South Carolina’s senior population should never have to decide between the necessities of life and living out their golden years in safety in their own home.
“Being able to safely enter and exit our homes is a basic need for everyone,” said Mark Champagne, executive director of Sumter United Ministries. “We have been told of seniors in our community being physically carried in and out of their home because there wasn’t a suitable wheelchair ramp available.”
To assist the efforts of organizations like Sumter United Ministries, the Duke Energy Foundation is providing $100,000 in grants to 13 organizations in the state with existing home ramp programs for low-income senior citizens or those with disabilities who qualify for assistance. Each program qualified for up to $15,000 in funding based on the size of the population they serve.
This money will make life so much better for several homeowners in our community,” Champagne said.
“Safety is the most important aspect of everything we do at Duke Energy, every day,” said Mike Callahan, Duke Energy’s South Carolina state president. “A simple safety improvement like building a ramp can make an enormous difference in the quality of life of our seniors. These grants will provide real freedom and security to the recipients of these services.”
Grants were awarded to the following organizations:
AIM (Anderson County) – $15,000
Caring and Sharing (Williamsburg County) – $2,500
Greenwood Community Home Repair – $5,000
Habitat for Humanity (Greenville County) – $15,000
Habitat for Humanity (Spartanburg County) – $15,000
Habitat for Humanity (York County) – $5,000
Helping Florence Flourish – $5,000
Home Works of America (Marlboro County) – $2,500
KARE of Kershaw – $5,000
Lighthouse Ministries (Florence County) – $10,000
Rebuild Upstate (Oconee and Pickens counties) – $10,000
Sumter United Ministries – $7,500
United Way (Clarendon County) – $2,500
This year’s grants are a continuation of the Foundation’s efforts to support South Carolina organizations that help make needed home repairs to enable senior citizens to continue to enjoy life in their current homes. In 2023, the Senior Home Repair Program provided $225,000 in grants to 15 qualifying nonprofits of up to $20,000 through a request for proposals.
“The response we received after last year’s grants were announced was tremendous, and eye opening as the scope of the need became evident,” said Amanda Dow, director of the Duke Energy Foundation in South Carolina. “We looked more closely at the programs implementing this work and refined this year’s grants to a single specific focus area – home ramp programs – that will allow for more targeted disbursement of funds and reach more individuals in need.”
In addition to the grants, Duke Energy employees will be volunteering with several of these organizations to build ramps in communities in the company’s service territory that serves more than 830,000 retail electric customers and stretches from the Pee Dee region to the Upstate.
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