Reports
2007 Grants
Update: Keys to Home and Hope - by Rev. Tony McDade, Executive Director of GAIHN
The Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (GAIHN) is grateful to the members of Greenville Women Giving for investing your grant funds in our guest families.
Thanks to your generosity, paired with the dedication of the members of St. Michael Lutheran Church, homeless families are finding their way to home and hope through the Kay Melloms Hospitality House.
The Melloms family envisioned a home that would illustrate the compassion and hospitality that characterized their dear late Kay's life.
For over thirty years, St. Michael Lutheran Church has offered emergency shelter and support to homeless families, and this shared initiative doubles their capacity to welcome such families with excellence.
Blending together funds from the church, the Melloms family, the Hollingsworth Funds, the Graham Foundation, and the SC Housing Trust Fund, the dream house has become a reality. On a glorious Sunday last April, Pastor Robert Miles blessed this exquisite house that stands now as a living testament to the power of effective partnerships to change the world!
The two GAIHN families who have sojourned in the "Kay Melloms Hospitality House" so far are both comprised of single mothers with young sons. Both moms are working full-time. With diligence and determination they are striving to overcome the challenges of homelessness.
Before long, someone will hand each of these mothers another set of keys - keys that fit the front doors to their own houses and also to their futures.
Thank you, Greenville Women Giving friends, for sharing this opportunity for families to succeed and thrive here in Greater Greenville.
Letter from Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (GAIHN) - January 7, 2008
Greetings,
Thanks to the generosity of the fine folk at Greenville Women Giving, soon another GAIHN transitional housing unit will be available for homeless families.
The good folk at St. Michael Lutheran Church have successfully navigated their way through the application process for SC Housing Trust Fund moneys (to match the GWG $25,ooo investment 3 to 1), and have secured the house located at 2613 Augusta Road. It is adjacent to their current facilities, and will double their capacity to welcome GAIHN families into their hearts and facilities. SMLC is itself investing several thousand dollars in the purchase and eventual renovation of this house, thus further leveraging the GWG contribution.
Some renovation and refurbishment will begin as early as next week. We hope to locate a GAIHN family in this house by early March. A dedicatory service will be planned at that time, and we'll be certain to include y'all among the invitees and acknowledge GWG's beneficence publicly.
One member of St. Michael, Ralph Mellom, has also provided a sizable gift to assist with this project, and the house will be named in memory of his wife.
It is partnerships like this one that bring out the best of all concerned, and exemplify the spirit of giving that distinguishes the Greenville community. Greenville Women Giving is tapping into that wellspring beautifully, and your work, foresight and inspiration are much appreciated.
Rev. Tony McDade
Executive Director, Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (GAIHN)
Greenville, SC
864/271.3424
"The question is not to describe the world but to transform it."
- Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator and theologian
GWG Grant Helps Abused Children - by Lisa Finley, Development Director for GRCCAC
Excerpt from the January 2008 Newsletter
Entering the Child Advocacy Center (CAC) at the Greenville Rape Crisis and Child Abuse Center (GRCCAC) is like entering another world - a child's world. Brightly colored tiled floor. Toys of all shapes and sizes, fun murals on the walls. Disney videos on the TV. At first glance, this appears to be a daycare center.
A short trip down the hall reveals a room possibly transplanted from the jungles of Africa. Palm leaves offer a cool, refreshing feel as the occupants, exotic jungle creatures, await tiny visitors - visitors facing experiences many of us can't begin to fathom.
Camouflaged against one wall are alien objects - a child-sized medical exam table and an oddly shaped piece of medical equipment called a colposcope. This eqipment is designed to discover physical evidence of abuse in the private areas of a child's body. It was used more than 200 times last year. And, if statistics are any indication, the demand for this equipment and the highly trained professionals operating it will continue to grow. In 2005, Greenville County reported 1,019 substantiated child maltreatment cases, the highest number in the state. In 2006, that number rose to 1,350 cases, an increase of nearly 25%.
The CAC exists to facilitate the investigation of child abuse allegations. Our mission? Reduce the trauma faced by the child during this process. And, as one might expect, the evidence discovered by the colposcope is often integral to the outcome of the investigation.
