Numerous non-profit groups lend hands in East Mississippi

Published 12:01 am Saturday, February 24, 2018

When Diane Heard fled an abusive marriage of 35 years, she turned to the Care Lodge for shelter, food, counseling and other assistance.

The 68-year-old is one of thousands of East Central Mississippi residents who received help from one of the area’s philanthropic organizations for the support she needed to not only survive but thrive in 2017.

Across the region, both paid staff and armies of volunteers help struggling residents through organizations including the United Way of East Mississippi, the Wesley House Community Center, Care Lodge, the Salvation Army, L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen, Young Professionals and other civic organizations.

The United Way of East Mississippi provides a variety of programs and funding to agencies that focus on three key areas – education, income and health.

In the area of education, the focus is on helping children and youth meet their full potential. With income, the commitment is to promoting financial stability and independence for individuals and families, while in health, the emphasis is on helping to improve the health condition of people of all ages.

In East Mississippi, the organization supports non-profits including the Boys and Girls Club, Care Lodge, Davidson Shelter, Foster Grandparents, Free Clinic of Meridian, Habitat for Humanity, Hope Village for Children, Meals on Wheels, the Meridian Freedom Project, Neshoba Christian Women’s Job Corp, the Salvation Army and Wesley House.

The Wesley House Community Center has been giving East Central Mississippi residents a hand up for well over a century, beginning in 1904. The organization focuses on victim services, educational services, Christian relief and connectional ministries.

In the area of victim services, the Wesley House offers a child advocacy center and a sexual assault crisis center. The East Mississippi Child Advocacy Center works with a team of professionals on child abuse investigations. The center provides family and victim advocacy, counseling for children and non-offending caregivers.

The East Mississippi Sexual Assault Crisis Center provides similar services to adult victims. A crisis line gives victims round-the-clock access to resources and referral information. In-person support also is provided when needed at local emergency rooms.

The crisis center also provides a variety of community prevention programs, including Green Dot Community Intervention trainings. Local agencies, churches or community groups can request the training, which focuses on empowering community members to respond safely to community issues including domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking. They also offer a program, Safe Dates, which is designed to educate junior high and high school students on safe dating and healthy relationships.

In the area of educational services, the center offers low-cost daycare and GED, parenting and various life skills classes. The Wesley House also assists people with their rent, utilities and prescription medication costs after required documentation is provided.

A large clothing room and food pantry also serves many in the area. During the holidays, the organization provides Thanksgiving food bags and families can receive toys and food at Christmas.

The Salvation Army in Meridian also provides a variety of services, including The Shelter of Hope Emergency/Transitional Shelter for Men. An after-school drop-in program is designed to give youth a place to relax, socialize and do homework in a safe environment with a Christian influence.

The organization also provides support including a food pantry, a clothes closet, assistance paying utilities, and assistance for survivors of disasters including fires, floods and tornadoes.

The organization typically provides household goods and furniture, including beds, to people working to recover from disasters.

A Family Thrift Store, which sells used, donated items at a reduced cost, helps to fund some of the social services programs at the Salvation Army.

At the Care Lodge, where Heard received help when she was fleeing her marriage, more than 1,000 people from 9 area counties are served each year. Some receive services through a shelter, while others continue to live outside the shelter.

The Care Lodge assists victims in need of protective court orders. Staff also provide a variety of presentations, including presentations designed for church youth groups, students, high education staff, law enforcement, civic organizations and other groups.

The organization also provides violence intervention programs designed to reform men or women who have been abusive. An Anger Intervention Management (AIM) program offers short-term training to teach participants to understand and manage their emotions.

L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen has been feeding hungry and downtrodden people in Meridian since 1982. It currently serves more than 6,000 meals a month, operating Monday through Saturday.

Although some of the organization’s regular clients are homeless and unemployed, others are people who work and have a place to live but have difficulty paying for even basic necessities, including food.

“There are a lot of people who find themselves coming to us for help,” Fannie Mae Johnson, executive director of L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen, said last fall. “Many of them need food but they also need encouragement and kindness. I think that’s important.”

While most of Mississippi’s non-profit organizations have been in the area for decades, the Young Professionals of Meridian is something of a newcomer by comparison.

The organization was launched in 2007 as part of an effort to provide a proactive voice to young professionals. The Young Professionals of Meridian has about 50 active members, focuses on both social interaction and community involvement. Often, their fundraising efforts go to support well established non-profits in the area – including L.O.V.E.’s.

One event, the annual beignet breakfast, is held in the spring. Proceeds from the event have benefited groups including the United Way and the Care Lodge. 

Wyatt Craven credits the Young Professionals of Meridian with helping him to get connected after he finished graduate school. He also appreciates the way the group has helped him to serve his community effectively.

“There are so many great non-profits in Meridian that it can be difficult to choose which one is a fit for the organization,” Craven said. “As a group, YPM decided we should devote our efforts into a nonprofit that has an impact on the youth of our community. Traditionally we’ve donated to the Care Lodge … it serves so many.”