07-03-2025
Carthage Crisis Center to welcome new director
CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage Crisis Center will hold a reception next week for its new executive director.
The event is planned to welcome Eileen Sherlock, who started three weeks ago, at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13, in the dining room of the Crisis Center at 100 S. Main St.
The reception will also recognize Jim Benton, who led the shelter for more than nine years.
'We are confident that Eileen's experience and expertise will significantly contribute to achieving increased ministry opportunities for the Carthage Crisis Center,' board President Hal Andrews said in a statement. 'All of us on the board are looking forward to working with her.'
Sherlock's background includes 15 years in program and business development, grant fundraising and leadership. She also directed a suicide and overdose prevention program and secured grants to support underprivileged youths in sports, promoting social engagement and equal opportunities.
She also spent six months on a women's empowerment team in Cairo. For five years, she coordinated material assistance across 20 churches for a refugee resettlement program, and she spearheaded financial support for Jamaican children who could not attend school unless they were documented and had appropriate school uniforms.
'Her background in finance was very strong,' board Vice President Mark Elliff said in a statement. 'Part of what we look for to operate the Crisis Center is grants and fundraising. Her heart and concern and desire to help the homeless was a factor that you don't find often."
The Carthage Crisis Center was founded in 1996 when Grace Episcopal Church joined forces with 16 other churches in Carthage to address homelessness in the city. The center operated out of a small building at Fifth and Lyons streets in Carthage and operated without a director until Brian and Marilyn Bisbee were hired to be the executive directors. In 2009, the center moved to a much larger 43,000-square-foot home at Central and Main streets.
Benton and his wife were hired in 2015, and Benton announced in November he was leaving to focus on his ministry at the First Baptist Church in Jasper.
