A familiar sight has returned to the courthouse lawn – J.O.Y. Ministries’ numbered Christmas tree, marking progress toward this year’s $65,000 fundraising goal for operating expenses.
J.O.Y. Ministries’ outreach program runs exclusively on donations. The annual grant received from Kosair for Kids is earmarked for the summer children’s programs while all day-to-day operations, including utilities, food assistance, and emergency shelter expenses, are donor driven.
“We totally rely on the goodness of others and our community,” said Vice President Hannah Peck. “We really stand in amazement at the way God has provided for our organization, and we believe that he does that totally through the community. We don’t only believe that, we know it. We’ve seen it happen in the way that this community has supported us.”
The crisis resource center is only available because of community support. The donations, no matter the amount, are what allow J.O.Y to continue to serve the community.
Food insecurity is an increasing issue in Adair County. J.O.Y. distributed 457 food bags in the month of November. Prior to November, the average number of bags distributed per month was 150-160.
There are three employees at the crisis center who help keep everything running smoothly. Faith Anderson began working with J.O.Y. when she was in high school, and she continued to help while going to Lindsey Wilson and earning a degree in human services. It has come full circle for Anderson, who is now the lead case manager.
Peck said that J.O.Y. doesn’t judge people based on their past or current situations. People end up in situations where they need assistance for a multitude of reasons.
“We want to extend the love of Christ to all people equally. We want to provide them with resources and education so that they can hopefully make changes in their life,” said Peck. “We want to show them also what Christ can do in your life to make those changes.”
J.O.Y. Ministries provides many services to the community. Peck said that she did not realize the amount of homeless people that Adair County has when she first began working with J.O.Y. With Ruth’s House and Callie’s House, both stay full with a waiting list.
Two programs for children and teenagers are held each summer. This summer there were over 100 children who participated in their summer programming.
“Our mission week is kind of how J.O.Y. started doing mission in the summer, and then it just kind of evolved from there,” said Peck. “We really believe in pouring into the next generation. The people on our board won’t always be the people on our board.”
“We want to equip the youth below us. We even have a J.O.Y. discipleship group of young people, high school age, middle school, there’s even some college kids in it,” she said. “They work together all year and do Bible studies together and serve.”
Donations to support J.O.Y ministries may be mailed to P.O. Box 114, Columbia, Ky. 42728. Gifts can be made online at joy-ministries.org, and there is an option to make a one-time gift or commit to a monthly donation. Monetary, food and clothing donations may additionally be dropped off at the crisis center, 400 Greensburg St.
“No gift is too small. Sometimes people think that their gift is not great enough, like $5 or something like that. Every gift contributes to what we do,” said Peck. “When everything we do is funded by donations, $5, that’s five canned food items. Every gift helps.”
“I always want to encourage people that if you feel called to gift, gift what you have,” she said. “We are grateful for any contribution. A monetary gift, a time gift, a donation gift, we are grateful for any and all contributions our community gives us.”
Peck said they recognize the sacrifices people make to help keep the crisis center running. They work very hard to be good stewards of the resources that they are given.
“We don’t take it lightly the sacrifice and the investment that our community has provided us with to do this work. We take the work that we do very, very seriously,” said Peck.
Peck encourages anyone who would like to see the facility to stop by for a tour. The center is open Monday – Thursday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Friday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
“Truly, come by and check it out. We give people tours all the time. We love to show people the center,” said Peck.
J.O.Y.’ s hope is to reach the goal by Dec. 31. All gifts are tax deductible, and forms are mailed each year for tax purposes.
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
