Feb. 14—Early indications are that the Committee on Church Cooperation will be asked to serve more people this year than ever before in its 50 years of existence, a CCC official said, and demand has more than doubled since 2020.

“In the first two weeks of January, we had 56 new families,” said CCC Executive Director Ashley Boyd. “So, I expect that the demand (in 2024) is going to surpass anything we’ve ever seen before.”

Boyd said the CCC currently has about 11,000 clients. She said when she became director in 2020, they only had 4,000 to 5,000 clients.

“Last year we gave away more than we have in our entire history. We surpassed over $2 million in value given to the community, and that’s on a budget of $219,000,” she said. “It’s food, it’s clothing, it’s medication, household supplies; the list goes on.”

Even more could be given away this year.

“I think as people flock to the area, demand is going to increase,” she said. “We see that so often. People come here with the promise of, ‘Oh, there’s so many jobs,’ and then for whatever reason, maybe they’re not qualified, it could be a number of things, but they end up struggling for a little longer than expected.”

Boyd said due to the increase in clients, the CCC must be more rigorous in determining whether a particular person needs the requested assistance.

“It used to be that if you came in and expressed a need, we’re going to send you out the door with as much as we can hand you. But now we’re going to need you to prove that you live in Morgan County and that those eight people you say live in your house actually live in your house,” she said. “Because there’s so many more people, we try to be better stewards of what’s given to us and make sure we’re getting it into the hands of people who need it most.”

In order to meet the needs, the CCC needs to receive donations. Cash donations are down, but item donations, such as food and clothing, are up, Boyd said.

“Clothing is doing great, cold food is up. The canned goods are probably a little down,” she said. “We’re seeing the (monetary) demand rising much faster than our cash reserves are. Luckily we’re in a good place; we’ve got a good reserve, and we can handle a couple of rough years.”

Boyd said they have been significantly affected by inflation.

“The cost of just doing business is up,” she said. “We’ve seen increases in everything from trash and power to just general utilities. Even just keeping maintenance going is significantly more expensive than it ever has been before.”

The CCC holds a rummage sale every other month and Boyd said it sustains them and is the largest revenue item in their budget. Last year rummage sales brought in $55,000, up from $40,000 the previous year. The organization has budgeted to bring in $60,000 this year.

The next rummage sale will be March 15 at the CCC, which is located at 119 First Ave. N.E. in Decatur.

Boyd said this year they also hope to generate revenue by hosting north Alabama’s oldest existing run, the River City Run.

“All the proceeds come back to us,” she said. “My personal goal this year is starting at $20,000. I just want to do $20,000 so that we can hopefully make some infrastructure increases and just grow our program to meet where it’s already operating. Just to be able to support my staff and volunteers and make sure they have the resources that they need to meet the need that’s coming in.”

The March 30 event will include a 5K, 10K and fun run at Point Mallard. To sign up, go to runsignup.com and search RCR River City Run.

Boyd said the number of volunteers at the CCC has stayed steady and she has up to 20 each day.

“We draw a lot of the retiree crowd because it’s a great socialization place and our hours fit well with them,” she said.

Bill Simms, 79, and his wife Judy, 74, both from Decatur, retired from local school systems 22 years ago and have been volunteering with the CCC ever since.

“We knew what the CCC did for the community,” Judy Simms said. “When we retired and had some time to do something, this was something that was kind of after our hearts, helping the people of the community. Because as teachers, that’s what we are used to doing. It just filled a need in us that we could also fill a need for other people.”

She said she feels they have had an impact on the community through their volunteering.

“We wouldn’t continue to do it if we didn’t feel like we were making a difference,” she said. “We believe in it enough that we want to be actively involved with what’s going on.”

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.