A Labor of Love in Jackson

This past summer, Jackson, Mississippi, was hit not once, but twice by two linked disasters. In August, heavy rains led to flooding throughout the city, damaging the city’s infrastructure. Once the rain stopped, a new crisis began. The city’s water plants were damaged, leaving tens of thousands of residents without access to clean running water.

In this moment of crisis, the community came together to support one another. Tameshia Cooper works for a local church called Christ Tabernacle Church in Jackson. The church is led by Pastor Hosea Hines, who is a National Leader of A New Day Coalition For Equity For Black America. In the midst of the crisis, Christ Tabernacle Church took action and became a water distribution center.

As someone whose family was affected by the crisis, Tameshia understood the severity of the situation. She shared, “my family and I are residents of Jackson and we were affected by the water crisis. We were without drinking water, and sometimes even running water, throughout this time and we continue to have this issue.”

While attending a meeting hosted by The National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, Tameshia learned about the CWS Kits and Buckets program and reached out for support. Since our initial contact with her, we have worked with Tameshia to provide her church with 60 CWS School Kits, 60 Hygiene Kits and 36 Emergency Cleanup Buckets. The CWS Kits and Buckets were distributed along with water bottles at the church. Since many schools were closed due to the water crisis, our CWS School Kits were especially beneficial for students participating in online school at home. Tameshia said the kits and buckets were both “helpful” and “necessary” and “greatly appreciated” by everyone who received them.

Tameshia said she would like to say “thank you” to everyone who is part of the CWS Kits and Buckets campaign and added, “Your partnership has been very essential in our effort to sustain a decent quality of life in our community. Your labor of love helped service over 60,000 citizens in the City of Jackson, The Jackson Public Schools Systems and daycares.”

At CWS, we are committed to spreading our labor of love as much as possible, to ensure all our neighbors receive support when they need it.

Click here to learn about how you can support our CWS Kits and Blanket program and help us respond to disasters like this one.