The South Beltline-Gills Creek Community Relief Foundation started as an initiative of neighbors helping neighbors. Now they have expanded to serve flood-impacted residents across the Midlands.
Sabrina Todd and her husband live in the South Beltline-Gills Creek neighborhood in Richland County. When the floods hit in October, their tri-level house flooded on both the first and second levels. The home was substantially damaged and required extensive clean up and demolition work. That’s when South Beltline-Gills Creek Community Relief Foundation came to their aid. South Carolina Public Radio’s Laura Hunsberger has the story.
In the days following the devastation, neighborhood volunteers formed an initiative to help fellow residents with clean up and demolition work. Groups from outside the area came to help, and the volunteers gutted anywhere from 60 to 70 homes in the area. At the same time, the group had tents set up to provide volunteers and residents with things like food and supplies.
As flood recovery continued into November, the group moved into a warehouse space with the Lower Richland Operations Center to collaboration on the distribution of consumable goods (like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.) to flood-impacted residents. The South Beltline-Gills Creek Community Relief Foundation became an official 501(c)(3) organization, advocating not just for the neighborhood, but for residents throughout the region. Between the initial surge to clean up houses to the groups who helped staff the warehouse in the early stage, Executive Administrator Rachel Larratt says they have racked up almost 10,000 hours of volunteer time with about 1,500 volunteers.
The Foundation has since moved to a new warehouse location on Shop Road, sharing space with St. Vincent de Paul’s House in a Box program. They continue to provide consumable goods to flood-impacted residents who have registered with FEMA. (A FEMA letter and photo ID are required.) While they serve residents mainly in the Midlands, anyone impacted by the flood can come for aid. They have seen people come from as far as Sumter and Georgetown for supplies.
More information on the South Beltline Gills Creek Community Relief Foundation can be found on their Facebook Page, or at the web site, sbgcrelief.com.