In 2007, due to a generous grant from Greenville Women Giving, the CAC replaced the existing colposcope, which was outdated and difficult to use. The new colposcope makes performing this non-invasive procedure better, photographically documenting and preserving what can't be seen with the naked eye. It takes the services offered at the CAC to a new level of professionalism.
There is nothing easy about what these children are facing when they enter the jungle at the CAC. But, thanks to community partners like Greenville Women Giving, we can offer them a safe place to begin their recovery and a chance to return to childhood.
"Our goal as medical providers is to provide excellent medical care to children requiring evaluations for child abuse in a manner that is child friendly and not traumatic. The new colposcope provided by GWG has improved the quality of the exam that we are able to provide these children. This piece of equipment will benefit the work we do at the CAC and the children of upstate SC for years to come."
Dr. Mary-Fran Croswell, Pediatrician and GWG Member
"This equipment enables the CAC to provide complete, accurate information in child abuse investigations, without asking the child to submit to multiple medical exams. Therefore, the end result of this investment by GWG is that we effectively decrease the trauma a child may experience when there are allegations of child abuse."
Donna Roy, Executive Director
Status of Conestee Foundation Bridge Across Reedy River at Nature Park - January 18, 2008
"Since we are now making some good headway toward construction of the pedestrian bridge at Lake Conestee Nature Park, for which Greenville Women Giving has so generously given the Conestee Foundation a GWG grant, I thought it was time to give you all a brief update.
Because of problems with the original site related to the foundation of the west bridge tower, we have moved the bridge location slightly to the north. This relocation will give us firm foundations on both sides of the river, but the span of the bridge will be much longer - nearly 200 feet. To accomodate the longer span, the bridge will now be a wood suspension bridge, similar to that designed and constructed for Naturaland Trust at Raven Cliff Falls. With the change to a suspension bridge, we do not expect the longer span to increase the cost of the bridge. Also, the rustic nature of a suspension bridge will be more in character with the nature of the Park.
We now have Enwright and Associates under contract to design the bridge. The design engineer of the Raven Cliff Falls bridge will oversee the design at Enwright and Associates. Two structural engineers from Fluor will design the bridge foundations pro-bono, thus reducing the overall design cost. Later today we will meet with the engineers and the geotechnical engineering firm who will make the geothechnical recommendations for the foundation design. Next Monday, we will do the field work for the geotechnical investigation. Also, survey field work for the bridge site should be completed in the next month.
The east side of the bridge is currently on City of Greenville property (the old G-Braves stadium site). Before we construct the bridge, we need to complete acquisition of the 15 acre strip of the stadium property along the Reedy River. This strip is comprised of the wooded slope down to the river from the old stadium parking lot. We are concluding negotiations with the City, and should have ownership of the needed 15 acres in plenty of time to construct the bridge this summer.
We will keep GWG posted as we complete design and property acquisition and put the bridge out to bid."
Jim Gossett
Letter from the YWCA - February 12, 2008
Dear Mrs. Ellison,
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight for you and the members of Greenville Women Giving what great strides the YWCA has accomplished in the past year. What a year it has been!
Thanks in part to the generous grant we received from GWG, the YWCA of Greenville was able to launch the Empowerment Center. The YW Empowerment Center became fully operational as a center in March 2007. Since its inception, the Empowerment Center has connected women leaders in our community with those women aspiring to achieve. In 2007 we served over 200 women through 18 seminars. Through our Dream Catchers program, we helped five women open or sustain successful businesses. Elle Bowman expanded her web-based business, Noeslla Jewelry; Elaine Mangrum went from working for a medical equipment supplier to opening her own; Lisa Butler grew her home-based hand-crafted jewelry business; Tamiko Lewis developed a thriving gift basket business; and Valerie Tucker kicked manufacturing of her toddler products into high gear. We hope to increase the number of women served in 2008 by offering over 70 seminars as well as continuing our Dream Catchers/Dream Achievers mentoring program. In addition, we are pleased to be offering our first economic summit for women, PowerUP: Women Who Lead: Leadership Empowerment. Advancement. Development, to be held in April 2008.
This is an exciting time at the YWCA of Greenville. We hope that you and other members of the Grants Review Committee will visit to see first-hand the powerful momentum being created by the women of our community. Please contact me so that we may schedule a tour and an informal meeting. I look forward to meeting with you.
Best regards,
Phyllis Martin
Executive Director