GreerCharities w ritte n by SHERIL BE NNE T T TURNER photo g raphed by BRIAN ERKE NS
“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” — Helen Keller
C
harity. The word is defined as “generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering.” But what does charity really mean? Giving money. Giving time. Giving food, clothing, furniture, or toys to those who don’t have any. Yes, I think so. But most of all I think charity is caring enough to help make someone else’s life better. Here are the stories of three charities in the Greer area, two that love and support our local community, and one that gives love and support to the world from our community. Each one exists because of that one person who did something, and the Greer community that did not refuse to give.
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Greer Community Ministries MOST PEOPLE ARE FAMILIAR WITH MEALS ON WHEELS. One of the oldest and largest organizations in the United States, the organization assists the homebound elderly and disabled by delivering nutritious meals to their homes. But not everyone is familiar with the local organization that provides this service. Greer Community Ministries began as a result of the late Reverend Johnny Stack who, while serving on the Greenville County Council for the Aging, determined there was a need in the Greer area for a Meals on Wheels program. Meeting with other concerned citizens in 1972, Reverend Stack and the community devised a plan of action and on March 5, 1973, meals were prepared and delivered to 25 local residents. In 1974, two more programs — the Senior Dining Program and the Food Pantry and Clothing Closet — were added. In 1996, Greer Community Ministries centralized the three programs under one roof at a new facility on South Line Street Extension in downtown Greer. Today, under the watchful eye of Meals on Wheels Director Martha King-Lafoy, more than 360 hot lunches a day are prepared in large kitchen facilities and are delivered by volunteers on 18 routes. While Meals on Wheels provides the healthy, nourishing meal, volunteers provide the friendly smiles and helping hands. “Sometimes we’re the only face these folks see during the day,” says Tina Howard, Food and Clothing Coordinator. Volunteers are from all walks of life, ages, races, and nationalities, but they have one thing in common — they are willing to give a couple of hours a day, a week, or even a month to help people who cannot help themselves. One volunteer, Louise Waters, delivered the first meals in 1973 and still delivers today. With so many people depending on Meals on Wheels, volunteers are crucial to the survival of the program. “I have never talked to a volunteer who didn’t seem to get even more out of the experience than the recipient,” says Randy Kemp, Executive Director. The Senior Dining Program was created for older folks in the community who need a social outlet to combat loneliness and depression. “I’ve had people tell me,
‘You saved my father’s life,’” Randy says. “These people would not get out of the house much without the dining program. If they don’t drive, we pick them up. We have morning coffee and snacks, fellowship time, and lunch. We also provide transportation to doctor appointments, pharmacies, and stores where the seniors have a chance to purchase food, clothing, and medicine. But what the program really offers is a chance to socialize, laugh, and have some fun.”
The Food Pantry and Clothing Closet started as a way to help disadvantaged neighbors in emergency situations. “We help people who have lost their jobs, single moms, and grandparents raising children,” Tina explains. “We provide groceries from our Food Pantry to get people through the week. We also take them to the Clothes Closet, where they can pick out four outfits per person, complete with socks, shoes, purses, and belts.” School supplies, bedding, and furniture are sometimes available. Everything in the Food Pantry and Clothes Closet is donated by businesses, churches, and individuals. “Most of the people who use this program have hit rock bottom,” Randy says. “We try to spend time with them and just listen. We make sure they leave here with warm clothes and food, and get them in touch with organizations that provide job counseling and career help. We
Left – Volunteer ___________ delivers a Meals on Wheels lunch. Above – Smiles abound at the Senior Dining progam.
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also make sure they have a church family to turn to for spiritual support.” Randy became Executive Director of Greer Com-
“When I interviewed for the job at Greer Community Ministries, being an engineer, I knew I could handle the logical challenges of this job. But then someone asked me
munity Ministries two years ago. “I was an engineer and
if I was ready emotionally. I thought, ‘Oh yes, no prob-
had a great job that I really loved,” he says. “But persistent
lem.’ But the first week when I saw the children that came
headaches sent me to the doctor. An MRI showed what
through the door, I cried. I still feel the same way today.
was thought to be a brain tumor. Further investigation
Sometimes I go home at night and think I just can’t do
determined that it was scar tissue, probably from birth.
enough. But we have an incredibly caring staff that works
After that scare, I felt like I needed to do something dif-
tirelessly on their own time to help their neighbors. And
ferent. I was alive. Making money was no longer im-
we have the generosity and support of the community. We
portant. Spending time with my family was important.
cannot exist without them.”
