Financial burden is a struggle that many people hope to never face, but likely will at some point in their lives. For some residents of North Augusta, financial burden is a prevailing part of their everyday lives. Living paycheck-to-paycheck is common, and a single emergency, no matter the circumstance, could cause lives to be flipped upside down.
Luckily, Community Ministries of North Augusta (CMONA) is here to help.
CMONA is a familiar organization to North Augusta residents. CMONA partners with multiple churches in the CSRA and has a thrift store that helps to financially support the Ministry.
Elizabeth Merritt, 2-year Executive Director of CMONA, details the experience she’s had with CMONA.
The mission of CMONA, Merritt states, is “[to meet] needs and improve lives by serving at the hands of Christ.”
CMONA offers help to people through food, toiletries, utility assistance, job loss, medication, transportation, as well as burial expenses, and family incarceration.
CMONA helps to “fill [non-narcotic] prescriptions,” as well as provide a “little bit of transportation assistance, usually in the form of Best Friend Express tickets,” Merritt says.
The Best Friend Express is a small bus that goes around Aiken County providing transportation to those that need it at the cost of a ticket.
While CMONA does a great ordeal of work for individuals throughout the year, during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, special provisions are made.
“At Thanksgiving, we provide Thanksgiving-type food. One of our partner churches has a Sunday School class that normally provides turkeys for our families and our regular clients,” Merritt says. “At Christmas time, that same class provides hams.”
Last year, though COVID-19 was still a struggle that prevented many people from celebrating the way they wanted to, Merritt had a large number of people providing food for people. She says, “Another class from that same church provided these ginormous bags of food that had Thanksgiving-type food that you would normally serve.”
Merritt appreciates every amount of support CMONA receives, especially during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
“It’s great to be able to hand them a turkey because that’s something that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to have. At Christmas, we do some assistance to children …, in terms of toys, and provide those to people who are already established as our clients.” Merritt states around 40 children received gifts last year.
Pictured: Community Ministry of North Augusta
Photo Credit: Emma Carter
Comments