Currently open three evenings a week, Main Street
Ministries is already making a difference through three different
outreach ministries. On Tuesday nights from 5-6:30 p.m., families
may come in to get food and clothing, as well as have an opportunity to
speak with a pastor about issues within their lives. Following
the food and clothing ministry at 7 p.m., Main Street has partnered
with Freedom Hills to offer a support group for families dealing with
addiction. On Monday and Thursday nights, Main Street partners
with Wallace State Community College to offer free GED classes at the
center. All of these ministries are just some of the ways
Main Street Ministries wants to live up to its mission statement,
Whaley said.
“It is to build that cooperative effort
between agencies, churches and businesses in order to identify the
needs of people and meet those needs. We can effect a lot more
lives together than trying to do it separately,” Whaley
said.
Main Street Ministries is the brainchild of two
different groups that had the same vision. Double Springs
Elementary School teachers Sheila Miller and Sharron Posey had come up
with the idea for the center as a place for children to go after school
for help with homework and an opportunity to learn about the arts, as
well as a place to help adults within the community, all with a
Christian spin. At the same time, Whaley and several pastors of
different churches around the Double Springs area had been discussing
and praying about the need of a non-denominational ministry and
outreach center within the county. Soon after Main Street
Ministries opened its doors in early 2007, the two groups came
together, with Main Street incorporating in early 2008, and Whaley
named as the center’s director. He, along with Miller and
Posey, are three of the members of Main Street’s board of
directors, along with James Frederick, pastor of Double Springs Worship
Center, Shelby Parker, Dale Hendrix with the Winston County Department
of Human Resources and Sheila Wallace, administrative assistant for
Winston County Schools. Other churches that are very active in
Main Street Ministries are Double Springs First United Methodist
Church, Pine Grove Church of God, Houston Baptist Church, and Christ
Fellowship Assembly of God.
The food and clothing ministry has been seeing an
increase in clientele of late, which can perhaps be linked to the
economic downturn within the nation.
“When we started (this ministry) at the
first of the year, we only had five or six families (a week). Now
it is consistently 15 families. They can come and get food every
30 days. They can come and get clothing every week. We are
a client of the United Way and are able to get food at a much cheaper
price than we could get it off the shelves. Gateway Foods has
been great in working with us, helping us get the food we need,”
Whaley said.
A core cause of poverty is often the inability to
read and write, something that has become evident with the offering of
GED classes, Whaley said.
“People who are coming for their GED are
still struggling with their reading, so we want to get some help there.
We are looking at training some of our volunteers to help with
adult reading and writing,” Whaley said, adding that the
reading and writing class will hopefully be part of a broader life
skills curriculum the center will soon offer.
The clothing ministry consists of donated clothes
for men, women and children in all sizes and styles for all seasons.
There are also shoes and purses to choose from, as well as some
coats. Whaley said they are considering setting up a special
section of the ministry called “back to work” where people
can pick out a nice outfit to wear on a job interview, which will give
them the confidence to go out and land a good job and, hopefully, get
off the poverty merry-go-round, which is where the GED ministry comes
in to play.
“I would dare say that the vast majority of
our clients have not completed high school. That is one reason we
are set up with Wallace State. We can tell (people who come in)
that they need to get their GED, and we offer it,” Whaley
said.
The partnership with Freedom Hills is one of the
newest aspects of Main Street, and Whaley has high hopes for it.
“We are still trying to get the word out
that we are here on Tuesday nights. Of course, for people who are
battling addiction, just stepping out and coming to a meeting is a big
step. We deal a lot with families that are just dealing with the
reality that they have a child or spouse that is addicted to drugs or
alcohol. While it’s helpful for families dealing with
addiction issues, it’s a great time to get information on the
whole addiction epidemic. We hope to create a greater awareness in the
county of the problem,” Whaley said.
Of course, no ministry would be real without a
spiritual aspect, and the directors of Main Street Ministries are
completely unabashed about sharing their faith with others, hoping that
what they say or the examples they lead will make a difference.
“Every week, we have families come in that
are dealing with tragedies, and they are trying to find some help.
So when they come, we offer them food, we offer them clothing,
but we also offer them a listening ear. Every family that comes
in on Tuesday nights has the opportunity to talk with a pastor or
Christian lay person to share their prayer concerns. We let them
know that this is purely voluntary; they don’t have to do it to
get food or clothing. We haven’t had anyone yet say they
didn’t want to talk.
“I think that is part of what makes it
special for them when they come. They know there will be somebody
to listen to them, listen to their needs, pray with them about those
needs. If we can find them help for that need, we will.
From the spiritual aspect, we are here to listen to them,
encourage them, share Scripture with them, pray with them, and let them
know that where they are at doesn’t have to be permanent.
There is Someone who can help them out of the cycle of
hopelessness that so many of them find themselves in. That
someone is Jesus. That is why we call it Main Street
Ministries. When you come into a ministry center you are going to
here about God, someway, somehow,” Whaley said with a
laugh. “That’s a huge part of our
existence.”
While the outlook for Main Street Ministries is
bright, Whaley hopes that the open house will let others know about
some of the center’s needs, which are abundant. Some of the
most pressing donations the center needs are:
• a computer to set up their client
database;
• a washer and dryer to clean clothes
that are donated;
• clothing of all types, especially
for infants and children, as well as baby equipment, such as strollers,
car seats and swings;
• basic food items, such as canned
vegetables, fruits and meats, dried beans, rice, crackers, sugar and
macaroni and cheese;
• hygeine items, such as toothbrushes,
toothpaste, soap, shampoo and deodorant;
• liquid laundry detergent;
• a storage facility for larger items,
such as donated furniture or appliances;
“If anyone has some fresh produce they want
to donate, we’ll hand it out. We can take frozen foods.
We do have a freezer. We don’t do a lot of
flour and cornmeal because so much of our clientele is younger and they
don’t know what to do with it. I tell people to think about
the things they need. Those are the items to donate,”
Whaley said.
Main Street Ministries could also use another
type of donation - the time and assistance of volunteers.
“We could really use some more pastors and
lay leaders who feel comfortable sharing the Gospel and praying with
people that could be available on Tuesday nights. Our plan and hope is
to eventually be open several days a week at different times to help
people with different schedules. We would love to have
volunteers in here during the course of the day several times a
week,” Whaley said.
Whaley is excited about the open house, and hopes
that, with the community’s help, Main Street Ministries will
become a place where people throughout the county can come for help.
“We’re excited about the years ahead
and what is going to happen. This is a perfect location, a great
facility for what we are doing. We really want to share what we
are seeing other ministries do, let people know our long-range plans
and what this ministry can mean for this county. We are here to
minister to the county,” Whaley said.
Main Street Ministries is currently working to
achieve 501(c) status, so anyone wanting to make a tax-deductible
contribution is encouraged to do it through their church. For
anyone who is interested in volunteering their time or wants to donate
items to the ministry, call (205) 489-3500. Leave a message if no
one answers.
