Jerry Aldridge This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. www.cashdash.net

   www.cashdash.net/news/press-re - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/30/2008   Last Visited: 8/28/2008

   "It is unbelievable how many people are sleeping on the floor or sleeping on beds that are not fit to be slept on," said Jerry Aldridge, president of Central Illinois Christians in Mission, which will accept dozens of sets of bedding and donate it to needy families or other charities.

2. 2. Herald & Review - Actions speaking loudly: Christians in Mission getting more involved in community, By HUEY FREEMAN -- H&R Staff Writer

   www.herald-review.com/articles - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/4/2006   Last Visited: 1/4/2006

   DECATUR - Jerry Aldridge knows what it is like for a family to suddenly need help.
   
   "We had a fire in 1989 and lost the biggest part of what we had," said Aldridge, 64, as he takes a break after helping load a couple of dressers onto a truck.
   
   About six years after the fire, Aldridge and a couple of friends founded Central Illinois Christians in Mission, a ministry that distributes goods to needy people.
   
   The ministry, now sponsored by New Day Community Church, on the city's northeast side, has grown into an operation of majo proportions.
   
   In June, the ministry removed furniture, blankets and sheets from 223 rooms at the Chancellor Hotel in Champaign, just before it was demolished.Ministry volunteers worked for a week to haul more than 15 semitruck trailers' worth of merchandise to a storage facility.
   
   The ministry works with agencies such as Dove Inc., Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Faith in Action.
   
   "Since October, we've helped 50 families," Aldridge said.
   
   While many New Day members are involved in the ministry, Aldridge, a retiree, is its only full-time volunteer.
   
   Herald & Review/Lisa MorrisonJerry Aldridge talks about what furniture they have available to clients who have been referred to the program.
   ...
   Aldridge retired from Decatur Pattern Works in 1997.He began working at the company when he was in his 20s, and owned the company by the time he retired, 32 years later.He sold it in order to devote his energies to ministry work.
   
   "God worked everything out," he said."I knew it was supposed to be."
   
   Aldridge, who was raised by a single mother in Cerro Gordo, said he was poor as a child, but "didn't know it."He always had clothes to wear and a place to sleep.
   
   He has a soft spot in his heart for children, which propels him to put long hours into the ministry.
   
   "A lot of what we do out here is for the kids," he said.