JACKSONVILLE, Ark. – A Jacksonville church took their Christmas cheer on the road this weekend.
Emmanuel Covenant Community Church loaded hundreds of boxes of food along with winter coats and toys. This holiday season their mission took them to the community of Cotton Plant in Woodruff County.
Church leaders say they were inspired to action after hearing the community has some of the highest rates of poverty in the country.
“That just touched us tremendously, and we were like, ‘Well, since we have access to all of this stuff, let’s just go to Cotton Plant,’” Emmanuel Covenant pastor Berlinda Helms said.
As of 2020, Cotton Plant has a population of just over 500 people, down more than a thousand from the town’s peak population in the mid-1950s.