Oconee donates to three charities

Oconee County Council in separate votes Tuesday approved honoring the requests of three local charities for the total of $60,000. Of the total, $20,000 will go to the Seneca-based Our Daily Rest. The organization’s executive director, Lauren Richardson, told council members the county’s donation would be used as matching funds for grants doubling the county’s gift. This year alone, Richardson said, the organization has aided 147 homeless people, of whom 31 were children, the highest percentage of children Richardson said she has seen in her five years heading the organization. Our Daily Rest has aided over 2,000 people in its 10 years of operation, according to Richardson, with a 70 percent success rate in getting those aided back on their own feet, employed and sheltered. Fifteen thousand dollars will go to the American Red Cross Upstate SC Chapter. According to county administrator Amanda Brock, the Red Cross has provides vital services during emergencies and in emergency preparedness. Within the past year the Red Cross has responded to 47 emergencies in Oconee County, most of them fires, and has aided 147 peoples with disaster relief, including over $50,000 in direct aid. The organization has also handed out nearly 460 smoke detectors to Oconeeans. The Christmas for Kids program will receive a requested $25,000 to provide Christmas gifts and food to needy children in Oconee County. Journal publisher Jerry Edwards, who has spearheaded the effort for 19 years, said roughly 20 percent of Oconee County’s children are in deprived conditions and the Christmas for Kids program acts as a backstop for other charities such as the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots. The effort, which collects over $130,000 in donations annually, last year served 452 families that included 1,012 children. County attorney David Root explained during Tuesday’s council meeting that donations of public funds to organized charities and service organizations is legal so long as the donations serve a public purpose to benefit the general population.