LAURINBURG — Local Rotarians received a good overview of the services provided by Church Community Services from its co-coordinators, Vince Bateman and Denise Riggins, on Tuesday.

Riggins opened the discussion by stating she and Bateman have separate duties — Riggins handles much of the financial areas such as rent and utility assistance, along with grant writing, while Bateman handles most of the food and clothing assistance — though they do help one another with all the services.

“We have a lot going on, especially as we continue through COVID-19,” Riggins said. “In 2020 alone, we assisted more than 550 families. Normally that would be around 200.”

Riggins added that the coronavirus has put a challenge on the CCS finances, as much of the FEMA dollars have been used up — though some assistance of FEMA money is coming from Robeson County.

“For a while last year, we were getting 30 to 40 calls per day for assistance,” Riggins said. “That’s well above the norm. We are also seeing a lot of homeless folks, which is new for this community and becoming a bigger problem.

“We really appreciate what the community does to assist us …” she added.

Bateman echoed a lot of what Riggins said.

“People think they need to pay us back for our services,” he explained, “but I want to emphasize that our services are free.”

Bateman shared some numbers with Rotarians from 2020 — the food pantry assisted 25,000 households, representing 41,000 individuals; and the clothes closet gave out 32,000 items.

“All of those numbers are new highs for us,” Bateman said. “In fact, it continues a three-year upward trend.

“We really depend on our loyal volunteers and donors,” he added. “But we are always in need of new volunteers and donations.”

During a Q&A session, Riggins and Bateman said CCS has a number of churches that regularly contribute food, clothing and other needed items.

“We even had a local Eagle Scout candidate contribute 4,000 food items that helped to feed 81 families back in December,” Bateman said.

But Riggins and Bateman also said CCS continues to be in need of such things as toiletries, clothing — especially for larger men — and items like paper plates, bowls and utensils.

Anyone interested in donating to CCS or volunteering can call Riggins or Bateman at 910-276-8330, or stop by their offices at 108 S. Gill St. in Laurinburg.

W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or cvincent@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.