Two homeless girls given bicycles – October 26, 2019

A Summerville woman who has had a passion for helping the poor and homeless in the community is a bus driver for the local schools.  Her route at times takes her to some of the poorer communities in Summerville.  This year on her route was a homeless family, a single Mom with several kids, was temporarily staying at a friend’s house for a couple of months.  The woman got to know the two new girls and found out that they were homeless and they never had a bicycle of their own.   Many of the other kids in this neighborhood had bicycles but these girls always were left out of group bike rides with neighborhood kids. The bus diver known for helping out those in need did not have the means to assist at this time.  She approached Change for a Dollar for possible assistance and two bicycles were purchased from Walmart and given to the bus driver to give to the girls.

Two girl’s bikes - $196.00

Disabled woman forced to move – needed bed – October 22, 2019

A disabled Summerville woman was forced to move from her neighborhood as a result of gentrification.  The property owner was removing the several rental trailers on the property to make way for development of new homes.  The woman had lived in the trailer for many years and when asked to move out she was blessed to find another rental trailer only a short distance away in neighboring Lincolnville.  During the move the bed was left behind as it was in very poor shape and she began sleeping on an inflatable air mattress.  This was very difficult for her because her disability was related to a bad hip and getting up and down was very difficult.  Change for a Dollar was approached for assistance and was able to have a twin mattress and frame shipped to her new home.

Twin bed $219.07

Young family sharing a vehicle needed tires – October 14, 2019

A young family in Summerville was working hard to support their family of five.  They only had one vehicle between them and both mom and dad worked full time.  The couple both work for small businesses and don’t have large salaries but are doing their best to raise their kids and pay the bills.  They have a very busy schedule with day care and jobs at different locations and are juggling the sharing of the car and dropping each other off at work.  They had gotten a blow out and were driving on the “donut” spare when Change for Dollar noticed it and offered to assist.  Upon inspection of the other tires it was apparent that the vehicle was in need of two tires as one of the other tires had very little tread left.  Change for a Dollar wanted the family to have good tires for transporting all the kids around so two tires were purchased for the vehicle.

Two tires $118.48

Teachers help family victims of a shooting – October 10, 2019

Two local teachers helped out a family that were victims of a shooting where a student was shot at the end of the summer break.  The teachers, a husband and wife, took in one of the family members upon discharge from the hospital to care for her.  Additionally they took in other family members that were later released from the hospital as there was too much trauma for the family to return to their home at this time.  Change for a Dollar was approached to see if there was some way to help the family with the additional financial burden they incurred while caring for the family of the student that was shot.  A food gift card was purchased to help replenish the family pantry and offset food costs to help with the other costs of housing the survivors.

BiLo gift card - $100

Man struggles to recover from “perfect storm” – October 1, 2019

A local Summerville man who was down on his luck is a friend of a fellow who attends a small group at Ashley Ridge Church.  It was revealed that he was struggling all around as several of life’s challenges struck him all at once.  Part of that was he had lost his job in the midst of it all and was very despondent.  The gentleman from the small group works in construction and was aware through his contacts of a hotel renovation job that was out of state.  He was able to get this fellow a job, which was ideal as he was able to stay at the hotel rent free for the duration of the job.  The small group took up a donation to help with his transportation to the job but he needed some basic tools.  Change for a Dollar was approached and assisted with paying for the purchase of some hand tools to get him started.

Home Depot hand tools - $120.18

Chef Jackets for homeless woman – September 24, 2019

A women at the local homeless shelter in Summerville had been able to secure a better paying job as a chef at a local hotel kitchen.  A significant step up from the fast food restaurants she had been working.  She was required to wear a chef’s jacket on the job but only had one and had to wash it every night and it was a bit stained. The shelter has a good supply of clothing and does get uniform donations at times but no chef jacket was available.  Change for a Dollar offered to assist by getting her both long sleeve and short sleeve jackets so she now can have a clean one for work each day.

Four Chef jackets - $91.34

Application Study bibles for Homeless women – September 23, 2019

Several women from a local homeless shelter have been attending a weekly bible study facilitated by a local church.  The shelter has several bibles that were donated but were standard bibles without any application notes that the women felt were not easily readable.  Change for a Dollar was approached to see if we could help.  A women’s edition NIV application study bible was found on line and several were ordered for the ladies.  They now fully enjoy participating as they find the application notes and supplemental material in the text allows them to more fully participate each week in the study.

Three bibles - $128.28