We Can Help
Help for today.
 Many of our community's needy aren't looking for a handout. Sometimes all anyone needs is the kindness of a helping hand to get back on their feet. Our services include emergency financial assistance, counseling, transportation, emotional support and material goods such as clothing and furniture. As diverse as our programs are, they all work together to address emotional, spiritual and physical needs.
Emergency Assistance
We help people meet their immediate needs with food, clothing, identification, transportation, rent and utilities assistance, medicine, spiritual guidance and more. As appropriate, we refer individuals to other resources best suited meet their needs. We do not directly provide clients with cash.
Clothing and Furniture Bank
Generous donations of clothing and furniture begin new lives helping those in need, or other local agencies and shelters. In addition to providing immediate access to free, gently used clothing for men, women and children, those transitioning from homelessness can receive home furnishings at no cost when referred by a qualified agency.
Counseling
Qualified staff and professional volunteers help people sort through issues with budget, job, crisis and spiritual counseling. Trained entitlement benefit counselors can help individuals determine if they are qualified for and gain access to government assistance programs such as food stamps.
Transportation
Thanks to generous donations, our Community Auto Repository (CAR) program provides those in need of transportation with a free vehicle in good condition or a no-interest loan program car so they can have reliable transportation to get to work. Through our Emergency Auto Repair Program (EARP), we can arrange for unexpected repairs for workers who need transportation to commute to work and for whom the cost would cause a hardship. Through the program, we also sell unusable cars for salvage putting the proceeds back into the program to fund maintenance and repairs.
Seasonal Needs
School Supply Drive
Each summer, participating congregations, organizations and businesses collect school supplies for needy children through our annual School Supply Drive. The new school supplies are provided to the elementary and middle schools of Richland and Lexington School Districts for distribution to needy students. Since 1991, we've helped more than 65,000 families by providing resources that prepare their children for learning and educational growth.
The Circle of Giving
For children with little means, the joy of holiday gift giving is often out of reach. This one-day event enables children living in local shelters to experience the delight of finding the perfect gift for mom, dad, brother or sister. Through the program, children are taken to an area church, where they can select from gifts donated by the community and wrap them to give to parents, siblings, teachers and other important people in their lives.
| © 2007, The Cooperative Ministry. |  |
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