Sumter Fireside Fund donations help families in dire, delicate situations
One year just didn't seem worth it. A gift that was given to us at Christmas a year ago, a delicate glass decoration, did not survive the packing, storing and unpacking of just one year. We quickly felt remorse that someone's gift simply did not have the intended long-term joy that was expected.
Life can be just as fragile as that decoration, and many of our conversations at the Crisis Relief Ministry pertain to delicate topics. Recently, a man inquired about assistance with an electric bill. As I walked by the counter, I was motioned over to join in on the reception. As the volunteer was asking the basic information to prepare the file for an interview, we were quickly made aware of a private matter. The client was allowing a family to live with him simply for the sake of the children in the home. If not for his intervention, he believed the family would be homeless. Further complicating the scenario, the children were his although he did not have custody.
Normally, he would be fine on his own. He works and his income is fair, partially from a VA disability income. He does not have much left over, but he can live independently. However, now that the household had added four more people with no additional income, his struggle is present and persistent. He needed more cooperation from the other adult that moved in, but it is a tense situation. He feels that if he pushes too much, the entire family will move out and he will have new, urgent concerns for the welfare of his children.
Very simply, this is a critical situation that will become increasingly dire if we do not assist. To ensure that the household stays together and that homelessness is averted, we needed to help.
Thanks to generous resources from donations to Sumter United Ministries, we were able to pay the electric bill, provide a family with heat for the next bill cycle and provide some temporary stability. Your contributions to The Fireside Fund help in delicate situations like these with an impact far beyond what you may imagine. Thank you!
Kevin Howell is the director of the Crisis Relief Ministry at Sumter United Ministries.
ABOUT THE FIRESIDE FUND
Each winter since 1969, The Sumter Item has run a fundraiser to collect money from its readers to be donated entirely to Sumter United Ministries.
The faith-based nonprofit provides emergency and life-rebuilding services ranging from food, shelter and clothing to final notice bill pay, access to educational opportunities and a medical clinic. The Sumter Item recognizes and appreciates every ministry their staff and volunteers run, but the Fireside Fund was created to focus on one area that becomes critical for the next few months: heat.
Every penny donated will directly help people who live in Sumter by preventing heating services from being turned off, allowing access to propane or other heating sources and, when enough funding is available and the need is there, funding long-term housing fixes to make homes more efficient.
IN HONOR OF
Each year, The Item's leadership team picks a person who has recently passed away to which the year's campaign will be dedicated. The person honored is someone who made a positive impact in the community, whether through service or philanthropy, business or community leadership.
If you think about the impact the Rev. William Samuel Randolph imparted in terms of civic service, entrepreneurialism, faith leadership and human rights, he checked all the boxes.
The now-late uncle of current Sumter City Councilman James B. Blassingame moved to Sumter to attend Morris College. His legacy is as a pastor of First Baptist Missionary Church for 47 years, owner and operator of Randolph General Construction Co. and city councilman from 1987 to 2008, including mayor pro tempore for 19 of those years. His civil rights legacy is the 1961 S.C. Supreme Court case that, while he was arrested 11 times in the fight for racial equality, was pivotal in charges being dropped for several civil rights activists.
Randolph died Sept. 17 at the age of 88.
New donations as of Feb. 20: Patricia Petty, in memory of the Rev. William Randolph, $100; China Family, in honor of Lessie May China, $100; Roger I. Williams, $200; WMU Southside Baptist Church, $200; and St. John's Church - Friendship Circle, $50.