Extending Love and Light
As the Greenville Homeless Alliance (GHA) formed in 2018, the leadership selected a logo with letters joined together, representing collaboration and showing that no one organization or governmental body can solve homelessness. When all parts of the community work together with a focus on the person at the center, we can have hope for sustainable change. GHA is governed by a steering committee which is a mix of frontline service providers, an affordable housing provider, a healthcare provider, local businesses, philanthropists, faith community leaders, city and county government, and the school district. In July 2020, GHA’s steering committee adopted the first strategic plan which created a framework by which we believe homelessness can become brief and rare in Greenville County. GHA applied for a matched grant funding opportunity in 2020 from a local church, Trinity Lutheran, after receiving a grant from the Community Foundation of Greenville to request support for establishing an Advocacy Academy. The Advocacy Academy will offer training that equips residents to speak or contact municipal and county elected officials, state legislators, staff, and other appointed board members. The strategic plan for GHA established clear areas for action, and these are organized around working groups. In January 2021 GHA launched the first working group called Advocate. This group is developing GHA’s first policy agenda, as well as the Advocacy Academy. GHA is intentionally creating diverse groups in age, gender, race, and occupation, as well as people with the lived experience of homelessness. Gail Peay with Habitat for Humanity and Alexandra Harris with United Ministries are serving as co-chairs, and Mary Kay Campbell with Greater Greenville Mental Health is serving as the steering committee liaison for the Advocate Working Group.
One reason GHA applied to Trinity Lutheran for funding is because of several meetings held during the pandemic in the summer of 2020. Partner Engagement Director, Heather Gatchell, was invited to help serve a lunchtime meal on the lawn at the church where neighbors joined with the congregation each week. As we shared the vision for advocacy to include everyone, we discussed the potential with Pastor Susan Crowell of strengthening relationships between the church and their neighbors. It is exciting that this is the same area where the revitalization of downtown started almost three decades ago with the dedication of the Hyatt Regency on January 15, 1982. In recent years, Trinity adapted to become a reconciling in Christ congregation, and we encourage you to read the full description. A portion includes the following beliefs:
Trinity is passionate about social justice and that our community works faithfully and diligently to alleviate human suffering, poverty, hunger, and homelessness in the Greenville community and in the larger community and world.
Trinity loves and cares for refugees and immigrants. It means that women and men are equally valued. It means that we stand with our neighbors near and far who struggle with food insecurity, housing inequity, lack of access to healthcare, who speak a different language, and who are victims of domestic violence.
Trinity acknowledges that all of humanity is flawed, broken, and sinful and that all of humanity is worthy of love, honor, compassion, mercy, and grace.
Trinity believes and affirms that every human being is created in the image of God.
The vision of inclusivity is important because of data showing that the City of Greenville where Trinity is located is losing diversity – both in income and people of color. This report looks at what has changed since 2007. GHA is pleased that the newly adopted GVL2040 plan focuses on quality growth, inclusivity, and diversity.
In February, I drove to Greenlink for an interview on the top concerns of riders. I was asked to provide examples of what to say if asked for money by someone on the streets. My interview is part of this video which is one piece of Greenlink’s 18-month campaign on human trafficking. I passed Trinity Lutheran on my drive that morning and while sitting at the stoplight at North Main, I took a moment to send Pastor Susan Crowell a message because we had to cancel a recent meeting due to the work related to the Economy Inn. I said, “Good morning Susan, I am just passing your church now at the stoplight at Elford. I wanted you to know we appreciate you and hope to get together again soon. It’s been a rough start to 2021 due to the Economy Inn being condemned. But I believe God is using us for good.” I am not even sure why I said this, but I do feel that a light is starting to emerge from a very thick fog of darkness.
The response to the Economy Inn has helped us see people who are marginalized without basics such as a phone, identification, kitchen, smoke detectors, as well as people who were struggling to eat because they are paying 90% of their income for the unsafe shelter of a motel room which is experiencing plumbing, mold, roach infestation, and heating issues. This predatory environment calls for advocacy in many areas because our emergency shelters have been operating at capacity. As reported in recent blogs, seniors are living in motels. Yet on February 9, Greenville County Council voted against a $9 million senior housing development in Greer. Rent at the proposed development would have ranged from about $700 to $1350 per month as reported in the Greenville News. GHA’s 2019 Report on Homelessness used data to identify the monthly rent required for exits from homelessness, and this ranges from $200 - $650 per month, as well as locations near Greenlink routes. Many seniors live on a fixed income of $750 per month. The GHA Advocacy Academy aims to engage at the local and state level on policy issues that specifically affect those experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
We thank Trinity for their investment in the development of an Advocacy Academy. As March marks the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, we reflect on the lives we have lost. As reported by the Greenville News on March 8, “Since Coronavirus, thousands more South Carolinians have died than would in normal year.” County Council member Lynn Ballard’s wife, Debbie, died from COVID-19 on March 9 as reported by the Post and Courier.
Pastor Susan Crowell replied late that day I drove to Greenlink to say, “Thanks so much for reaching out to me. So appreciate hearing from you. The past few weeks have been difficult…four deaths from COVID in our church family. Thanks for the good work you are doing to extend love and light into our community. Sending love, blessings, and strength your way.”
How do we find hope amid these challenges of the pandemic and issues impacting homelessness?
Just as the City of Greenville and Trinity have adapted, so can our community. GHA stakeholders have contributed to the creation of historic funding wins for local housing and transit dollars through education, advocacy, and collaboration. We find hope and inspiration from people like Pastor Susan Crowell and members of Trinity Lutheran, as well as residents from Towers East who are next door. We know that there is tremendous potential ahead. We want to be able to look back and see that together we moved the needle on homelessness. We believe that from great chaos comes the potential for great change.
- Susan McLarty, Coordinator of the Greenville Homeless Alliance