While we do financially support and partner with many other programs and agencies in the community we also operate and oversee our own, what we call, direct programs that are listed below.
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Backpack School Supply Program
Each year we along with generous donors from the community provide backpacks filled with basic school supplies to local Oconee County children and teachers. We work together to ensure every child in Oconee School starts the year with the supplies needed for a successful school year. With the number of backpack giveaways in recent years this program took a hiatus. Instead, we filled a gap and offered an event for SDOC teachers.
Teacher Treasure Trove
UWOC sought to fill a gap we noticed in the community. Many great organizations in the area offer school supplies for students. However, not many serve teachers. Therefore, with the support of the Salem Lions Club, we were able to change our program to assist the teachers in our community. Each teacher was given a bag and "shopped" for supplies for their classroom. As we talked and snacked on ice cream and popsicles with educators present, we learned which supplies teachers need the most. Armed with this knowledge and partnerships with other community organizations like Prisma Health, we will offer this opportunity again for teachers.
Basic Needs & Diaper Program
Our basic needs (hygiene kits) and diaper program help to bridge the gap for residents in our community. No government subsidy program allows for the purchase of hygiene or diapers, only food. Diapering for newborns to elder care is available at our office. These items can be very expensive so our program aims to alleviate the stress of choosing between diapering a loved one and paying a light bill.
Healthy Oconee Coalition
Healthy Oconee is dedicated to creating a thriving and healthy community in Oconee County. Our mission is to promote a culture of health by engaging the community as partners to encourage healthy behaviors in all aspects of life. Our goal is to support health where residents live, learn, work, worship, and play. We believe in community engagement, cultural sensitivity and responsiveness, inclusive decision-making, and data-driven interventions to achieve our vision of an active, engaged, and involved community of healthy residents. Join us in making Oconee County a better place to live for everyone!
Senior Farmer's Market Nutrition Program
This program served over 400 seniors this year. While we partner with the DSS Nutrition Program to provide FREE $50 vouchers to seniors to use at local farmer's markets, we offer additional monies(tokens) for fresh vegetables and produce, and connect them with other resources. This program not only helps our seniors but helps our local farmers. The vouchers and tokens are used with local farmers and increase their revenue.
Strengthening Families
The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) is an evidence-based family skills training program for high-risk and general-population families that is recognized both nationally and internationally. Parents and youth attend weekly SFP skills classes together, learning parenting skills and youth life and refusal skills. They have separate class training for parents and youth in the first hour, followed by a joint family practice session in the second hour.
Summer Feed & Read Program
We aim to impact the lives of children by extending the program to focus on improving literacy, writing, and language development in the summer months and preparing them for the upcoming school year while having fun in the process. While the camp targets students ages 6-12 years old, all K-12 students are eligible to receive meals from the program as part of the School District of Oconee County USDA.
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Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
A FREE tax preparation in partnership with the IRS and offered to individuals and families making $60,000 or less. This includes many seniors and low to moderate-income families. This helps in that it eliminates the fees for tax preparation and cash advances by keeping more money in the taxpayer's homes and in our community. This includes many seniors and low to moderate-income families. This past tax season we were able to serve approximately 325 individuals/families producing $412,574 in refunds and saving $63,800 in tax prep fees. The demand for this program has greatly increased over the past few years and many of our citizens had to be served in different counties.
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