In February 2019, the University of South Carolina Lancaster (USCL) applied for a Let’s Go! 3.0 mini-grant to increase access to its outdoor recreation amenities by adopting an open community use policy and to continue its active community environments work with Wholespire Lancaster County, formerly Eat Smart Move More Lancaster County.
The partners had completed several community health improvement projects that increased access to healthy opportunities. The mini-grant would help complete their vision while focusing on the Clinton community, a Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) in the City of Lancaster. QOZs are characterized as economically distressed communities defined by the census tract.
Existing projects that needed to be completed were:
Improvement of the built environment in the Clinton neighborhood by extending bike lanes and crosswalks and offering a loop to the Lindsay Pettus Greenway, which improved access to the USCL campus.
USCL public health students conducted an assessment on student on-campus walking behaviors. They used the data to develop walking routes for anyone to utilize while on campus.
USCL’s recreation facilities were open to the public (including trails, walking routes, tennis courts, picnic pavilion, 5K starting point, bike lanes, and crosswalks). However, the promotion of these facilities has been limited to word-of-mouth.
The Gregory YMCA began managing the operations of the University-owned recreation facility. USCL secured funding for the YMCA to provide sliding scale financial assistance to income-eligible YMCA members on a long-term, sustained basis. Approximately 400 Lancaster residents utilize this benefit from the YMCA, many of whom live in the nearby Clinton community.
Let’s Go 3.0 mini-grant funds were used to:
Hire a professional designer to create a campus map of outdoor recreational facilities open to the public, which included the student-design walking routes.
Purchase and install way-finding signs that promote the open use amenities and walking routes.
Promote the open community use agreement policy to the community. Promotional strategies included issuing a press release to The Lancaster News, posting the press release on USCL’s website and social media, and announcing the existence and availability of these community resources at USCL’s student orientation and Clinton Elementary School’s Parent Night.
Purchase bike racks for the Lindsay Pettus Greenway trailhead in the Clinton community and the USCL campus.
Initial Challenges
For USCL, the challenge wasn’t creating new opportunities for physical activities, it was promoting the ones they already had. The USCL campus has seven buildings, a YMCA in the physical education building, tennis courts, and about a mile and a half of natural path trails.
“We’re very community-oriented, and there’s a lot of word-of-mouth advertising. This is how a lot of small towns, small communities go. We just assume that people know things, but we’re only reaching our own social circles,” explained Lauren Vincent Thomas, professor of health promotion education and behavior at USCL.
The first step was passing an open community use agreement. “When we learned about the Let’s Go 3.0 mini-grant to promote and pass an open community use agreement, I felt like we kind of already had it, we just hadn’t set it as a policy,” said Thomas. “In reality, people use the trail and the tennis court IF they know that they can, but it wasn’t widely known information.”
During the initial conversation with university leadership, they said people already knew about the trails. Convincing them that the project had value was most of the battle with the project. According to Thomas, “Wholespire had this great manual that answered all of my questions. I felt very equipped and confident when the Education Foundation asked about liability.”
A Snowball Affect
Before this project moved to the next steps, debris that was dumped in front of trails was cleared. “It just sent a message that we didn’t care about the campus,” Thomas said while explaining how things like debris deterred people from using the trails. “After that, it was just about updating some features and showing what the campus had to offer. The website was updated, billboards with maps were placed in prime positions, and trail markers and entrances were added.”
Once the project was started, more opportunities were uncovered. “We found money to put split rail fencing up to show off the trail and leveraged funding from another grant to put bike racks in, and we worked with the South Carolina Wildlife Federation to certify that we had a wildlife habitat,” said Thomas. “It reminded us of what we had and gave us the opportunity to share with other people.”
Thomas’ favorite part of the project has been connecting with people who are readily willing to offer their own gifts, talents, and resources.
