OPINION: Community comes through for those in need of assistance

People in Florence care about their friends and neighbors in tough economic times.
An unprecedented local initiative proved a high level of unselfishness exists, surprising even the local leader who helped originate the idea.
Florence Family YMCA CEO Jerry Dixon spearheaded a widely successful effort to help unemployed residents find jobs.
With the help of dozens of community leaders, including former Wilson High principal Allie Brooks and Florence-Darlington Technical College Vice President Jill D. Heiden, Dixon initiated a service project called HOPE (Help Our People Get Employed).
The push started May 7, the National Day of Prayer, and ended June 7. When it was finished, thousands of unemployed Florence residents received assistance through the volunteers efforts of hundreds.
The services included résumé writing and computer training, professional interview counseling, spiritual and legal assistance, and referrals to emergency medical and food assistance.
During the one-month window, more than 6,800 people visited the S.C. Employment Security office in Florence, more than 15,000 job services were provided for customers and more than 2,200 were referred to openings.
“To me, when you go into this type of venture, you do not know what the end product will be,” Dixon said. “I was pleasantly surprised by the response of the community.
“I was in awe of how many people wanted to help someone else,” he said. “It did my heart good to see the unselfishness. We’ve been blessed with the spirit of giving in this community.”
Many local churches teamed up in the effort with the YMCA,the Florence Area Literacy Council, Poynor Adult/Community Education Center, The Byrnes Schools, the Resident Opportunity Center, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Pee Dee Area, the Florence County Library System, the S.C. Employment Security Commission, the Timmonsville Education Center, Florence School Districts 1 and 4, city of Florence Park and Recreation Department, Florence-Darlington Tech, Francis Marion University, the Florence mayor’s office, Florence Bar Association, S.C. Legal Services, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority.
“The people who worked on this had a wonderful rapport,” said Brooks, principal at Wilson for 31 years before retiring and accepting a volunteer role with Florence 1. “We’re more connected as a community. We broke down barriers in a positive way.”
A speaker at the Community Prayer Breakfast at Florence Civic Center in 2006 and 2007 inspired local leaders to create initiatives to impact the community. The first outgrowth was a partnership between schools and churches in mentoring.
The second was HOPE. Initially, the project was going to be called “Pat on the Back.” But it was changed to underscore the program was to assist people in finding jobs.
“HOPE was a group effort, and we want it to move forward,” said Dixon, who has been at the YMCA for seven years. “There’s no agenda. No egos involved. When we ask people to be involved, they say, ‘What can I do?’ Nearly everyone says that.”
The involvement of Brooks and Heiden was crucial to HOPE’s success. Brooks’ reputation guaranteed credibility to the project, and Heiden’s human resources background proved invaluable.
“In retrospect, I wish we had even more resources to get the word out,” Heiden said. “I wish we could have gone door to door, asking if people needed help. But there are only 168 hours in a week.”
The initiative deserves to go forward, and we are confident it will. In the meantime, job seekers can find assistance at the library, Poynor, Timmonsville and the literacy council.
Next year, the program should grow as awareness increases and people ask about being involved.
Those who were involved in May and June gave selflessly of their time and talents. In a time of uncertainty, they most certainly established Florence as a city of compassion.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial Board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), James Bennett (regional editor), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (news editor), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor) and Jackie Torok (metro editor).