CUOC director retires: ‘Such a special place’

ASHEBORO — Debbie Cole is leaving the job she believes God prepared her for during her entire life.

On Dec. 30, she’s retiring from Christians United Outreach Center after nearly 23 years, the past 10 as director. Stephanie Wright will be taking her place.

“I came to work on Feb. 2, 2002,” Cole said recently from the office she’ll soon turn over to Wright. “I started in client services, evaluating requests. After a year I became administrative assistant to the director,” who was Jerry Hill. 

A bit later, Cole was named assistant director. She became director when Hill retired in 2014.

Cole said Wright came to Christians United Outreach Center in 2015. “She’s a woman of faith and she loves this place. You have to have a heart for what we do. The people here work harder than most jobs.”

She describes the mission of the organization, known locally as CUOC, as “a faith-based short-term crisis intervention center,” with a food pantry and financial resources for basic needs. The mission is “Partnering with our community, meeting people at their point of need, following the example of Christ.”

“We’re designed to help people in need due to no fault of their own,” said Cole, adding that financial help is for the short term until clients can get back on their feet. “There are qualifiers. We need to see a beginning and an end of the crisis. We provide budget counseling. We can’t keep them up indefinitely.”

For example, a woman with children may be living on child support payments. When payments stop or are delayed, the woman may ask CUOC for financial help. Cole said they may ask her if she can get a job to also contribute to the financial security of the home while the kids are in school.

As for the food pantry, Cole said, “We don’t turn anybody away for food,” adding that anyone in Randolph County can receive food on a regular basis, but within reason.

Looking back at her beginning at CUOC, Cole said she had prayed about whether this was where she needed to be. She had served on church committees before she applied for the CUOC job. 

Cole said she had spoken to Hill over the phone but never in person. When she came in, Hill “had me sit in on claim interviews. I was hired and the first week I cried about every day. I was touched by people’s needs. Jerry said he didn’t know if I would make it.

“But from that day on, I knew this is where I was supposed to be. I felt like God prepared me my whole life. There were struggles at times but I was growing in experience. It broadened my love for people and the support of the ministry for a cause. The beauty of that is a blessing.”

Working at CUOC, Cole said, “has grown my faith, just to see how God has moved, how his hand has been on the ministry. There’s such a peace about being here. There was never a day I didn’t want to be here with the wonderful staff and volunteers, and the community as a whole.

“It’s going to be hard to leave,” she said. “I still believe in what I do but it’s the right decision to leave. The volunteers and staff are like family and I’ll stay in touch. And the people on the board (of directors) help us when we need help. It’s just a special place.”

Cole talked about some of the people CUOC has helped over the years. 

One woman on Social Security asked for financial help but it was learned that her grown children were living with her and depending on her retirement checks. Cole said the woman was asked, “Why aren’t they working?” She took that to heart and kicked her adult children out. It turned things around for the woman and, Cole said, all her children got jobs and became self-supporting.

Cole remembers a single mother and a senior adult, both of whom became home owners after having spent time CUOC’s homeless shelter program. 

Then there’s the woman with health issues who had to walk to work. CUOC gave her a car and Cole remembers “how excited she was.”

Some of those clients have come back to work at CUOC, either on the payroll or as volunteers. A man came to them after being released from prison. Cole said he was determined to take responsibility over his actions and to “prove he was somebody. We bought him work boots and he got a full-time job. Then he offered to help us.

“Some just need somebody to believe in them and to give them a chance,” she said. “Those are the times that are most impactful to me, that someone believed in them.”

Cole said the value of assistance provided to clients last year amounted to just less than $1.8 million. That includes providing food to be prepared at home each month to some 2,000 people.

CUOC receives food commodities from the NC Department of Agriculture and from Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC. The ministry distributes food to people in the Food Stamp program for the Randolph County Department of Social Services. They also receive pantry donations from a number of local churches, and take donated food and funds. CUOC is also a United Way of Randolph County agency. 

“We distribute food to anyone but people have to qualify for the food stamp program based on income to receive the commodity food,” Cole said.

CUOC also operates a thrift store at 930 S. Fayetteville St., Asheboro, where their offices are located. The store’s giveaways totaled about $25,000 last year, Cole said. That figure does not reflect sales.

“My biggest concern is, over the years, the cost to operate has increased but the support is not keeping up,” she said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic cut down on volunteer hours, which have failed to recover.

But she plans to continue at CUOC as a volunteer. Cole also is helping with another nonprofit, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which builds beds for children who have been sleeping on a floor.

“I’ll still be busy, but I just won’t be busy every day,” she said. “I have a great big family I’ll be spending time with.”

She said she and her husband, Tyler Cole, have seven children, 18 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

“I’m leaving to be with him,” she said. “It’s time to go.”

However, Cole isn’t about to forget about her time at CUOC. “I feel very honored to have had the opportunity to serve here with the support of Randolph County so we could do what we do.”