YORK COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – Hunger and Homelessness Week is a national effort to bring awareness to so many that impacted by these insecurities. Here in the Tri-County York County’s Catawba Area Coalition for the Homeless is leading the charge to continue the conversation.
Tender Hearts Ministries is hosting this year’s annual Hunger and Homelessness week luncheon with CACH or the Catawba Area Coalition for the Homeless. Today’s message centers around hope.
Tender Hearts Ministries, Ainslee Moss, says, “It’s such a great thing to bring all of the agencies together to talk about the problem, bring awareness, show them what the needs are.”
CACH is comprised of more than 30 area non-profits who each bring something different to the table in the effort to combat homelessness.
CACH Co-Founder, Carol Harvey-Hughes, says, “There’s different pieces for each one of us. We have the medical piece, we have the family piece, we have the single men’s piece, we have the single women’s piece — so all of us work together and provide services.”
Since its founding in 2007 CACH leaders say any given year they’ve been able to help between 400-600 families in York County. They say that’s possible only because of all of the organizations that come together to help this community.
Harvey-Hughes shares, “This is totally changing people’s lives, because somebody really cares. When I was homeless, they was no one to help me, no agencies. That’s why it’s so important for us to have agencies, and organizations and individuals help — so that we can give them a hand up, not a hand out.”
Leaders say it’s hard to put an exact figure on the number of homeless people in the county because homelessness can look different in many ways. They say it’s an ever growing issue.
Director of Family Promise of York County’s Leslie Starnes, says, “It is growing and it’s very hard to put a specific number on how many people are homeless because there are so many hidden homeless in Rock Hill that you don’t see, such as the families that we work with.”
Officials believe there is strength in numbers and these organizations voices are louder together.
Moss says, “It’s a bigger picture, if people listen to you because you have a larger stance in saying, we’ve got to take action, we have to help these people.”
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is at Tender Hearts Ministries luncheon speaking with leaders who are coming together for change.