“We just needed to give them the opportunity and generously thank them for what they offer. For example, we partnered with, an organization in our community that builds ADA ramps for seniors and people who have disabilities, to build a new bridge on one of the trails. They were willing to do this project for us for free as long as they got the credit. There is so much creative generosity in our community. Now, our partners feel like the trails are just as much theirs as it is USC Lancaster’s and that’s exactly what we want.”
New Conversations
The students on campus have been enjoying the positive changes the project brought. The picnic shelter has seen new light now that people know it’s there and university organizations have been enjoying the cleared trails. An outdoor club put in geocaches and monitors them to add new prizes and F3, a male CrossFit group, uses the trails for Saturday morning runs.
The project has also affected conversations about the university’s 10-year Master Plan. “This mini-grant project has primed us to have that bigger conversation about walkability in our community,” said Thomas. “There is a four-lane highway between USC Lancaster’s campus and downtown Lancaster that could benefit from a crosswalk or pedestrian bridge!”
Thomas is hoping this project is the start of making the community more bike- and pedestrian-friendly.
In Spring 2021, GoForth Recovery in Spartanburg found out about the Let’sGo! South Carolina 3.0 mini-grant opportunity offered by Wholespire, formerly Eat Smart Move More South Carolina. They needed an outdoor fitness area to provide residents, family members, and those in the Spartanburg community with a dedicated multi-use area to enhance the recovery journey and stimulate active living.
Changing unhealthy habits isn’t easy for anyone, especially those who suffer from addiction. And oftentimes, individuals who enter a recovery program like GoForth Recovery cannot afford a gym membership or even leave the premises for physical activity. Having a resource like an onsite basketball court allows residents a way to handle their stress and anxiety, while also providing a place for social interaction with their family, friends, and even the community. So, they applied for a mini-grant and received it!
Balancing Life and Making it Healthy
A basketball court may seem like a small thing, but for the residents at GoForth Recovery, it’s huge. It means a way to be physically active, a place to relieve stress and anxiety, and an activity to do during visits with family and friends.
For the average person, balancing everything life throws at you can be overwhelming, and we often turn to stress eating or some other form of unhealthy coping. For people struggling with addictions, everyday life is even more difficult to handle because they have to relearn how to balance life. GoForth Recovery teaches its residents how to lead a well-balanced and healthy life because when a person in recovery doesn’t adopt healthy habits, they are more likely to relapse. To help prevent relapse, GoForth Recovery provides classes on everything from money management and how to shop with a list to healthy eating and active living.
“Most guys who come in…no one has ever shown them how to have a good, balanced, healthy life. What does healthy look like,” explained Brian Naylor, executive director at GoForth Recovery. “We talk about seven hours of sleep, eating six times a day, what does healthy mean. If I’m getting enough sleep, eating right, and exercising, then I’m more likely to stay in recovery. Nutrition and physical activity is key.”
Naylor explained that their house is a healthy house. He’s witnessed guys turn their lives around and go full force into taking care of their bodies. “It’s amazing to see the success of these guys. When I say guys are drinking shakes at night, I’m watching them use kale, strawberries, bananas, and protein powder; and six months ago, they were shooting meth. That’s healthy. That’s recovery.”
The Power of Community
Before the project began.
Initially, the plan called for clearing enough land for the basketball court, but the vision soon grew to clear an entire lot to make room for future additions, like a pavilion and a playground for residents’ children and visitors.
With any healthy eating and active living project, leveraging funds play an important role in the magnitude and success of the end product. GoForth Recovery had an ambitious job to complete with only $3,500 from Wholespire, which, according to Naylor, only covered about half of the actual costs of the basketball court.
“We were able to get it done for next to nothing, except for gas. We had people donate equipment. We had guys who could operate it. We’re hauling off stuff to the dump. We had the City that donated their time, and they came and filled five or six truckloads of trees and debris.”
Word got out to various community members, businesses, partners, and associates about the basketball court project and the need for help with one slightly large unbudgeted item — dirt, 20 tons of dirt.
