OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA — The crisis is passed, the need not so desperate. Suzanna Moreno can browse through the clothing racks and the Bethel Foundation without thinking about the other more pressing needs she faced as a single mother who’s husband had abandoned her with two small children.

“It’s the worst feeling in the world actually,” she recalls, “not being able to have the person who helped create the kids be with you to help take care of them.”

Moreno showed up at the Bethel Foundation, like so many other single moms, in crisis.

Lynda Powell knew what she needed.

“People are desperate,” says Powell, “especially with no insurance. They need help and they need to know that someone cares.”

Powell’s most recent family picture looks pretty good.

Lynda is re-married. She has two grand-daughters.

Her own two children are thriving.

But go back a few years and the picture isn’t so bright.

When her own kids were very young, her first husband left her with no support.

Powell and her children were forced into the welfare system.

Food stamps helped them survive.

“You get tired,” she says. “You get weary, and you just feel lost.”

In the midst of her hardship, she prayed.

“I said, ‘Help me get out of this mess,'” she recalls. “and I’ll devote my life to helping single moms.”

Her situation improved, but Lynda never forgot her promise.

In 2004 she formed the Bethel Foundation, a faith-based, non-profit organization designed to help single mothers get on their feet, and to get through their darkest times.

“You know what they need based on experience,” observes a first time visitor to the foundation headquarters.

“Definitely based on experience,” she chuckles.

Sometimes they need the basics like food or clothes for growing children.

Others need counseling and education.

Lynda has plans for every one.

“So nothing goes to waste,” she says.

Her foundation is built on the rock of a promise kept, from a broken home-made uniquely whole.

Powell adds, “There’s just something I think all moms should here on this Mother’s Day. The pain you feel today is your strength for tomorrow.”

Lynda opened her doors in November of 2004 and managed to find help for 12 families.

Last year the Bethel Foundation helped more than 12,000. For more information on the Bethel Foundation go to www.bethelfoundationusa.com