Mission

We are a unique ministry of the Midlands community created to serve as an instrument of God’s love by providing a coordinated charitable response to assist those in need.  

How We Do It

We seek to improve the quality of life for those we help by providing direct assistance, counseling, prayer, and guidance to other available community resources. We are enabled to do this through the support of  congregations, businesses, individuals, foundations and grants.

Why We Do It

We desire to honor God by reflecting Divine Compassion for those less fortunate as we lift the Midlands’ working poor out of crisis and poverty.

There’s been a layoff.
There’s been an accident.
There’s been a fight at home.

Among us all, there is a fine line between stability and despair. At any moment, for any number of reasons, a person’s world can be stripped to the core. Sometimes it’s an emergency that comes out of nowhere. Or perhaps it’s the latest episode in a problem that has been building for what seemed line an eternity.

Help Us Meet a Donor’s $100,000 Challenge

The Cooperative Ministry is currently seeking to raise $100,000 in order to receive a $50,000 match from a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous.  We are well on our way to our goal, having raised $62,000.  But we need your help to raise the additional monies needed to meet the match.

 

The economic downturn has affected our organization in two ways: demand is up and donations are down.  Our Emergency Assistance program is the area most affected by the current situation.  We are currently seeing 300 more clients per month in this department alone in 2009 compared with last year. 

 

The Emergency Assistance program provides help with food, clothing, transportation, rent, utilities, medicine and more.  We need your help to ensure we are able to continue serving the working poor in our community.  For so many of our fellow neighbors, there is a fine line between stability and despair. 

 

Help us reach our goal!  Please make a tax-deductible contribution to The Cooperative Ministry so that we can continue to offer these much needed services to our fellow citizens.  You can donate online or mail a check to the address below.  We thank you for your support as do the thousands of people who are the recipients of your goodwill each year.

Who Are The Working Poor?

August 12, 2008

The Columbia metropolitan area had the fifth-highest increase in the nation in its working poor population in recent years.

The Brookings Institution points out that if the needs of the working poor are not addressed problems with things such as:

• Homelessness
• Cost of living
• Private-sector investment
• Education
• Crime rates
• Health issues
• Affordable housing
• Upward mobility, and
• Local government cost will increase.