After 7 years of service, CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY OUTREACH is continuing to grow
Seven years ago, Sherry Turner was working at a clothing closet on Peters Street in Calhoun.
It was a relatively modest operation then with just a few regular volunteers who helped keep things running, but she said it didn’t take long for God to plant the seed of an idea that would eventually lead to the birth of Christian Community Outreach, a group of churches, businesses and individuals who work together in Gordon County and the surrounding areas to bless others while sharing the gospel of Jesus.
In the years since 2014, Christian Community Outreach
has expanded to include dozens of churches and businesses from across the county. The group hosts back-to-school events providing free school supplies and haircuts to local students, provides personal hygiene products to those in need and offers a Christmas Cares outreach program to ensure children across the county receive gifts during the holidays. It also includes two separate clothing closets, with a third on the way.
“It was laid on my heart back then to reach out to other churches. The scripture that kept coming to mind was, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to all creation,’ and I kept feeling like I needed to move outside of just one church and get other churches to come together and work together,” Turner said. “God kept speaking to my heart, telling me we could accomplish so much more and reach so many more people that way.”
Though CCO hosts several signature events during the year, Turner said the clothing closets are still where she feels the group provides the most for the community.
The largest of the organization’s clothing closets is located at World Harvest Church in Calhoun and provides clothing to approximately 100 people each month. The second location is open by appointment only, as it is located at the home of a CCO member in Sugar Valley.
“We will have three locations soon. Our third isn’t open yet, but we are hoping it will be sometime in April. That is going to allow us to reach so many more people,” Turner said.
Currently, Turner said she is looking to the community for help sourcing items to fill the closet in the new location before opening day.
“Donations are accepted every Saturday morning from 8:30 to 12:30 at World Harvest,” she said. “The only thing we can’t take is furniture because we have no place to store it, but we are always looking for clothes and things like toothpaste and deodorant that we can give out. We always need school supplies and backpacks,
too, for our back-toschool event.”
The need for that event is extremely high this year, Turner said, because of COVID-19.
“The impact that had on jobs and people’s ability to get out and work has really been felt, so we are expecting to see
more people coming to us for backpacks and notebooks and things like that,” she said. “But we are also trying to make it a really fun experience for everyone, too, because we know it has been so hard for everyone. We’re going to have skits and games for kids, which we are excited about.”
Looking to the future, Turner said she is excited about Christian Community Outreach’s ability to continue to grow its mission and about helping other churches or organizations in other areas build similar nonprofits.
“God gets all the glory. Without God, none of us would be able to do anything. He provides the means and the way,” she said. “It’s my hope that we can share those means with other people so that they can start clothing closets of their own or whatever it may be that they want to do for their community. That would be a blessing.”
Anyone interested in volunteering, including students who may need volunteer hours for school, can reach out to Turner directly at 678-767-0071.