Read the most recent news and stories from our neighbors thanks for the help of our Bluffton Self Help staff and volunteers.
Volunteer Spotlight | Kim Bart
Kim Bart began volunteering at Bluffton Self Help in October of 2022. During this time, she quickly distinguished herself as an intelligent, organized, reliable team member, as well as a strong leader. To this point, Kim served as a lead volunteer on every major drive...
7th Annual Tiger Bass Series to Benefit BSH
Bluffton Self Help will again be the recipient of proceeds from the Tiger Bass Race Series, now in it’s 7th year at Hampton Lake. This year’s event will include a 5K-, 12K- and 1-Mile Fun Run. It will be held at 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20. The Tiger Bass Race Series is a great example of community working together to create an event focusing on fitness, family, fun and philanthropy. It has become a signature event for the community because of the strong participation and enthusiasm from its attendees, volunteers, sponsors and Hampton Lake property owners. EVENT DETAILS WHAT: 7th annual Tiger Bass 5K/12K WHEN: 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20 WHERE: Hampton Lake, Bluffton DETAILS: If registered before Sept.17, the 5K is $30; the 12K is $35; the 1-mile fun run is $15 CONTACT: 843-815-1718, rob@palmettorunning.com, www.tigerbassrun.com The race committee hopes to reach its goal of 500 participants and make a donation to Bluffton Self Help, whose mission is to help Blufftonians in critical need of short-term financial assistance and food and clothing, while supporting them to become more self-reliant. In 2013, Tiger Bass Race organizers hoped to have 250 participants and raise $10,000 for Bluffton Self Help. They exceeded their goals with 300-plus runners and more than 60 sponsors. This success meant that they were able to donate $12,000 to Bluffton Self Help. (This post is an abbreviated version of a feature story about this event published the August 2014 edition of Hilton Head Monthly Magazine. For the complete story, go here.)
2014 Southern Living Idea Home at Palmetto Bluff
Bluffton Self Help is proud to be a beneficiary of the 2014 Southern Living Idea Home. This year’s home is located in the River Road neighborhood of Palmetto Bluff, and will open for tours on June 28th. The $15 entry fee for these tours will benefit our Club. We will be providing volunteers to staff the home and act as docents for visitors taking the tour. If you are interested in volunteering for this, please call or email Lili Coleman for more information.
BI LO Charities awards grant to Bluffton Self Help
With great pleasure Bluffton Self Help’s executive director drove to Beaufort’s Town Hall to accept a grant for the food program. BI-LO Charities, Inc. has a long tradition of supporting charities. The goal is to support agencies that touch countless lives in the neighborhoods and communities around BI-LO stores. The BI-LO Charity Classic, an annual golf tournament held in Greenville, South Carolina, serves as the primary fundraising event for BI-LO Charities. Funds raised through the tournament are distributed through a grant application process, and priority is given to education, children’s charities, and agencies addressing the needs of the hungry.
Volunteer Spotlight: Cinda Bush
[divider] [image source=”https://blufftonselfhelp.org/media/uploads/cinda-250×200.jpg” alt=”” width=”250″ height=”200″ align=”right”]Cinda Bush has seen a lot of changes in her life and with Bluffton Self Help. She is one of Bluffton Self Help’s regulars and we mean “regular.” Bush has been volunteering for Bluffton Self Help for over 20 years! “I first met Mrs. Ida Martin when I needed help, years ago,” said Bush. “She was always there to help me,” Bush remembers. Mrs. Ida would call me when she received a bag of children’s clothing and say ‘you get over her and see if there is anything for your children.” That’s how she started volunteering. Cinda volunteered two days a week all those years and is currently a regular on the Friday afternoon shift. Cinda, a life-long local resident spent her early years living on the Belfair Plantation with her great-grandfather. “He raised me and two sisters,” she said. He was a farmer. Belfair, at the time Cinda lived there was owned by William Mosely Swain. Cinda remembers attending the one-room school house located on the plantation. In 1949, Cinda moved off the Belfair Plantation and attended Michael C. Riley School. Since 1985, when she wasn’t working or volunteering, she cared for her brother Jonathon who suffered from Hydrocephalus. When his mother passed, she promised to care for her brother. Cinda, with her husband’s whole-hearted approval, took him in. Jonathan died in May. Cinda, a cook by profession for thirty years, still works, earning needed income by caring for a woman three days a week who is homebound. When asked what keeps her going, she said it’s her faith. “I pray daily for the Lord to keep me strong and focused,” she said. Cinda continues to volunteer at Bluffton Self Help because of how it makes her feel. “I get a great feeling when I help someone pick out a piece of clothing they need or hand out a loaf of bread to someone who is hungry.” When Cinda has time, she relaxes in her wide open country setting, visited often by her five children and 13 great grandchildren. Cinda and her husband were married 41 years prior to his passing five years ago.
