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A volunteer sorts clothes at Crisis Assistance Ministry during Hands On Charlotte Day.
Posted: October 27th, 2009 James Willamor
More than 700 people participated in 26 service projects on Oct. 26 for Hands on Charlotte Day.
It's the city's largest single day volunteer event.
The goal of Hands on Charlotte, according to member Darlene Heater, is to meet the needs of the most challenged members of our community.
One of the service projects included sorting clothing donations at Crisis Assistance Ministry, just outside Uptown near Statesville Avenue.
John Wakefield, CAM's manager of production, spent 15 minutes explaining the importance and mission of Crisis Assistance Ministry to the 29 volunteers participating in the HOC Day event.
In addition to the clothing free store, Crisis Assistance Ministry operates an Emergency Financial Assistance program. People who are facing eviction or have utilities about to be cut off can sit down with a case worker and, “about 7 out of 10 times,” have that need met. Crisis Assistance Ministry mails a check directly to the landlord or utility company.
“Our number one goal,” says Wakefield, “is to keep the 6,700 individuals that are homeless from going up any higher. Last year 7.5 million dollars left this building. The average check is between 300 and 325 dollars.
"So you’re looking at around 50,000 to 55,000 people in Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, that were helped last year.”
Wakefield then took the group to the back and demonstrated the clothes sorting process to the volunteers. The event, like the other simultaneous volunteer events, was scheduled to last for three hours.
Gayle Sims and Gerald Porter brought a dozen members of Ebenezer Baptist Church youth group to participate. This was their third year participating in HOC Day, and they have previously volunteered at Second Harvest Food Bank.
Hands on Charlotte, founded in 1991, does much more than host Charlotte’s largest volunteer day. Every month they organize and manage more than 70 volunteer service projects throughout the city.
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