From top to bottom, Cooperative Christian Ministries is filled with women making a difference in the community.
Kim Carter leads the way as executive director at CCMC, and she is supported by a cast of women who all specialize in different areas to achieve goals within the organization.
The women at CCMC provide many different services to the community to improve the health and financial situations of those struggling in the area. Carter is a relative newcomer to the organization after just starting as executive director in 2019.
"The learning curve was significant for me because we addressed poverty through three different branches in the organization," Carter said. "I had a familiarity with poverty through our family's work in foster care but it was humbling to come here and see the great need within the community."
One member of the CCMC cast, registered nurse Sharon Morel, started at CCMC in the early 2000s and is now the clinic director in the organization.
CCMC offers health care services in all categories including medical, dental, vision and pharmacy.
"I've gained a real respect for the community because I've lived in several different communities," Morel said. "We've got a community where everybody is very giving. It's a collaboration of the people in the health care community. I've learned to grow and to love and see the support of other people."
Advocacy services coordinator and pharmacy tech Lexi Gray started at CCMC initially thinking she would be there in a part-time role. However, that role soon switched to a full-time job after the need for advocacy started to really explode.
"It was fast-paced when I first started," Gray said. "(February 2021 is) when it started getting real crazy pandemic-wise. We just had more and more people coming in needing assistance because they were in crisis. Being able to help them not only get through the crisis but to stabilize them is one of my favorite things to do."
Gray adapted to a new set of challenges after starting in her new position.
"It was really hard sitting there and learning how to talk with them and get more information out of them," Gray said. "And just getting on their level was one of my biggest challenges with serving them."
Another piece of the CCMC puzzle, Starla Bleifus retired from teaching elementary school in 2017 and started at CCMC because she saw a position involving education.
Although Bleifus did not really understand what the position was about at first, she eventually grew into her role.
"Then I fell in love with it because there's the opportunity to be involved in education, which I already loved," Bleifus said. "It's super encouraging to me in the community, we have people who want to be in our class because they want to better themselves and find a better way to do things."
Bleifus now handles the poverty disruption sector at CCMC as the Bridges Out of Poverty coordinator. The Bridges out of Poverty framework addresses the causes of poverty in the community and looks to help people get back on track.
"It was a great learning curve for me also," Bleifus said. "Just understanding constructs of the Bridges program we have. Understanding a little bit more about people living in poverty and the hard choices they have to make kind of built up some empathy in me that I probably was lacking. I didn't understand. I hadn't lived through all of that."
A major part of CCMC is the organization's Getting Ahead classes that educate clients about poverty and help people get a start toward getting out of poverty.
Getting Ahead classes help people build a more stable life through setting up a checking account, savings account, finding work and much more. In total, the classes look at 11 different resource areas.
"They feel like they have a hope, that they have a pathway to doing something different from what they've done in the past or that their parents have done," Carter said.
The most rewarding part of the job for Bleifus comes when she follows up with those who have taken her classes for a six-month checkup and those people are encouraged with hope.
Although each woman does have a specialized area, the individuals are not afraid to break out of their set roles and help wherever it is needed.
From cleaning to moving to a front desk position, every member of the CCMC staff is flexible.
The pandemic caused roles to slightly change on any given day and since classes were not being taught out in the community, Bleifus flexed into a different position and spearheaded the Support Spa City initiative.
"I don't think anybody here is, 'This is my job. This is your job,'" Morel said. "We all pitch in. Whatever needs to be done, we do it."
The team spends a lot of stressful hours together, but the CCMC staff works together with great chemistry to get things done.
"I really enjoy the team of people that I work with," Carter said. "My work family are probably my closest people and the people that I count on the most. It's just I feel really lucky to work with a group of people that are not just so confident and good at their jobs but that I really enjoy being with every day."
When CCMC looks to hire a new member onto the team, the organization searches for people who have gone through different life experiences.
"We have a really unique team," Carter said. "We have a diverse group of women, and it just happens to be all women right now. We have this group with special skill sets. As we go to hire new people, we don't need another one of us. We need someone that brings something new to the team."
This year marks CCMC's 25th anniversary, and the organization is hosting an anniversary celebration banquet on June 23.
The staff prepared for the anniversary by looking back through newspaper clippings, past records and more to really gain an understanding of the history of the organization.
"As we look back at what it took to get things started, the effort that it took, the community reached out and they owned this project at this organization from the beginning," Carter said. "I think the thing that makes CCMC and its history unique is the collaborative efforts and the relationships."
Before reaching that 25th anniversary, CCMC faced challenges like the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic broke out soon after Carter started at CCMC, and COVID-19 created plenty of challenges for the new executive director.
Along with the pandemic also came the need to increase vaccination efforts, and Carter had never been part of a vaccination effort.
With the uncertainty that the coronavirus caused throughout the meat of the pandemic, one of the biggest challenges Carter faced was not being able to plan things ahead of time.
"Having run nonprofit organizations before, you set out with your mission statement and you've got to have a plan, you've got to have fundraising goals and you've got to be reaching to meet the needs of the people you serve," Carter said. "I think the biggest challenge has been this shifting ground underneath us."
CCMC helps those in need get their health back on track whether it is through medicine, dental work, exercise, receiving glasses or a combination of all the different aspects that make up a person's total health.
The whole world can change for a client with vision problems who goes to CCMC, receives glasses and is finally able to see much clearer.
The process to get those glasses includes many different steps as clients at CCMC do not have much money or insurance. It is not quite as easy as just going to the optometrist.
First, the doctor prescribes the glasses before Oaklawn United Methodist Church and Lens Express both help get the frames to CCMC.
After all the collaboration, it is more than worth it for both parties.
"Their world lights up because they can see," Morel said. "To see someone when I ask, 'Put the glasses back in the case,' they say, 'No, no, I want to wear them.' To see that kind of thing and to know how many different steps it took to get that, we take it for granted."
Carter and Gray hear from clients on a regular basis that the women at CCMC are the only people those clients have to talk to.
"We're their people for a little while until we can take that next step," Carter said. "We are home and we get told that. I think that is rewarding to know because it's not always easy."
Whether it is someone getting out of poverty, fixing their health or both, the women at CCMC emphasized what it means to them when they see that sparkle return in their clients.
"Seeing the light come back into our clients after we've been working with them and finally get them situated," Gray said. "Just seeing them being able to stabilize. That light comes back like they have hope. They believe again that they're going to get better and good things are going to come toward them."
CCMC Advocacy Services Coordinator and pharmacy tech Lexi Gray, left, and Bridges Out of Poverty Coordinator Starla Bleifus explain their roles in the organization. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
CCMC Executive Director Kim Carter, left, and Advocacy Services Coordinator Lexi Gray speak about CCMC's involvement in the community. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
CCMC Advocacy Services Coordinator and pharmacy tech Lexi Gray speaks about CCMC's involvement in the community. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
CCMC Executive Director Kim Carter explains the role of CCMC in the community. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
From left, CCMC's Executive Director Kim Carter, Bridges Out of Poverty Coordinator Starla Bleifus, Clinic Director Sharon Morel and Advocacy Services Coordinator Lexi Gray are four of the women who play a major role within the organization. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
From left, CCMC's Executive Director Kim Carter, Bridges Out of Poverty Coordinator Starla Bleifus, Clinic Director Sharon Morel and Advocacy Services Coordinator Lexi Gray are four of the women who play a major role within the organization. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
CCMC's staff is composed of many different women making a difference in the community. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
CCMC's staff is composed of many different women making a difference in the community. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
CCMC's staff is composed of many different women making a difference in the community. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record