Restoring a historic Route 66 property in Lebanon, Missouri into a center for vocational training and housing for the community it was built to serve.
The Wille Mae Foundation was established in memory of Willie Mae, following her passing, to carry forward a lifetime of meeting real needs without waiting to be asked. She welcomed foster children into her home and raised them as her own, woven into her family, not kept at a distance. In San Bernardino, California, she opened Mom's Little Kitchen, a restaurant that doubled as a gathering place, hosting community events and feeding people experiencing homelessness. When she relocated to Missouri, she kept going, sheltering older adults who had lost their housing or were navigating substance abuse. This Foundation continues that work: funding a Route 66 property into a lasting home for the same kind of care she gave freely, for decades, wherever she lived.
To everyone in her community, no matter their age, she was simply “Mom.”
The Wille Mae Foundation was established to secure funding for two things the underserved community of Lebanon, Missouri needs most: educational and vocational training, and housing. We are a Missouri nonprofit corporation built around a single, tangible asset: a historic property on Route 66, poised to become a working center for opportunity once it is restored.
At the center of our mission is a historic property on Route 66 in Lebanon, Missouri, owned and stewarded by our President, Tonica Todd. Decades of wear mean it needs significant renovation before it can serve as a training and housing site. Securing that funding, and opening its doors to the community, is the Foundation's founding purpose.
Led by our own team. Tonica Todd is a Missouri-licensed cosmetologist and licensed cosmetology instructor, ready to teach those skills directly to the community. Michelle Hamilton offers resume writing and job-readiness coaching, helping trainees turn new skills into real employment. Hands-on training and career preparation, moving forward side by side.
Stable housing for underserved individuals and families, developed alongside the training program so that opportunity and stability move forward together, on the same site.
Program leadership is already in place. What we need is the funding to renovate the Route 66 property, so this training can move from planning into a working classroom and salon floor.
The Wille Mae Foundation is registered with the Missouri Secretary of State as a Domestic Nonprofit Corporation. Every figure below can be confirmed independently through the State's own public business entity database.