Overcoming the Unthinkable in a Place Called "Sugar Ditch Alley" // July 15, 2026

Treveles Simmons and his mother Jearlean Simmons are former residents of "Sugar Ditch Alley", a segregated black community in Tunica, Mississippi in the Mississippi Delta region where in 1985 officially the poorest county in the United States with a poverty rate of 56%. Jearlean and her nine children lived in a dilapidated wooden shack that lacked indoor plumbing, running water, and bathrooms. The house was next to an open sewage ditch that ran through the neighborhood where residents were forced to use portable containers for sanitation and dispose of waste in the open sewer. These homes were infested with rats and roaches, Jearlean even placed cotton in her children’s ears at night to keep roaches out. Hear the Simmons story of resilience, love, and faith in God.