Thank you Mayor, members of council, and city administration for allowing me time here today to present our Neighborhood in Review and a Thank you to the City of Greer for your part in giving hope to our community of neighbors by supporting the mission and programs of Greer Relief.
What do you do when you see a neighbor in need?
The combined vision & mission of Greer Relief is to transform neighbors in need to neighbors who thrive, by providing services to eliminate poverty and help neighbors overcome barriers for success. Already in 2019, Greer Relief has assisted 1571 neighbors.
We help by giving a hand up.
Far too many people struggle to meet their basic needs. The process of getting medical assistance, buying food, making ends meet and even knowing where to go for help can be confusing, intimidating, time consuming, and embarrassing.
We look past the crisis and help our neighbors identify the core problem, address it together, with the goal to break the cycle of need.
Greer Relief is focusing our efforts on 2 programs: Safety Net & Crisis Prevention.
The Greer Relief Team includes 5 employees & 3 full-time AmeriCorps volunteers, each provide some element of direct service.
Safety Net is what you probably know us best for, providing assistance to neighbors in need who are in crisis. Food, hygiene, household assistance & financial assistance…plus case management for all financial assistance.
Crisis Prevention provides tools to end the cycle and ensure a path for neighbors in need to become neighbors who thrive.
We listen, we share, we ask questions to put the puzzle pieces together and help by offering hope. This program encompasses multiple layers of needs giving a hand up not a hand out.
- Benefit Bank has been a part of our programs since 2010, it is a one stop online resource application process that auto populates applications for Food Stamps, Medicaid, and other government aid.
- In 2016, Greer Relief co-founded a new concept program with Loaves & Fishes and Greer Community Ministries…the Greer Food Co-Op has been designed to serve anyone in need and to do so in a way that promotes community, individual dignity, participation, and ownership of the co-op.
- Since 1991, J Verne Smith Center has served as a on-stop service hub helping bringing people hope by offering a path to stability in their own backyard. In 2018, 5 organizations provided services to the community to answer the struggle by providing medical assistance, food, financial assistance, nutrition education, job counseling, staffing and referrals for more. We were also blessed to receive grants for renovation of the Center. The John I Smith Charities grant renovated the 8 bathrooms and break room at the Center. Also the CBL Community Foundation Grant has started a renovation fund for the Training Room, which will remove 2 walls and triple the on-site training space. We have also added a new partner in March 2019 – SC Works is moved in and has already started WorkKeys testing & placing job seekers. Plus the GREER Free Medical Clinic will be expanding their services thanks to the Healthy Greenville 2036 grant from Prisma.
- RENEW has been Reaching Every Neighbor Every Way since 2015. This program takes the next steps down the path to stability. We focus on financial, job, and health/wellness classes taught by volunteers who want to be part of the healing. It’s the Dr. who teaches home remedies, the business owner who talks about what it takes to keep a job, the nutrition students who prepare, cook, and share a taste of a new recipe. And the greatest benefits of this program we have found is it not only offers information and education it offers community, it offers a safe space to talk, it offers a friend, it offers hope.
- Since 2009 we have provided VITA, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, and right now at Greer Relief, our volunteers are preparing taxes for households making $62,000 or less. So far this year we have prepared 333 returns bringing to this community $5 hundred 25 thousand, 8 hundred 98 dollars…for FREE. So far…
We’re not just helping with a traditional safety net program, but offering “stabilizing” programs to change the path, and expand the impact.
The impact is clear. We helped 3355 of our neighbors, and 65% were new to need. We have shifted with the community to continue to be an impact. We self assess, we seek input and assessment from outside partners, we keep our ear to the ground for coming changes all of these efforts go to make our community better.
We are always looking for neighbors who want to make a difference. We partner with other nonprofits in the community to band together, share resources and enhance the impact. We have opportunities for volunteers, donors, and sponsors to get involved.
Please pay attention, donate, and volunteer.
When we help each other, we help ourselves.
a woman, a mother, a daughter, a friend, a hardworking employee, who thought she had it all planned out. Her son was starting college in the fall, her daughter was doing fine in elementary school, she was working full time at Adidas, she had health insurance, a good support team, she needed an eye surgery. She worked it out with HR. How much time she would be out, her paid leave, her return to work…easy
The surgery went well. She was recovering. She returned to work, part-time as planned.
Then the lights went out, not for everyone just for her. She was sitting at her computer, at work, one minute she could see, the next she couldn’t.
Panic set in.
Her “good eye” was not so good. A torn retina. Another surgery, this one unplanned, while the other eye was still recovering. She was blind.
She was out of time. No more paid time off, no more savings to get by, but her son was starting college…
Her best friend was a Social Worker for DSS and knew where to go, she held her hand and guided her to Greer Relief. Slow at first. She didn’t want a hand out. She made it a little longer on her own, then she really needed help.
We were more than happy to see what we could do. Our AmeriCorps Member (UWG) sat down with her and helped her fill out the paperwork.
Once she broke past the initial fear and pride of needing help she flourished. She joined the Greer Food Co-Op, she attended RENEW Classes, she got help with her rent. Her son started college at USC on schedule, her mom & friend helped her get around where she needed…she still had support.
At Greer Relief every neighbor matters.