March’s recipient of the employee Pay IT Forward funds, Billing Representative Lisa Foster, donated $500 to the Laurens Baptist Crisis Center.
The Center is a non-profit organization sponsored by the churches of the Laurens Baptist Association to give assistance to people and families in Laurens County who are in crisis situations.
Kay Leagans, Crisis Center Director, said, “We assisted 1,221 local families last year, and 365 in the first quarter of 2019.”
Crises include loss of home by fire or natural disaster, recent loss of employment, sudden or chronic illness, death, or accident, and family problems such as divorce, separation, desertion or abuse resulting in loss of financial security.
Lisa decided to use her Pay It Forward funds to help the Crisis Center, “because of what it stands for: helping those in need local in our community. It feels close to home, helping neighbors of all walks of life, no matter the need. It’s nice to know someone is there to turn to.”
The Crisis Center offers services such as utility assistance, clothing and a food bank stocked with canned food and staples, which have been donated or purchased from contributions.
Leagans said Lisa’s contributions “will be used to purchase food items. We are a part of Harvest Hope which lets us purchase food at 19 cents a pound.”
Laurens Electric’s chapter of the charitable group WIRE (Women Involved in Rural Electrification) donates to the Crisis Center regularly, and the co-op itself donates annually to the Center’s utility assistance program, with funds generated at their annual charity events.
Donations of money, clothes, shoes, and food are welcome at the Center, located at 60 Ranch Road (P. O. Box 745), Laurens, SC 29360 Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
To volunteer, contact Kay Leagans at 984-0123.
The Pay It Forward program was begun in 2015.
Every Laurens Electric Cooperative employee is entered into a random drawing to receive $500 to pay forward in any way they choose. Each month a new name is drawn, and the employee then has one month to apply the funds toward their own act of kindness.
This initiative is budget-neutral; the funds will come from Laurens Electric’s charity events, which employee volunteers make possible.
Employees and the community will enable individual employees to help individuals in the community, and that’s a win-win situation.