Pickens County First Steps joins hands with local partners who offer direct services to young children and their families in our area.
The winter holidays are a particularly crucial time to highlight the needs around us and shine a light on the ways we can help. This is also a time when our county’s homeless population, which includes many young children, deals with plummeting temperatures and increased scarcity of the resources most of us take for granted.
We want to highlight specific ways YOU can give to our community now and in the coming weeks.
1. Donate small goods to United Way of Pickens County that will serve our homeless population.
Donations are needed to fills bags of goods that will serve as incentives for homeless people to participate in UW’s annual count of the homeless population in Pickens County. The following items are needed:
Toiletries (travel sized soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc.)
Clothing (gloves, socks, hats, underwear, long underwear, etc.)
Snacks (small, packaged food, etc.)
Donations can be brought to the United Way of Pickens County at 201 S. 5th Street, Easley, SC, Suite 200. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask Eli Levine at [email protected] or 864-850-7094, ext. 131.
2. Donate new toys and volunteer at The Dream Center’s Santa Shoppe.
The Santa Shoppe opens tomorrow, November 17th and The Dream Center needs new unwrapped toys and MANY volunteers!
This program allows parents in need to earn Dream Dollars, which have been earned by attending required classes, to purchase new Christmas gifts from the Santa Shoppe instead of depending on outside organizations to provide gifts through one-way giving.
A gift wrap station is also provided with all of the supplies for the parents to wrap their own gifts. All of the new toys and gift items for the Santa Shoppe are donated by organizations, businesses, churches, and individuals and the store operates solely on volunteers.
The Santa Shoppe is projected to serve over 1,500 people this Christmas!
Visit their website and check out their Facebook Page which regularly posts needs and volunteer opportunities. You may also call The Dream Center at 644-8885.
{I contacted them just today and there are still many gift and volunteer needs.}
3. Donate turkeys and other needed food items for Miracle Hill’s Great Possible Turkey Fry.
Miracle Hill Ministries provides addiction resources, housing & homeless shelter, and an array of social services for vulnerable families in our area.
They have teamed up with WSSL 100’s Ellis and Bradley for the 9th annual Great Possible Turkey Fry to ensure that no one goes hungry in the Upstate this Thanksgiving.
Their goal is to fry 600 turkeys to help feed nearly 2,000 homeless and hungry children, women and men who will come to our nine shelters looking for a hot Thanksgiving meal, words of encouragement, and hope for a better future.
You can help reach their goal this year by volunteering or donating some of the many items we need!
For more information, please contact Susan Pottberg.
To volunteer, please contact Jaclyn Pinkham.
Click here for a COMPLETE LIST OF ITEMS NEEDED
Click here to see the VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Miracle Hill updates their Facebook Page throughout the week on ways that you can help. Be sure and check them out!
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We’ll continue to keep you updated on ways you help serve our community in the coming weeks.
If you don’t already, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated.
And subscribe to our blog for FREE information on ways you can nurture the young children in your life and serve families in our community! Just enter your e-mail in the right sidebar, up at the top.
As we are exceedingly grateful for all that we have, let’s pay it forward to those in our own community, particularly our young children, who desperately need what we can provide. Thanks for all you do!
