Living Here

Debbie Howard is just one of several local teachers seeking to help students through the Creative Advancement Center After School Program.

The program, held at Victor Park gym Monday through Friday, offers help with homework, a hot meal and some physical activity.

When he went for his interview at the SC State Hospital, Melton Francis made one crucial mistake. He left his pack of cigarettes visible in his shirt pocket. It wasn’t that anyone interviewing him cared that he smoked -- in 1977 you could light up just about anywhere. The problem was the patients saw the cigarettes and wanted them.

Jack House has been volunteering at the Greer Soup Kitchen for more than five years.

Now retired, he comes in every Monday with a group from his church (First Presbyterian), helping in the kitchen and restocking the food line.

Greer Community Ministries (GCM) has been serving seniors, delivering meals and supplying clothes for nearly 50 years.

Through the years, volunteers have played a key role in carrying out the nonprofit’s mission.

The first psych ward Ruth Westbury ever worked was in a VA hospital in Lyons, New Jersey.

Britni and Bo Ream are working to remodel the historic “bull house,” located at 55 Dan Bull Road, Taylors.

Newly married last March, the Reams sold Bo’s house in July with the intentions of purchasing a new home.

“We both like old homes, old architecture,” Bo Ream said. “We wanted something we could fix up.”

Serving neighbors in need, Greer Relief & Resources Agency has been a landmark in Greer for more than 80 years.

Through programs like RENEW (Reaching Every Neighbor Every Way), the nonprofit has been able to help citizens with crisis prevention and development.

Editor’s Note: The following article is part of a series Buchheit is writing on the men and women that worked at the SC State Hospital in Columbia. Look for further stories on Bull Street to appear in The Greer Citizen.