A church with fewer than two dozen members supplied food, coats and toys to hundreds of residents in a community marked with crime and poverty.
Rhema Alive! Church ministers regularly in College Hill Courts, the largest public housing site in the city.
The result is men and women seeking freedom from violence and addiction.
"Rhema means the utterance of God," said the Rev. Dwight D. Harrison. "So that's how we carry out the ministry operating from the word of God."
Rhema is among several small churches, businesses and individuals helping people throughout the year and during the holiday season.
Navy veteran Cynthia Coleman teamed up with businessman Gerald Mason to supply toys to more than 500 children enrolled in Kandy Kastle Day Kare and Rainbow Day Care.
How to help
› Low-income families who need furniture or toys may contact Rhema Alive Church at 423-320-3824.Rhema Alive is also taking coats, toys and furniture donations.› The Salvation Army still needs volunteers and monetary donations this Christmas season. Donations can be made at www.csarmy.org or by calling 423-756-1023 or texting the word “donation” to 91999.Individuals or groups can sign up for volunteer opportunities by visiting www.csarmy.org.
Coleman said she's been helping get toys to children in need since 1996.
And the Salvation Army supplied gifts and toys for 4,800 families who signed up for its Angel Tree program.
Harrison said the ultimate goal at Rhema Alive is to lead people to God and to develop individuals who have given up on themselves.
Harrison formerly operated Breaking the Cycle, a house for men recently released from prison.
The church plans to start a recovery ministry in 2018 to address recent drug addicts and former addicts who've come for help.
The congregation has been working in the community since Rhema Alive started on Easter Sunday in April 2017.
Rhema Alive fed more than 200 people from College Hill Courts this fall. It also gave coats to people who needed them. It gave gifts to more than 100 children for Christmas, and it will soon offer furniture to any low-income family who needs it.
Shirley Gordon, owner of Hair Logic and the minister's assistant, said she is compelled to help people.
She grew up in the defunct Maurice Poss Homes public housing site. Her family, which included 11 brothers and sisters, often had only pinto beans and cornbread, but if her mother saw another person hungry, she called him in to eat. Gordon said she has the same commitment to help others.
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.