“After we graded the land, it required dirt because the land is low. The court system in Spartanburg was demolishing their old courthouse to build a garage. Word got out that we needed dirt. We also had a resident who was working for a local home builder. So for one week, there were close to 30 truckloads…and I’m talking about thousands and thousands of dollars of donations that were coming in. So just the dump trucks and the liability and the dirt, we were able to raise the land .”
Because of GoForth Recovery’s connections and the connections of their residents, they were able to leverage more than $10,000 in in-kind donations and complete their project. As Coretta Scott King once said, “ The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.”
Sharing is Caring
Since the completion of the basketball court, Naylor has witnessed increased activity among its residents. Duke Energy installed a light, so the guys take advantage of nighttime hoops.
“We have other people from the recovery community show up to play basketball because there isn’t any other place to go, plus it’s a safe place,” said Naylor. “We have meetings on-site that are open to the public, so after a meeting, people will go outside to congregate and shoot baskets.”
GoForth Recover also shares their new court with a local boys’ home, located one street behind the residence. “They’re over there playing every day on our court. It’s been a good bridge between us and them because we’ve been able to invite them to things like devotion, breakfasts, and some of our group outings — all because of this basketball court.”
In the end, GoForth Recovery got their community basketball court and already prepared space for future additions. But, it didn’t happen without challenges. From tree stump removal, scheduling with partners, debris removal, grading, and weather, their residents rallied behind them and used their connections, skills, and experiences to see the project through to the end.
“The challenges we encountered resulted in an incredible groundswell of resident unity, partner engagement, community involvement, and generous companies that helped us build a community basketball court, which far exceeded our vision in quality when we applied for our initial grant funding from Wholespire,” said Naylor.
GoForth Recovery, a non-profit organization established in 2018, is a men’s addiction recovery program and residential transitional living home for alcoholics and drug addicts. Their six-month residential program provides housing and a structured environment that allows alcoholics and addicts to recover from a hopeless and helpless state of mind and body. Their primary goal is to enable the resident to take responsibility for their recovery and build the foundation for them to be a productive member of their community.
Before
Clearing the land
The City of Spartanburg and a local home builder donated 20 tons of dirt.
Wholespire is pleased to announce that ten Healthy Eating, Active Living mini-grants have been awarded to non-profit organizations, schools, faith-based organizations, community coalitions, and local government in South Carolina. This mini-grant was awarded through a competitive application process to fund sustainable projects that aim to reduce chronic disease and create more fair and equal opportunities to make healthy choices by improving access to healthy food or creating opportunities for physical activity.
The ten mini-grant recipients are:
Bridging the Gap Advocacy – The Home Plate Initiative, led by Bridging the Gap (BTG) in Laurens County, is a small home that is currently being transformed into a community education center for the HYPE team, youth, and families within the region. Funding will be used to create a demonstration kitchen for BTG program participants to utilize produce from its community garden to aid in cooking competence and food literacy. The kitchen will be open to the community after BTG hours. This project is being supported by Clemson YLI SNAP-Ed, Lakelands Regions YMCA, and Wholespire Laurens County.
Charleston Orphan House, Inc (Carolina Youth Development Center) – Growing Goodness is a community garden project that will be located on the Berkeley County Campus. Also supported by The Green Heart Project, funds will be used to build garden beds to engage group foster care youth in hands-on gardening activities that will promote physical and mental health.
City of Darlington– The City of Darlington Outdoor Fitness Project expands on and continues a larger plan created for the Frank & Mary Sue Wells Park by the City of Darlington Beautification Board. Funds will be used to purchase and install outdoor fitness equipment and bicycle racks in four parks. This project aims to continue to promote an active lifestyle by giving citizens more access to an active mode of travel, through the placement of bicycle racks, and several designated areas to freely perform fitness routines across the city.
Helping Others Progress through Education (H.O.P.E.) – Serving the Community with FoodShare York County is an effort by H.O.P.E. to strengthen the food system and reduce food insecurity in the southside of Rock Hill. Funds will be used to create community gardens that will help supply FoodShare York County, as well as increase the number of SNAP customers by promoting FoodShare in apartment complexes, training partner organizations on SNAP equipment, and training staff on the Healthy Bucks program.
