Dear friends of the Greer Soup Kitchen,
For over 20 years, Daily Bread Ministries and the Christian community have successfully operated the Greer Soup Kitchen. Our purpose is “to provide ministry in the form of services including, but not limited to, providing a soup kitchen, providing a place of refuge, and in general rendering to the needs of the destitute, desperate, and/or troubled persons.”
We have created a clean, safe place for volunteering. We provide over 100 people a hot meal, a smile, a prayer and a listening ear daily. Early on, we made a decision that no person should have to dig through garbage or steal to eat in Greer. With your hands, feet, love and prayerful support, we do our best to fulfill Jesus’ command to “feed my sheep.”
We feed young families, people with infirmities and the poor. We have helped people who are homeless regain their footing. We have long time volunteers who attribute their success in society to the Greer Soup Kitchen and the love they got from other volunteers.
We feel called to equip people who want to escape homelessness. We know of people who have become homeless, truly don’t want to be, and are being mentored by volunteers at the soup kitchen. We have a vision to build a three-unit, transitional apartment facility with a fourth unit for a full time mentor.
Our vision is to give people shelter and counsel for no longer than one year in a very structured Christian program. To enter the program, one must be homeless, have a strong desire to not be homeless, and be recommended by a volunteer at Daily Bread Ministries when an apartment is available.
The four apartments envisioned would look similar in style to the soup kitchen, and form a courtyard in the middle for a swing set, picnic table and garden. They would be built as high efficiency, high security housing. The location would be within a line of sight of the soup kitchen. We have made an offer on a piece of land neighboring the soup kitchen for this facility.
Our intent is to equip people to return to the workforce and a home of their own. Our intent is not to operate a rescue mission. Participants would be required to both eat and work at the soup kitchen and attend Bible study and counseling. Counselors would be trained in a formal process and work under a licensed state counselor. Our intent is to surround participants with Christian love and encouragement in a setting with strict rules of conduct regarding behavior.
Daily Bread Ministries does not want to do this without the input and support of the many individuals, foundations, churches and civic organizations, the City of Greer and the volunteers who serve at the soup kitchen. We do not want to do anything to put the success of the soup kitchen at risk.
We seek your input in one of five ways.
1) On Monday June 2nd, we will hold an informational meeting at The Greer Soup Kitchen at 521 E. Poinsett St, Greer, at 6 p.m. to answer questions and show detailed information about the building plan, the counseling plan, volunteer opportunities and funding needs. The public is invited to attend this meeting.
2) Call Adam Wickliffe, our board chairman, at (864) 940-1714 with any questions, concerns or desire to get involved.
3) Request a visit to your church, business, or civic organization to present and review this potential ministry and make people aware of the opportunity to directly help equip the homeless. To do this you can send an email requesting a visit from member of Daily Bread Ministries’ board of directors.
4) Visit Greer Soup Kitchen/survey and fill in a survey indicating your feelings about such a ministry in Greer.
5) Follow Daily Bread Ministries on Facebook or follow #GreerSK on Twitter to leave any comments, questions or concerns.
Daily Bread Ministries would greatly value input from the people of Greer and the surrounding area. It is important to the board of directors that this ministry be as successful and sustainable as the Greer Soup Kitchen.
To help answer many of your questions, we will provide a continuously-updated FAQ and other information on our website.
We are thankful to all people who support the Greer Soup Kitchen. We need prayers, guidance and support as we explore expansion of Daily Bread Ministries. We sincerely hope to hear your thoughts!
Adam Wickliffe
Chairman, Board of Directors
Daily Bread Ministries, The Greer Soup Kitchen