Newsletter – August, 2017
CCT News
Love Week at CCT
Each year Elevation Church dedicates a week to service, called “Love Week”. For years now, Elevation Church has sent a group of volunteers to CCT to give their time and energy and this year was no different.
Groups of volunteers came to both of our locations. First, a group came to LifeWorks! at the Goodwill Opportunity Campus and conducted mock job interviews with our clients. Mock job interviews are extremely helpful to our clients who are preparing for employment. The interviews allow them to practice some of the interview skills they learn in our LifeWorks! classes, including how to navigate any questions that come up about their criminal records. But our clients weren’t the only ones getting something out of the interviews. Some volunteers came away saying their hearts had been opened to people with criminal records, as our clients had completely dismantled the idea they had of what a person with a criminal record is like. What’s more, one volunteer stated they may have found a suitable and valuable employee!
A group of volunteers also came to our Center for Women where they again hosted “Family Day”. Family Day is an invaluable event for the resident women at the center. The center’s residents are women who are completing the last years of their prison sentences. Each of them was transferred to our facility from a NC state prison. For many of them, coming to CCT is the first time they have been able to receive family visits. Even for those who did receive visits in prison, those visits leave much to be desired! CCT does our best to create a more home-like environment at our Center for Women, so families can come and enjoy quality time with their loved ones. This helps restore family bonds and build healthy relationships – a key factor in reducing recidivism.
Family Day is an extra special visitation day for families at the Center for Women, because it creates a festival-like atmosphere and gives children the chance to play and have fun with their mothers in a relatively normal setting. Many of our clients’ families tell us this is a cherished experience for children who have spent years visiting their mothers behind bars.
We are so grateful to Elevation Church for making Family Day possible, and for providing opportunity to our LifeWorks! clients.
Top Right: Volunteers at LifeWorks!; Bottom: families and volunteers at Family Day
At CCT we rely on generous donors on you to provide the resources we need. Thank you to everyone who donated in the month of July.
Anonymous
Audra Atkinson
Frankie Barnes
Beth Bennett-Hill
Milt Childress
Myra Clark
Robert K. Daniels
David L. Drum
Jeffery S. Eason
Sallie Fitton
Fannie Flono
Eric and Robin Franz
Rosemarie Gancer
Gary Guffey
Betty Hong
Atalaya Henrietta Johnson
Dorian A. Johson
Wendy Kauffman
Cora Knox
Janine Lafferty
Hugh Lewis
Catherine Long
Thomas Patrick Long
Brenda Ford McCray
Patricia Morrison
Adair Morrison
Marcus Reddrick
Gail Swaim
Crystal Turner
Peter Q. Zeiler
Arlington Baptist Church
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated
Mecklenburg County ABC Board
St. John’s Baptist Church
The Mary Norris Preyer Fund
United Way of the Central Carolinas
Wells Fargo Community Support Campaign
Wilson Heights First Church of God
Opportunities to Give
The average American family spends $200 per child per year on school supplies. CCT’s client children have experienced the incarceration of a loved one, most often a parent. Families whose household incomes have been cut due the incarceration of a family member often struggle with the financial burden of school supplies. That’s why each year we host Back in Style, a back to school event that provides free school supplies, a free meal, and free haircuts to kids impacted by incarceration. Will you join us in helping prepare these kids for school by donating for school supplies today?
Volunteer Opportunities
The Center for Women
A volunteer to train to drive women to Elevation Church for Sunday Services is needed. If you are interested, please contact the Center for Women’s Volunteer Coordinator, Nyeshia Carpenter at [email protected].
Back in Style – Agency Wide
Volunteers are still needed for this annual Back-to-School event on August 24th. If interested,?please fill out this interest form?and staff member will contact you.
Events
Back in Style, August 24th
CCT’s annual back-to-school Back in Style event will be held August 24th for CCT clients only. We will need volunteers and donations of school supplies and backpacks. If you are interested in volunteering or in organizing a school supply drive, please?fill out this interest form.?If you would like to attend as a client REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED – please?contact Charis Blackmon at [email protected]?or 704-494-8601?ext. 13 to register.