Marion County Library System– The Storyscape project is an interactive outdoor literacy self-guided walking and biking trail activity featuring 20 hanging structures that display sequenced pages of a children’s book and placed throughout a high-traffic area within the community. Already established and well-received by the community, funding will be used to reinforce the structures at Marion Hike Bike Trail in the City of Marion.
Oakwood-Windsor Elementary – Open community use is an asset for community members in Aiken who use Oakwood-Windsor Elementary’s open fields for physical activity after school hours. Funds for the Hydrating and ASSISTing our OWES Community project will be used to purchase an outdoor water hydration/bottle filling station and two soccer goals for use by the community.
SC School for the Deaf and the Blind Foundation – The Freedom to Play project will improve the play experience for sensory multi-disabled students at Cedar Springs Academy in Spartanburg. Challenges like slipping, falling, and getting hurt for these students keep them from running freely. Funds for this project will be used to purchase adaptive play equipment and paint lines on a recently paved surface to create a walking track, half basketball court, and hopscotch, and Four-square game areas.
The S.O.S. Project, Inc. at Poplar Spring AME Church – Like many rural communities, the Ora community in Laurens County doesn’t have sidewalks, parks, or any safe areas that promote physical activity. By creating a safe space at Poplar Spring AME Church, community members can use the area to be physically active and improve their health. Through the Creating a Healthy Community project, funds will be used to transform a grass basketball court to concrete or asphalt, creating a kids’/family corner by adding playground equipment and benches, repairing and upgrading the baseball field, and adding safety features like lights and signage.
Generation 4 – An Open Play Space for Community Use is a collaborative project between Generation 4 and Wholespire Anderson County to encourage the use of a trail located at Welfare Baptist Church in Belton. Funds will be used to erect Passport to Health kiosks along the trail that will offer health information. This project will improve upon and assist in the development of a place where all community members have a safe, secure, accessible, equitable, and enjoyable place to walk and be physically active.
Wholespire Richland County – The Project Discovery Palmetto Trails aims to increase access to physical activity for families in Hopkins through the use of the local trailhead of the Wateree Passage of the Palmetto Trail. Funds for this project will be used to purchase signage for this section of the trail to help guide trail users and to help them feel more comfortable knowing where they are going. The Palmetto Trail is supporting this project and will partner on guided trail hikes, educational sessions, and materials.
Funding for these mini-grants was made possible by a grant received by Wholespire, formerly Eat Smart Move More South Carolina, and the South Carolina Office of Rural Health from the BlueCross® BlueShield® of South Carolina Foundation, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
During this time of uncertainty, one Laurens County group has been working hard to become “Champions of Change.”
The Laurens County Bridging the Gap Advocacy HYPE team is composed of students from schools and communities in the Laurens area working as one united team to bring about change in the community.
HYPE stands for Healthy Young People Empowerment. It is a curriculum-based youth engagement program designed by Wholespire (formally Eat Smart, Move More SC) to build the skills of youths to become a greater voice in their communities.
The Laurens County School District Hype team includes middle and high school students from both Laurens and Clinton. They have worked to address the issue of unsafe playgrounds, unsafe passage to schools and parks, and lack of accessibility to fresh vegetables in lower-income communities.
The HYPE team has worked to have pedestrian signs and flashing school lights installed to make the entrance to the school safer. They have worked to restore and update abandoned parks in the area. They have also implemented a fresh vegetable garden to help provide fresh vegetables in lower-income neighborhoods.
People who the group met and worked with include Laurens Mayor Nathan Senn, Waterloo Mayor Barbara A. Smith, Gray Court Mayor Stellartean Jones, Laurens City Council, Laurens County Council, DOT, Laurens Park and Recreation, Churches, Laurens Rotary Clubs, Laurens Exchange Club, and Laurens District 55 School.
