Programs & Services
United Christian Ministries helps residents in need in three ways: with a food pantry, financial assistance for critical bills, and referral to other local supportive agencies.
Food Assistance: Our most frequent help request is for food. We operate a client-choice food pantry with canned vegetables and fruits, fresh vegetables and fruits, cereals, pastas, frozen meats, and more. Clients may receive food assistance as often as every two weeks.
Personal Items and Household Goods: When available, we provide personal toiletry items (soap, shampoo, toothpaste) and household items (toilet paper, laundry detergent, dish detergent) upon request.
Financial Aid: Limited financial assistance is available to pay for local utilities, past due rent, prescription co-pays, and some other expenses.
Other Services
During cold weather months, we distribute blankets and other cold weather items when available.
At Thanksgiving, we traditionally create a Thanksgiving food kit for our residents in need. The kit changes each year depending on donations and needs.
At Christmas, we partner with our local schools to provide large food bags to students whose families need support. These bags help to ease the added food needs when school is out for Winter Break. Thousands of food items are donated by churches, businesses, and individuals to fill over 400 bags each year.
Other Resources
UCM staff can refer you to other agencies to help meet your emergency needs. We coordinate with many Jackson County agencies to help keep our residents warm, housed, and fed. You may download a list of other local resources here. For financial planning/budgeting assistance, visit Consumer.gov | what to know and do. You may download a personal budget worksheet here.
Listen to these podcasts for more about UCM:
https://lighthousesylva.com/episode-4/
By: Pastor Mark Rogers, Lighthouse Baptist Church
https://stapelphotography.wordpress.com/hh
By: Lili J. Stapel, Journalism and Photography Student
Western Carolina University