Sharing my faith and helping others was important.”
Greer Soup Kitchen PUT AWAY ANY PRECONCEIVED IDEAS OF WHAT YOU MIGHT THINK A SOUP KITCHEN IS WHEN YOU WALK THROUGH THE DOORS OF THE GREER SOUP KITCHEN ON EAST POINSETT STREET. With bright, cheerful, seasonal decorations on each table, and a beautiful piano where on any given day an entertainer might be playing, this soup kitchen is a little different. Serving not just soup and sandwiches but a full, home-cooked lunch seven days a week, this place, affectionately dubbed the “Greer Diner” by locals, helps feed the hungry in a place that resembles a comfortable, casual restaurant. There are even showering facilities with toiletry kits for people who do not have a place to wash. But the most wonderful amenity is the staff and volunteers who bring a loving, warm sense of home to people who really need to feel safe, secure, and cared about. It all began 16 years ago when Steve Miller saw a man in Greer going through a dumpster. His reaction? “This can’t be happening in my city.” With the help of Merle State and others in the community, the Daily Bread Ministries and the Greer Soup Kitchen were founded in 1990. Susan Hawkins, or Miss Susan, a volunteer since the Soup Kitchen began, remembers humble beginnings. “We served sandwiches, Little Debbie cakes, tea, and Kool-Aid in a small space in downtown Greer. We prepared meals at the Presbyterian Church, and got our ice at the fire department. On the day we opened, we served only one person. But as the citizens who needed our help grew to
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40, local restaurants started giving us food and we had a little apartment-sized stove where we heated it. Even if we had a little bit of food, we didn’t want to refuse anyone. Always, someone would walk in with just what we needed, like they do today.” Operated solely by volunteers, as the number of hungry citizens increased to 135 a day, the need for organization and continuity in the kitchen arose. Operations
Above — Rosanne Walden and
manager Rosanne Walden joined the staff. She recalls
Volunteers _______________and
how she first became aware of the Greer Soup Kitchen.
________________________ help
“My husband and I were moving to this area and we were
prepare the day’s meal at the Greer
traveling through Greer when we missed our turn on
Soup Kitchen.
Highway 101. We went past the kitchen and I said I’d like to volunteer there sometime. After getting my home in
Left — Longtime volunteer Miss
order, someone at my church asked if I’d like to help out
Susan greets at the window, as
at the soup kitchen. Merle State and Steve Miller were
volunteer ____________________
here the second time I came and they offered me the job.”
hands out plates of food.
With the combined efforts of Rosanne, the many volunteers in the kitchen, and especially Arthur, a local man who has been helping out for more than 15 years, the Greer Soup Kitchen has become organized and efficient.
by and felt compelled to give money. So she went to the
need. “I can almost think of what we need and it appears
Everything that comes in the door is used to create hearty
bank, stopped back by, and gave me an envelope. I was
in the door,” she says.
meals. And with the completion of a large new pantry
new, so I didn’t want to open it without a board member
and freezer, no gift of food is ever turned away.
present. When one of the members came in later that day,
Kitchen to eat? “They’re good people,” Miss Susan says.
we opened the envelope to reveal $1,200.”
“No one is turned away at the soup kitchen. Jesus fed
“We are not funded with government money,”
And what of the people who come to the Greer Soup
Rosanne explains. “We exist solely because of the con-
Today, the generosity of the community does not
the 5,000. He didn’t say some of you get fed some of you
tributions of this wonderful community. When I first
surprise Rosanne. Whether the kitchen is low on desserts,
don’t. He just fed them.” And so do all of the good people
started here, a lady came in and said she had just passed
bread, help, or donations, someone will give what they
who work, volunteer, and give to the Greer Soup Kitchen. GreerNow JANUARY 2007
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Florin and Amy Palaghia (left) work with international students at Furman University.
