Community First Opens Bluffton Office
By LIZ MITCHELL
lmitchell@islandpacket.com
843-706-8169
Published Wednesday, March 18, 2009
To many residents in Beaufort and Jasper counties, Pearla Harvey is known as Mother Harvey. She's an ordained pastor who leads a ministry every Sunday at Simmons Cay Apartments in Bluffton. Now, she's expanding a Jasper County nonprofit to May River Road in Bluffton. A grand opening is scheduled for Saturday.
Community First helps low-income single parents and grandparents raising grandchildren find food, shelter and medical services. The nonprofit also refers families to other agencies that can help them pay bills, find emergency day care or offer counseling services. Cecile Bibaud, a former social worker, is helping Harvey by teaching a monthly parenting class and advocating for parents of children with mental illness or special needs who are having problems in school.
Harvey plans to coordinate a weekly support group for women. She also wants to create a young men's group to teach at-risk youth that, "Knowledge is money, and education is the key.” “I think about how so many people are lost because of a lack of knowledge," she said. "I see what people fall into, so I wanted to make a difference."
Harvey's Community First has been working in Beaufort and Jasper counties since 2003 and earned nonprofit status in 2006. Community First typically helps about 25 people a year, she said.
In the two weeks since Harvey has opened the Bluffton office, she's helped seven single parents with a variety of needs. Harvey expects her new location and the recession to bring in more traffic than usual. She is awaiting the results of a grant application to hire an extra staff member.
"I want to help those who have hope and want to improve their lives," she said. "With the economy the way it is, you don't know what will happen. People drink more and do drugs more. They are going to get frustrated and not know what to do, so I want to get the word out that we will be here for them."
By LIZ MITCHELL
lmitchell@islandpacket.com
843-706-8169
Published Wednesday, March 18, 2009
To many residents in Beaufort and Jasper counties, Pearla Harvey is known as Mother Harvey. She's an ordained pastor who leads a ministry every Sunday at Simmons Cay Apartments in Bluffton. Now, she's expanding a Jasper County nonprofit to May River Road in Bluffton. A grand opening is scheduled for Saturday.
Community First helps low-income single parents and grandparents raising grandchildren find food, shelter and medical services. The nonprofit also refers families to other agencies that can help them pay bills, find emergency day care or offer counseling services. Cecile Bibaud, a former social worker, is helping Harvey by teaching a monthly parenting class and advocating for parents of children with mental illness or special needs who are having problems in school.
Harvey plans to coordinate a weekly support group for women. She also wants to create a young men's group to teach at-risk youth that, "Knowledge is money, and education is the key.” “I think about how so many people are lost because of a lack of knowledge," she said. "I see what people fall into, so I wanted to make a difference."
Harvey's Community First has been working in Beaufort and Jasper counties since 2003 and earned nonprofit status in 2006. Community First typically helps about 25 people a year, she said.
In the two weeks since Harvey has opened the Bluffton office, she's helped seven single parents with a variety of needs. Harvey expects her new location and the recession to bring in more traffic than usual. She is awaiting the results of a grant application to hire an extra staff member.
"I want to help those who have hope and want to improve their lives," she said. "With the economy the way it is, you don't know what will happen. People drink more and do drugs more. They are going to get frustrated and not know what to do, so I want to get the word out that we will be here for them."
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We need your help so that we can assist low-income single-parent households and households in which grandparents are raising children.
We accept donations, volunteers, advice, prayers and appreciate your generosity, thank you.
Choose your Donation Amount