Bluffton Self Help comes to aid of pregnant woman in need
Courtesy of The Island Packet Taryn was in her second trimester when she was rushed to the emergency room with chronic pain and violent nausea. She was put on mandatory bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy and could no longer work. Struggling to pay her expenses on a limited income, Taryn called Bluffton Self Help after she received a disconnect notice from the electric company. Following the interview and verification of information, Bluffton Self Help was able to pay her electric bill to avoid an interruption of service. Family members soon arrived to help Taryn with other expenses during the remainder of her pregnancy. Bluffton Self Help provides a broad range of social services for poor working families, the disabled, the sick and the elderly.
Bluffton Self Help caps year of changes by helping more people than ever
From the Island Packet: By ALLISON STICE astice@islandpacket.com 843-706-8138 Wednesday, November 23, 2011 It’s been a year of exciting firsts at Bluffton Self Help. The group bought a new building soon after hiring executive director Lili Coleman. Founder Ida Martin, who launched the organization from her garage in 1987, received a Presidential Citizens Medal — and a hug — from President Barack Obama. But some things haven’t changed since the nonprofit agency relocated this month to Sheridan Park, in a space six times the size of its former headquarters. Bluffton Self Help is on pace to break records for the second consecutive year for the number of people it provides with food, clothing and financial assistance. The largest increase in need has been groceries, with 29 percent more people receiving food from January through October compared to the same time last year, for a total of 11,056 people, according to board president Peter Bromley. The demand has been so great that the group now distributes food twice on Wednesdays — once in the mornings, as it traditionally has, and again from 4 to 6 p.m. That’s in addition to its other regular food days on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. More than 150 people might ask for the food delivered by Second Helpings on a typical day. “We discovered some workers couldn’t stand in line in the mornings, but they still needed to put food on the table,” Coleman said of adding the Wednesday afternoon slot. The need for emergency financial assistance increased by 10 percent, to 793 people, for the first 10 months of the year over last year. About 6,244 people have received clothing from the organization, an increase of 16 percent from the same time last year, Bromley said. “There were some concerns when we moved to a new location that people might have a hard time finding us,” Bromley said. “We closed our doors in the old building on a Friday, opened up in a new building on a Monday and haven’t skipped a beat.” The group plans to launch projects in the new building aimed at making people who need its help more self-reliant. Coleman said Bluffton Self Help is in talks with The Deep Well Project — a Hilton Head Island-based, nonprofit social services agency — to offer classes and programs ranging from nutrition to using coupons. Coleman also is an expert at helping clients apply for state benefits, Bromley said. The organization has needs of its own. It is still paying off the new building, which was purchased with money from grants, foundations and a capital campaign drive. It needs to raise another $170,000 to pay off renovations and begin a utility endowment, Bromley said. Its greatest need is for volunteers, especially as it takes on a toy drive for children 17 and under in Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties, Coleman said. Read more: http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/11/23/1874016/bluffton-self-help-caps-year-of.html#ixzz1exNRFkAL