Help Line House to receive grant

Web posted June 5, 1997

By Kathy Steele
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN - Help Line House will get a helping hand worth $20,000 from the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina.

Help Line House began in January as a project of Help Line to support people trying to find work and get off the county's welfare rolls.

Cam Varner, executive director of Help Line, said the agency learned this week that its application to Sisters of Charity for a Good Samaritan grant had been approved. The $20,000 will be used to pay the salary for a full-time coordinator for Help Line House.

Previously, the House had a part-time coordinator, Janice Wells, who receives assistance from the Aiken County Department of Social Services.

``Hopefully this will enable her to start actively moving off welfare,'' Mr. Varner said.

In addition, Mr. Varner said the money also will help pay for a television and VCR which can be used for educational purposes and for entertainment in the children's room.

Postage, office supplies and an additional phone line also may be paid for out of the grant, he added.

The house has about 30 to 35 people who have received services since the program started in January, he said.

``Whatever it takes we're trying to focus the resources of the community and do more than apply a Band-Aid,'' Mr. Varner said.

The grant comes from about $4 million given out statewide by the Sisters of Charity, the second largest foundation in the state.

``From the community, we need volunteers to help keep the doors open,'' Mr. Varner said. ``We need businesses willing to give us job descriptions that we could actively seek to find a suitable match.''

The Help Line House on Chesterfield Street is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.