Christopher Carpenter loves analyzing numbers and loves serving his community — and he has a job where he can put those interests to good use.
Carpenter serves as chief executive officer of Sunflower-Humphreys Counties Progress Inc., a community action agency based in Indianola that offers programs for low-income families.
It’s a $4.5 million operation, and he watches the money carefully.
“If I’m off by one dollar, I will work to find where that one dollar is,” he said. “That’s just how I am.”
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Carpenter, 43, was born in Greenwood, the son of Walter and Jewell Carpenter, and graduated from Greenwood High School in 1992. In his youth, he enjoyed playing soccer and also served as equipment manager for the GHS football team, in addition to taking part in church and other activities. He said his mother taught him the importance of being respectful, having good manners and working with others, and he also learned good values at DeCell United Methodist Church, which he still attends.
From the age of 5 until 18, he was involved with the Palace of Children, a youth fraternity operating under the Heroines of Jericho.
In high school, he was interested in pursuing a career in medicine, but his plans changed after he took an accounting class as a senior at the suggestion of a counselor.
“I needed an elective, so I just took accounting as an elective — and I fell in love with it,” he said. “It was just like a light bulb turned on.”
He went on to Rust College, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting in 1996. He added a Master of Business Administration degree at Jackson State University in 1998.
After graduate school, he worked for the Renal Care Group in Jackson, then the state Legislative Budget Office and then Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou.
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He joined Sunflower-Humphreys Counties Progress Inc. in 2006 as a grants manager, doing accounting work.
He said Louise Lloyd, who was CEO then, taught him about grant writing and other tasks and gave him various projects to help him develop his leadership skills. In fact, although he didn’t know it right away, she was grooming him to succeed her. She created the position of chief financial officer for him in 2011, and he became CEO in 2016.
Carpenter said he learned a lot from Lloyd, and it felt good to know that she and the board of directors had confidence in him. Now he tells young people that they also can have this kind of opportunity if they work hard.
“It’s a humbling experience, because I don’t take it lightly,” he said. “I thank God every day that he has given me the opportunity to be able to serve the citizens in Sunflower and Humphreys counties in that capacity.”
He oversees about 30 employees and 52 volunteers at Sunflower-Humphreys Counties Progress, which also has an office in Belzoni.
The agency handles Community Service Block Grants and offers a number of programs for low-income citizens, including help with energy bills, meals, transportation and household tasks. Through the Child and Adult Care Food Program, it provides meals and snacks to Head Start in Sunflower County and about 50 child care centers in several counties. It also offers job training for seniors and, through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, helps people between the ages 16 and 24 with applying for jobs, writing resumés, interviewing and developing a proper work ethic.
“So we have a lot going on,” Carpenter said.
He said he likes to help people who are going through hard times so that they can provide for themselves and their families. Even though his title is CEO, he thinks of himself as a servant.
“Just to see some of the successes of some of the clients that come in is gratifying, and just to know we have a positive impact in people’s lives,” he said.
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Carpenter wants to influence people’s lives through DeCell, too.
He helped spearhead the organization of the DeCell Men’s Club, a group of about 15 men from different churches, cities and denominations. He has served as the club’s president since its inception in 2013 and also is its youngest member.
The group meets to come up with ideas for helping young people and generally serving the community. God calls men to be leaders, but many don’t take on that responsibility, Carpenter said.
“I feel like it’s very important that we as men come together to be able to sit down and talk about what we can do to serve others,” he said. “Not only that; what can we do to make disciples?”
The group has donated supplies to area schools and offers youth activities that include games as well as motivational speakers. Its members also visit people in nursing homes and give out Christmas gift baskets. Even when the club holds special events that include meals, it often will save some food to give to the needy.
“Any time we do God’s work and we see individuals in the community truly, truly appreciate what we’re trying to do, it’s exciting,” Carpenter said.
He hopes the club will be able to do even more, such as spreading awareness about health issues and generally working to empower people who can’t speak for themselves. But its top objective is to tell more people about God.
“Everything we try to do, our main objective is to bring more souls to Christ,” he said. “We want to show more love for our fellow man, and we want to be that light in the community.”
Carpenter, who is single, enjoys watching sports, reading and traveling in his spare time.
He also has other ideas for community work, including bringing people together to devise a plan for fighting poverty — and he plans to stay in the area to do more.
“I don’t plan on leaving any time soon, because I feel like I’m needed here,” he said. “I feel like my calling is in Greenwood — I guess in the Mississippi Delta as a whole.”
•Contact David Monroe at 581-7236 or dmonroe@gwcommonwealth.com.