Even in times of COVID-19, the team has been able to make change in the community. Though its plans for a countywide Kids Kickball Festival in June 2020 had to be postponed because of CDC guidelines, the group still had a productive year. Members helped improve the community through the renovation of Hickory Tavern Park and by helping restore and repaint the railings and awnings of an older member of the community. They also worked to maintain the garden to provide fresh vegetables for the community. All of this was accomplished while adhering to CDC regulations.
The HYPE team looks forward to making Laurens County a safer and more enjoyable place to live by putting their skills to use and being a greater voice in the community. It hopes to be able to set the plan in motion for the Kickball Festival at the abandoned football field it helped restore. The HYPE team’s next goal is to build a greenhouse to improve the garden’s productivity.
Eat Smart Move More South Carolina invested at least $43,219.48 into mini grant projects that addressed healthy eating over the course of a three-year project supported with funds from BlueCross® BlueShield® of South Carolina Foundation. Fourteen projects were completed in eleven different communities.
One of the many successful projects includes the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind….
Unforeseen Advantages The South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind is the only school in South Carolina that serves deaf, blind and multi-sensory disabled students. The school serves almost 1600 students statewide, with 175 students living on campus Monday through Friday. “As a residential school, our students spend a lot of time with our staff and, like all children, they emulate the behaviors they see. If we want them to eat healthier and exercise, we need to include our staff,” said the Director of Development, Weslie Higdon. With this in mind, the Pathways to Healthy Living project was started at the school with a grant from the JM Smith Foundation in 2018. The overarching goal of the project was to encourage staff and students to live healthier.
This project started with a healthy snack initiative in the first year and then moved onto the Fountains of Health, which consisted of buying water bottles for everyone and adding water bottle filling stations in various locations on campus. “We had no idea that the pandemic was coming so it was just like serendipity that this great project was able to work in a way that we didn’t originally think of to keep our students and our staff safe,” Alice Lang, the Grants Coordinator, reflected on the project. 30 water bottle filling stations were added to the campus, four of which were installed with the Let’s Go 3.0 Mini Grant.
Reactions to the Fountains of Health A lot of the problems they encountered were technical things in the older buildings. The campus was first built in 1849 and one of the water fountains that was replaced with a filling stations was installed in 1969. Some of the ideas they had in mind for the filling stations weren’t feasible due to the way the buildings were originally built. Weslie and Alice praised their contractor, Cooler Dude, for solving the problems that they never envisioned being a problem.
Another filling station was installed in Walker Hall, where 700 water bottles were filled between August and December. Needless to say, the project has been a huge hit among students and staff, especially since the water fountains weren’t able to be used due to COVID-19. Weslie’s favorite part “was when everyone came back to campus and saw them. I had a teacher tell me ‘We were worried that we were going to have to work with them on it, but they were so excited, they just walked right up to it and started filling up their bottles, they were so glad that they finally had one in that school.’”
The other two filling stations are outside by the track, an area Weslie and Alice thought would have to be put on hold. The campus isn’t currently open to the public, but once they open back up, the campus welcomes community members and hosts sporting events like soccer, football, and goalball, a game designed for people with blindness! Weslie is sure the outside filling stations will be popular among the community members. “The welcome center gets calls every day about if the track is open yet so I know that when we do allow people back on campus, it will get used a lot. It’s so nice not to have to cart your water or watch how much you drink or forget it in the car and have to go back and get it.”
Next Steps This is the final year of funding for the Pathways to Healthy Living project, but the project will still move forward to encourage students and staff to live healthier. Projects for the spring will depend on how COVID-19 pans out, but Alice is sure the project will last past the funding. “Next steps will really be about sustainability. Many of our students are considered low income, and many of the families we work with are struggling to put food on the table right now. They don’t have time to sit down and teach them about nutrition and exercise and the importance of drinking water so that’s a vital role that we play here in instructing our students and giving them an example, so I’m sure that administration will continue with this, maybe with different projects, but it needs to be sustained”
