Cullman Paper Features The Crossing
The Crossing was recently featured in the Cullman TRIBUNE. Reporter W.C. Mann spoke with Director Melissa Hudson about the unique mission of The Crossing.
October 24, 2017
Since 2011, Melissa Hudson has been on a mission to feed and clothe the needy of Cullman County. Right now, she is already in a perfect position to respond to those needs, working out of an office in the Cullman County Department of Human Resources (DHR) building on St. Joseph Street in Cullman, but she has her eyes in even bigger things like a self-sustaining farm that will offer shelter, food and meaningful work for the homeless.
Hudson and a few friends started The Crossing in her home in October 2011, and operated there until 2013, when they received an invitation to come to DHR. Hudson related, “I came to a meeting here, and at the time the director here said, ‘Where’s your building? Where’s your office?’ ‘Well, it’s in my living room!’ So she let us let us have a place here, because they have several different places. They’ve got the CCC, the Committee on Church Cooperation, that helps with rent and stuff like that, right beside us. So they let us be here when they are, and they don’t charge us rent. We get the two days a week, and it’s awesome!
“It puts us right here, where a lot of people are in need. I mean, they come in the door for food stamps; the food stamp office refers people to us if they don’t qualify, or if they can’t get them right then. They say, ‘We have a food bank right here that can serve you today.’ It helps that struggle that they might have, until they can get approved.”