Hancock receives ‘Giving Your Best Award’

Jennie Montgomery, WJBF NewsChannel 6, and the Giving Your Best Partners visited The Lazarus Project Wednesday, March 26, to present Malissa Hancock with the Giving Your Best Award! Malissa was nominated for the award by Judge Bobby Reeves. The presentation aired on WJBF NewsChannel 6 on Monday, March 31, at 5 p.m.

Bobby Reeves and Malissa Hancock co-founded The Lazarus Project, where needs are met when families fall on hard times. Both have servants hearts, and they are a force for good in Emanuel County.

We surprised Malissa in Swainsboro with the Giving Your Best award. And though she spends many hours coordinating volunteers, donation pick-ups and drop-offs, and food distributions… this isn’t her paying job!

“So I’m a judicial assistant for Superior Court Judge Bobby Reeves. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It gives me an opportunity to see people that come through that are struggling. Court systems– the only happy days we really have are adoptions. Those are really great days! Everything else is heartbreaking,” said Malissa.

It was one of those “heartbreaking story” days that led Superior Court Judge Reeves to act on an impulse after hearing of families losing everything in a fire.

“And I thought about the Sunday school lesson that I had taught the Sunday before, which is about Lazarus, the poor man sitting at the steps of the rich man and the rich man wouldn’t even share the crumbs under his table with the poor man,” stated Judge Reeves.

He had the idea to start saving used furniture and household goods. So Malissa put his idea into action.

“And so we started saving furniture and giving it to people who have a house burned down or they have to get out of a domestic violence situation and they have to leave everything behind. So we started saving up furniture,” commented Malissa.

She says the problem then became storage space.

“We started praying… Lord we need more room. You know, furniture takes up a lot of room, we need more room. And not long thereafter, we saw what used to be an old BiLo that was available.”

A place Reeves drove right by on a daily basis!

“I see this sign, you know, for rent or lease, for sale or whatever, and I kept thinking, I’ll call those people and see if we can just use the building. But I keep putting it off. I just never called the guy and say, ‘Hey, can we use that building until you sell it?’ And then lo and behold, a lawyer calls one day and says, I know the guy that owns that building. He wants to give it to a charity for the tax deduction.”

Once the old grocery store was ready to house the Lazarus Project, Melissa began the process of expanding to a food pantry, too.

Malissa proudly commented …“We did the work, got the food going, and we gave away over 300,000 pounds of food last year. Everybody out here’s a volunteer, everybody. So, after work in the mornings, at lunchtime, on the weekends, we have to make sure that the people get what they need.”