Cash cards benefit Project Crossroads

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

For nine months, Project Crossroads has taken advantage of a fund-raising opportunity that benefits the non-profit organization and the retailers who make the program work.
Crossroads Cash uses cash cards from hundreds of retailers – stores, restaurants, hotels, even amusement parks – sold by Great Lakes Scrip Center. These are the same as the familiar gift cards that in recent years have made shopping for hard-to-shop-for people easier.
Customers order the cards from Project Crossroads in $25, $50 and $100 amounts. The cards are worth their full face value for purchases at the retailers that issue them. But Great Lakes sells the cards to Project Crossroads at the discounts provided by the retailers. Great Lake passes the discounts along, generating as much as $15 from the sale of a $100 card. The proceeds are deposited into a special fund at Project Crossroads.
Linda Stransky, director of new ministries at Project Crossroads, said the organization began Crossroads Cash last December, and has raised about $5,000 in the nine months since.
“It raises money that goes into a fund for families,” Stransky said. “It cannot be used for utility bills. We don’t have enough money for that.” Instead, Stransky said, the money was used to buy eyeglasses for someone who could not afford them, and a microwave oven for another family in need.
Stransky is working to let the community know about Crossroads Cash, focusing on churches. Many of the letters she mailed to churches last year came back because of incorrect addresses.
She encourages church leaders to contact her at 781-8020 to learn about how congregations can become involved in supporting Project Crossroads while they do their regular shopping and traveling.
Project Crossroads is best known for addressing housing needs in the county. Established in 1988, it installs access ramps and makes roofing and general home repairs for those who can’t otherwise afford to get the work done. It draws on skilled-labor missionary teams from the region and houses the volunteers through local churches.
Over the years Project Crossroads’ mission expanded to include disaster relief and a firewood ministry in which volunteers cut, split and deliver wood to dozens of homes. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, the group prepares and delivers more than 400 meals to individuals and families.