How Many Tears Does It Take to Decorate a Christmas Tree?
How many tears does it take to decorate a Christmas tree? There are tears of joy for love for friends for family There are tears of grief for lost loved ones for dreams deferred...
Housing Issues in the City of Greenville
City of Greenville: Balancing Prosperity and Housing Affordability in Greenville Inclusionary development has not been embraced, so parts of the City…remain poor and disconnected from the city’s new vibrancy. As recent as 2000, Greenville...
Finding, Getting, and Keeping Donors
As I think about what I have learned from my years working for a nonprofit and as an advocate for people who live in poverty, it boils down to three things I learned from...
A Labor Day Exercise
Purpose: We rarely realize how dependent we are on all kinds of people. This exercise helps us see that our lives are enriched by many other people in ways we often do not think...
A Different Kind of Mission Trip
A Different Kind of Mission Trip Church groups plan mission trips for their members. They do backyard Bible schools, build buildings, paint, work in soup kitchens and any number of other activities. The participants...
Sobering Facts 2016
The 2016 federal poverty level for a family of 4 in South Carolina is $24,300 and is $11,880 for one individual. The area median income in 2014 is $45,238 (SC) and $44,783 (Greenville-Mauldin-Easley)....
Coincidence or God working anonymously?
Coincidence or God working anonymously? Several weeks ago, we had to put our rescued black lab, Moses, down. Actually we did not rescue him. He came up to my husband, Jim, while he was...
Good News / Bad News
As I ride around downtown Greenville, I admit that I’m happy that I live in such a vibrant community. Seeing the sidewalk restaurants and the groups of people walking to museums, theaters, events in...
Compassion Retreat
Have you ever thought deeply about compassion? It is a word I use a lot. In fact my mission statement says that I work to enlarge understanding in order to decrease judgment and increase...
Not the Usual Group
When I facilitate the poverty simulation, participants are usually people who have resources who want to learn a bit about what it feels like to live in poverty. They willingly submit themselves to a...
Prophetic Ministry: Not me…or Me
“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.” — From Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination...
Self Sufficiency Hourly Wage in Greenville SC
According to the Self Sufficiency Standard, the hourly wage for one adult with one preschooler in Greenville, SC, is $15.67. This breaks down to $750 rent, $567 childcare, $362 food, $271 transportation, $405 healthcare,...
New Study on Financial Self-Sufficiency for South Carolina Familie
New Study on Financial Self-Sufficiency for South Carolina Families Columbia, SC (January 19, 2016) – A new report takes a realistic look at how much is actually needed to support a family in South...
Resource for Congregations’ Missions Programs
When I was at a meeting with ministers, one of them asked me how a congregation decided what service ministries to support financially and what ministries for them to create or be involved with. ...