awarded to their maternal great-grandmother. Whereas childhood should have been a happy time, Debra and her siblings endured years of physical and mental abuse before finally being returned to their mother. For two years, Debra was once again part of a poor yet happy family. But when her mother stopped taking her medication, Debra and her siblings were split up again.  Debra moved in with her aunt and finished high school, becoming pregnant shortly thereafter. The baby’s father stayed around but rarely held a steady job.  The couple had a second child.  Despite being the family’s sole supporter, Debra refused to go on welfare.  “I didn’t want to be a statistic,” she says. For herself and for her children, Debra wanted more.

She ultimately married the father of her children, but it was not a happy union.  He’d turned to drugs and was abusive.  Debra worked even harder to pull her family out of poverty.  When she was finally promoted to a management position and given a raise, she discovered she was no longer eligible for food stamps.  Debra was stricken by what she saw as the unfairness of a system that rewarded those that gave up and penalized those struggling to get out of the cycle of government assistance.

Debra finally left her first husband and later married Perry Harris, her husband of 24 years.  With Perry’s loving support, Debra went to school to become a medical assistant, working full-time all the while.  The pair had two children together and shortly thereafter took in one of Debra’s aunt’s children as well. The growing family moved to Tallahassee in 1999. Debra got a job working a full-time position in the lab at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, working 10-hour shifts, eight days on and six days off. With her family provided for, Debra started thinking about how to give back. Foster parenting seemed an obvious choice. Intending to foster only one child, the first call Debra received was about three sisters. Recalling her own childhood, Debra couldn’t say no. The Harris family immediately fell in love with the 6, 5, and 4-year-old girls, legally adopting all three.

Despite the many blessings in her life, Debra still felt as if something was missing.  She started laying the groundwork for a group home.  She found a suitable house and, with the help of Kenna Bridges, organized a Board of Directors.  She and Perry worked tirelessly to prepare the space that would fit as many as five residents at a time – the Making Miracles Group Home (MMGH) was born.  Debra’s vision was to help the women become self-sufficient to take care of their families.

Since 2010, MMGH has helped more than 100 women, either pregnant or with a child under the age of three, move up and move out. Many of the women have been in foster care or on welfare. Most have endured some type of abuse. All want a better life for themselves and their babies. Referencing Titus Chapter 2, Debra says, “As educated women, we have to equip our children to succeed in the future. We need to help those that are trying to improve.”

For the women who utilize the Making Miracles housing program, Debra and her network of house mothers on staff care for these women like family. They are able to receive free housing for themselves and their children for up to one year while they get back on their feet. While in the home, the residents cook meals together, look for employment, learn life skills, attend church and bible studies together, and prepare for the path to independence. Debra and her team employ a holistic approach so that moms and children can be cared for physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Presently, Making Miracles can house 8 moms and their children. However, in 2024, construction began on MMGH’s second maternity home, which will house 5 more moms and their children. With the addition of this new home, the program will be able to accommodate accompanying children up to 9 years of age, broadening the scope of homeless mothers that can be served in the Tallahassee community.

Debra’s program is truly transformational for the women who have the opportunity to be a part of it. One particular young woman that Debra has seen through her program has excelled on the path to self-sufficiency with her daughter and is now a coworker of Debra’s so that she can pour back into Harris’ program that changed her life. This young mom said of Debra and Sharon, an MMGH house mom, “Ms. Debra and Ms. Sharon make us feel like extended family, and I love them both. I call them my godmothers because I feel like God put them in my life for a reason. This is a faith-based program and it really helped me get back to where I needed [to be] from the inside out.” Another mom who went through the program shared, “I am so thankful to have had a safe place I called home and people who were willing to help me. ”

Until 2012, Debra and Perry ran MMGH without outside financial help.  Today, MMGH relies on donations, volunteers and the prayers and support of Canopy Roads Baptist Church and other local congregations to help make this ministry possible. 

From Making Miracles’ opening to 2023, Debra operated this program out of the kindness of her heart, not once taking a salary for her work. In January of 2024, after over a decade of partnership with A Women’s Pregnancy Center, another local non-profit that seeks to help mothers in the Tallahassee community, Making Miracles Group Home was officially brought under their ministry umbrella. Upon joining in AWPC’s ministry, Debra is now able to make a much-deserved income for the work she has done for free through the course of so many years, and is now staffed with a team of five women to help her care for the moms she has the opportunity to serve.

For the women served by MMGH, the home is a fresh start and a chance to become independent.  For Debra, it is the realization of one more dream on a long road of giving back.

Invite Debra to Present at Your Event

Debra’s story is a powerful example that God can and will work in the lives of all who seek Him. Invite Debra to speak at your next event to inspire people to live a life after God’s heart and support His work in the community.