The Metamorphosis Project

Giving back to build a brighter future.

The Metamorphosis Project creates and implements responsive, transformative programming to meet the needs of the unhoused and hungry in Memphis. Every month its volunteers carry homecooked meals out to unsheltered Memphians through Feed the Need, and hand out hygiene products and essentials through Blessings in a Bag. One hundred percent of profits go to hunger relief. It is governed by a board drawn from across the Memphis metro — women leading the charge, nearly all of them career educators — and led by Board President Dr. Dedriene Rogers, Ed.D.

What The Metamorphosis Project Does

Feed the Need

Every month, volunteers go out to areas around the city with homecooked meals for the unhoused population — not a drop-off, a plate handed to a person.

Blessings in a Bag

Hygiene products and daily essentials delivered to the unsheltered across Memphis — the dignity items nobody donates and everybody needs.

Volunteer

The Project runs on volunteers. Time is the one gift it cannot buy, and a union crew on a Feed the Need run is a full shift of service.

Food Drives & Partnerships

Host a food drive at your hall or workplace, or partner as an organization through fundraising campaigns and corporate donations.

A FRIEND OF LABOR

Dr. Dedriene Rogers, Ed.D.

Board President, The Metamorphosis Project · CEO & Co-Founder, The Sterling Institute

Dr. Dedriene Rogers is a native Memphian, raised in the Hyde Park neighborhood of North Memphis. She earned her bachelor's degree at Austin Peay State University, a Master of Teaching at Freed Hardeman University, and an Education Specialist degree and doctorate from Northcentral University. She has spent more than twenty years with Memphis-Shelby County Schools working alongside students with exceptional needs, their parents, and their teachers — and she is also Chief Executive Officer of Changing Minds Consulting Agency, LLC and owner/operator of D & R Trucking Company, LLC. A friend of labor, Dr. Rogers runs two Memphis organizations at once: she serves as Board President of The Metamorphosis Project while co-founding and leading The Sterling Institute.

Leadership

Mikka Atkins

Chief Operating Officer, The Metamorphosis Project

Mikka Atkins was born in Temple, Texas and raised in Memphis, and credits her mother with introducing her to the idea of serving others. She set out to become a doctor, then was pulled into teaching instead — close to twenty-five years of it, mostly science. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from LeMoyne-Owen College, a Master of Teaching from Union University, a master's in Reading Instruction from Grand Canyon University, and a master's in Human Resource Management from Northcentral University. While still in the classroom she led a school-wide drive to get food and Christmas gifts to unhoused Memphians — the same instinct that now runs this Project day to day.

Hunger Is a Labor Issue

Memphis labor has never pretended the fight stops at the plant gate. The 1968 sanitation workers were fighting for wages a man could feed a family on — and the city they struck in still has Memphians sleeping outside tonight. The Metamorphosis Project works the other end of that same fight: a hot plate and a hygiene bag, carried out by hand, once a month, by educators who do it on their own time. No profit in it. That is solidarity with no contract attached.

A Community Partner of Labor Education

Board President Dr. Dedriene Rogers is a friend of labor who also co-founded and leads The Sterling Institute, and COO Mikka Atkins taught Memphis classrooms for nearly twenty-five years. This is volunteer-powered work, which means your local can plug straight in — host a food drive at the hall, put a crew on a Feed the Need run, or sponsor Blessings in a Bag. If you need help rather than want to give it, our Safe Haven page lists Memphis shelters and 24/7 lines.

Connect with The Metamorphosis Project

Want to get involved, partner, or learn more? Reach out through their website.