HATTIESBURG – For more than 35 years, one of the most important ministries in Hattiesburg and the Pine Belt has been feeding the needy, both physically and spiritually, from an old warehouse located literally on the other side of the tracks.
Christian Services, Inc., is a multi-faceted non-profit ministry that offers help for those that need it the most in the Pine Belt.
“It is so vitally important that we are still here in the community,” said Maggie West, executive director at Christian Services. “You just never know who is being affected by the work that we do.”
A brief perusal of the organization’s website, christianserve.org reveals a sometimes bewildering array of services for community outreach.
Christian Services has one of the oldest soup kitchens in the area, it provides financial and material assistance for poor families who qualify, delivers meals to the elderly and medically-handicapped, and offers a halfway program for those battling substance addiction.
“There is an image that some people have that we’re only feeding the homeless, we’re only feeding people who won’t work, and people don’t take care of themselves,” said West. “And some of that is true.
“But God didn’t say feed only certain people. He said feed my people. And he didn’t say feed my people if… It is all types of folks.”
West graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology and counseling. She has spent of her career in some form of counseling.
The ministry’s goal and purpose is in its name, Christians serving. It fills a needed role in the Hattiesburg community, while offering biblical counseling and the message of hope through Jesus Christ.
“What you see in me is a passion for the Lord,” said Kim Kolinsky, office assistant for CSI. “People who go through a really dark place in their lives ae the most grateful people when they come out.
“You’ve got to know what the darkness is to appreciate the light. That’s my testimony. My goal is to make the Gospel attractive.”
Christian Services was the brainchild of Bill and Cookie Prout, who founded the ministry in 1986 and guided it into the 2010s before stepping aside.
The organization initially began in a large house on McSwain Street that served lunches to anyone who came in hungry. It soon moved into its present location on East Second Street in downtown Hattiesburg, adjacent to the Canadian Northern Railroad line.
The founding principle of CSI is reflected in the Bible verse that appears on the Home page of the organization’s website, found in Philippians 2:3-4:
“Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own interest, but also the interest of others.”
West has officially been executive director at CSI since February, 2021, but she’s been doing the job since she came to work there in late 2019.
While keeping CSI’s ministry open and operating through the Covid-19 pandemic, West also had to negotiate a hazardous path through a leadership crisis that resulted in the non-profit’s Advisory Board taking a more active role in the day-to-day operations.
“The Lord kept saying, ‘that’s not your war to fight,’” said West. “My job was just to take care of the ministry, take care of the staff and the volunteers. This place was essential during Covid, and it was my job to keep it running. And that’s what I did.”
The heart of the ministry is its kitchen, which serves some 1,000 lunches to the community, most of them through church-run lunch delivery programs, but also through Meals On Wheels.
“It really is the heart of the operation,” said Jason Gentry, kitchen coordinator for CSI. “We feed over a thousand people, so it’s very important.
“About 30 or so are in-house, the rest go out through the drive-through for churches and Meals On Wheels. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays are usually the busiest.””
The majority of those go to various churches and charities in the Pine Belt, many of whom line up their vehicles in the parking lot as early as 9 a.m. on weekdays to carry boxes of lunches to the people they serve in their community.
“Feed the people,” said Gentry, when asked about the biggest part of his job. “We get donations from stores like Walmart, Sam’s, other grocery stores. They are always very generous.”
Other volunteer drivers carry lunches to the homes of those in the City of Hattiesburg who are elderly, or medically housebound.
In addition, CSI serves about lunches on weekdays in its dining area. Diners get a hot meal and a rousing redemption story, usually from Kolinsky, who has a good one to tell.
Daughter of former Southern Miss footballer Nick Kolinsky, later known as the owner-operator of Nick’s Ice House on Hardy Street for many years, Kim Kolinsky found herself drowning in addiction when she came to CSI in 2019.
“Years ago, I came out of addiction through a program called Team Challenge, which really introduced me to the Word of God in a huge way,” said Kolinsky. “I made the decision to turn my life around.
“I did a ministry school with Maggie and we formed a relationship. After we finished that, I started showing up here and volunteering. The best compliment you can get when you’re volunteering is to get offered a job and they want to pay you to do it.”
The big events are the holiday meals, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, when volunteers serve upwards of 1,500 diners, many of them from the Hattiesburg homeless community, who enjoy festive fellowship in the dining room.
“There is a lot of planning that goes into those meals,” said Gentry. “I haven’t done one of those yet, so we’ll find out how it goes.”
Besides, the Soup Kitchen and Meals On Wheels, CSI offers Loving Hands emergency assistance, the Bargains and Blessings thrift shop, Thrive, offering free financial and legal counseling and Liberty Ministries, which has been West’s pride and joy.
Liberty Ministry is a resident program of six months to a year at its Land of Liberty camp outside of Ellisville for men who are looking to break the cycle of addiction and change the course of their lives.
“I believe in the holistic approach to recovery,” said West. “Other recovery programs don’t come close to what we’re doing for these men. Medicine, mental health, the whole nine yards.
“I mean, you can’t figure out who the Lord is with an abscessed tooth; you can’t be fighting a diabetes number of 600 and get off drugs, and still learn about the Gospels. You have to cure the whole person, mind, body and soul. And it takes a year to complete.”
As a non-profit, CSI depends on grants from large private charities, corporations and religious organizations, as well as private donations from the community.
And the operation doesn’t go off without volunteers, some who come as a corporate service project, others from the community who regularly donate their time to help. Some have been doing it for years.
“I’ve been volunteering about 18 months,” said Kathy Touchstone, a retired teacher from Oak Grove who works on the serving line on Thursdays. “I’m retired, and I decided that instead of doing things for my pleasure, I wanted to do things to help other people.
“I love working with the other volunteers. I’ve met some very interesting, lovable people, and I love the guys that are a part of the program. The kids I taught were a lot younger than this, but I try to encourage them to be successful, and a lot of times they are.”
And with the needs continuing to be present, perhaps even mounting, West believes Christian Services has an expanding role to play in ministering to its community.
“I have lots of big dreams,” said West. “We are currently trying to move the thrift store and we’re very close to moving to the old (Vardaman) Buick dealership on Broadway Drive. This will give us a lot more visibility.
“We’re also building a transitional dorm at Liberty that we hope to see completed very soon. There are so many needs to be met in the community, and we believe the Lord calls us to meet those needs.”
