Change for a Dollar – 1/27/14

A young lady, a former ARC Community Youth participant now a college student, did some community service over the Christmas break at a North Charleston elementary School.  She and her friends noticed some children scavenging for food scraps and decided to look into their situation.  They found these children were living as a families in a small motel room.  She and her friends decided to search them out and found one family in a local hotel by the school.  A mother and her six children were facing being put out of the hotel because the mother lost her job and could no longer pay for the room.  These young adults took it upon themselves to try to do what they could to help this family, find the mother work, find a less expensive hotel, raise money for food for the family and whatever else they could do the keep the family off the streets. The former ARC student approached Change for a Dollar for assistance and we provided her with funds toward the hotel room.

Amount $168.00

Change for a Dollar – 1/27/14

A women, a single Mom with a middle school aged son, is struggling with several issues, one being she has a part time job and her hours have been limited at this time of year.  She gets no support from her ex-husband and struggles to pay her bills.  Change for a Dollar helped with a Bi Lo food gift card as she is not eligible for food stamps.

Amount $50

Change for a Dollar – 1/23/14

During the week of Jan 20 the weather was forecast to be in the teen’s towards the end of the week.  The Change for a Dollar team was aware of a homeless man living in the woods in Summerville.  When we contacted him to see if he had a place to stay for those two nights out of the cold, he indicated he did not.  He also told us of another man living in the woods in Summerville nearby his location.  We asked that he check with him to see if he had a place and he did not.  Change for Dollar and ARC Outreach put these two men up in the hotel during the two frigid nights.

Amount $63

Change for a Dollar – 1/20/14

A women, a single Mom with two middle school aged children, contacted ARC for assistance with her rent.  The Change for a Dollar team set up an interview with the woman to explore her needs.  She has just switched jobs to pick up additional hours and had fallen behind a bit in her rent while waiting for her checks to start coming regular.  She is also attending school to be a Medical Assistant and was nearing graduation.  Because of school she can only work part time and struggles to make the bills as her ex-husband is not making any regular child support payments.  She brought her children with her and by all accounts the children were well behaved and the woman appears to be a good mom trying to make a better life for her family.  Unfortunately, Change for a Dollar did not have enough funds to pay the entire rent but we did pay 50 % of her past due amount for which she was very appreciative.

Amount $300

Change for a Dollar – 1/17/14

A women, a single Mom with two young girls, arrived at the Medical Outreach Clinic of Summerville seeking assistance with getting prescriptions refilled.  She suffers from PTSD as a result of a rape and needs several medications.  Her husband recently left her because he was unable to deal with the wife’s mental health condition (and the youngest child is also the result of the rape) so she is no longer able to afford the doctor as that was her only source of income.  The woman has two children ages two and three and lives in a small house she inherited from an uncle so thankfully she has no rent or mortgage.  She has applied for disability as she is unable to work as a result of her condition and is scheduled to receive assistance and services but that is still weeks away.  Change for a Dollar inquired as to her overall financial situation and her electric bill was past due and she did not have the means to pay it.  Change for a Dollar made a payment to Berkeley County Electric Coop on her account.

Amount $178

Change for a Dollar – 1/14/14

When checking with a past recipient of C4$, a single Mom who is battling breast cancer, we became aware that she needed to make a trip to Virginia for her other sons surgery.  Her 20 year old son who lives with his Dad in Virginia suffers from a brain tumor and is facing a risky surgery with less than an optimistic prognosis.  The mother wanted to be there when he had the surgery but her finances are already stretched very thin that she was fearing eviction from her apartment amongst other things as a result of a being away from work.  Change for a Dollar helped with some of her travel expenses for gas and food so she could make the trip.

Amount $131

Change for a Dollar – 1/14/14

When checking with a past recipient of C4$, a homeless man, he informed us of a need to pay his cell phone bill.  In the past a family member had paid his "pay as you go" cell phone plan but there has been a recent change in some of the family dynamics and he has lost that assistance.  Since he has some serious health concerns and needs to go to the hospital often he needs a way of staying in touch given his limited mobility.  Change for a Dollar helped him by paying for two months of his cell phone plan so he has a way of staying connected.

Amount $100

Change for a Dollar – 1/8/14

When checking with a past recipient of C4$, a homeless man, he informed us of the fact there was another homeless couple living in a tent in Summerville.  We were checking to see if he was going to be OK with the upcoming cold snap when we became aware of this other couple who were going to be exposed to weather also.  He only had a description of the woman and that she worked at a local fast food restaurant in town.  C4$ went to the restaurant to see if we could locate this couple.  She was not working that day but the manager on duty said she had a way of getting in touch with them.  We gave her our phone number to share with the couple and asked they give us a call.  About an hour later the woman called and we discussed their situation and they indeed were still living in the tent and the woman was battling a cold as well. C4$ offered to put them up in a hotel for the two nights where the weather was forecast to be below freezing.  C4$ has a relationship with a local hotel and we put them up in a room so they were out of the cold for those two days.

Amount $125

Change for a Dollar – 1/6/14

Change for a Dollar checked with a homeless person that we had recently helped.  With the coming cold snap there was a concern that he had a way to get out of the cold based upon the forecasted weather.  He was found at his usual spot at the library and we discussed his current situation.  He was still recovering from the surgery on his leg and was still living in the tent.  C4$ bought him breakfast that morning and talked to him about the weather situation and his current living conditions.  He was in need of some items for his “home” / tent and we purchased those items and set him up with a tab at Waffle House for a week’s worth of meals.  Additionally C4$ offered to put him up in a hotel for the two nights that the weather was forecast to be below freezing.  He said he had an offer for a stay at a friend’s house for one of the nights and I was to check with him the following day to see if he needed the second night out of the cold.  The friend extended the offer for the second night so he did not need the hotel room.  He was thankful for the meals and the supplies for his tent

Amount $115