In 2005 the Ziway Outreach Development Center was officially dedicated. This facility, built and completely financed through Joshua’s Way, gives the community of Ziway, Ethiopia a place to worship and a place for children to learn. Actively helping wherever they can, Joshua’s Way also provides food, medical care, eye and dental exams, and helps construct simple homes. David has also helped create the Ethiopian Women’s Life Empowerment, a new project for Joshua’s Way and the Beza International Ministries. The one-year program teaches women — some have been prostitutes, some are HIV-positive — basic character development, nutrition, health, and food preparation to better arm them with skills needed for livelihood and employment. The program aspires to educate and empower the women, giving them confidence and job skills, and ultimately helping overcome the region’s extreme poverty. David recalls meeting a group of the women: “Here I am in a coat and tie, a sign of respect in Africa, explaining the Joshua’s Way mission. Several women started to cry. It was the
Joshua’s Way “MY ORIGINAL IDEA WAS TO TEACH, TO HELP PEOPLE WRESTLE WITH BIG ISSUES IN AN NONTHREATENING ENVIRONMENT,” says its creator and president, David Rogers. “But it’s hard to just teach without actually doing something to help.” Joshua’s Way, a Christian learning center David created in 2000, encourages people to strengthen their faith through helping, teaching and doing. “We try to help people with a holistic approach by providing for their mind, body, and spirit,” he explains. “We are physical and spiritual selves. We try to address the whole person.” The most recognizable aspect of Joshua’s Way is Operation Christmas Child, a national Good Samaritan project that spreads joy, hope, and the gospel to the world’s needy children. Each year in the fall the Greer community gathers toys, books, and supplies to fill shoe-
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first time in their lives that someone didn’t want anything from them, just to help.” Another new program adopted this year by Joshua’s Way, Cross Culture Network, is making a difference right here in the Upstate. “We work with about 90 international
box sized containers that are then shipped to children in
students who attend Clemson and Furman Universi-
other countries. The gifts are received by poverty-stricken
ties, helping to acclimate them to this country,” David
children who may be refugees of civil wars or survivors of
explains. “Florin Palaghia, originally from Romania, and
natural disasters. Joshua’s Way acts as a collection center
his wife Amy, a South Carolina native, plan trips for the
for the Greer area. “We typically fill about two tractor
students to get to know our country and culture. They
trailers with shoe boxes,” David says, “and take them to
help with practical things, like getting furniture and
the national processing center in Charlotte. From there
driver’s licenses, and also talk about faith issues in a low-
they go out to children all over the world.”
key environment.”
In addition to this annual project, Joshua’s Way has
Joshua’s Way also provides financial assistance to
reached out in other ways. “A friend introduced me to
Christian churches in Venezuela, and sponsors the Mercy
Atu Bekele, a young woman from Ethiopia,” David says.
Riders Motorcycle Ministries, a group of motorcycle
“Having been here for 25 years, she had a real desire to
enthusiasts who minister to the community and to people
be more intentional in helping her home country. I didn’t
in the prison system.
know much about Ethiopia but I went over and met with
As Joshua’s Way continues to grow and change lives,
her brother, a brilliant man and pastor who received his
the Greer community continues to lovingly give their
doctorate in the United States. I asked how we could help.”
time, money, and support to make it possible.
AT SOME POINT, WE’VE ALL BEEN THE RECIPIENT OF CHARITY. It might have been as simple as a warm cup of coffee, a good meal, or a coat when it was cold. Or it might have been a fresh start, a new job opportunity, or a place to live. Someone has helped make your life better. As we start a new year, why not give back a little to the community who needs so much? Give of yourself, your time, your donations. There are many ways to be charitable, not only to the three organizations mentioned here, but to all churches, local, national, and international charities, or just by helping a friend or neighbor. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you could be that one person who helps make someone else’s life better. d Greer Community Ministries 864-877-1937 www.gcminc.org Randy Kemp, Executive Director 738 S. Line Street Ext. Greer, SC 29650 Send Donations to: P.O. Box 1373 Greer, SC 29652-1373 Daily Bread Ministries 864-968-0323 www.dailybreadministries.com Rosanne Walden, Operations Manager 521 E. Poinsett Street Greer, SC 29650 Send Donations to: P.O. Box 2344 Greer, SC 29652 Joshua’s Way 864-801-4464 www.joshuasway.org David Rogers, President 1001 W. Poinsett Street Greer, SC 29650 Send Donations to: P.O. Box 1605 Greer, SC 29652 GreerNow JANUARY 2007
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