9/20/201
To our neighbors in the Pelzer/West Pelzer/Williamston community;
Hi there!
As the caretaker of, and caregiver at Chapman House Community Center, I would like to take a moment to introduce myself and Chapman House.
My name is Marnie Schwartz-Hanley & I moved to West Pelzer in June of 1996 from Greenville. I had a little apartment on Drake Street before I found my house on Welborn. I used to have big cookouts outside that tiny apartment hosting “orphan Sunday” for anyone without a place to go. I worked at Bi-Lo while I worked at the mill, and then went full time when the mill started cutting back on production only to eventually close. I went back to school and in 2010, I graduated with honors from Greenville Technical College with a degree in Human Services and a desire to help out in our community.
Chapman House Community Center was birthed out of a conversation I had with Mr. H.T. (Tom) Chapman about having a place to go for folks in our area, if ever they needed anything. They’ve entrusted us with the care and upkeep of Chapman House & we are grateful that West Pelzer Councilman Randall Ledford maintains the front property as he is able! The Eagle Scouts have plans to do a project to help beautify Chapman House with benches & more landscaping and we have volunteers from our community & local schools helping out as well. Dollar General graciously collected over 40 bags of canned goods and other food products and merchandise during their Food Drive in May. One by one this can be won.
We have become a resource center, a navigation tool, a budding time bank and sometimes a shoulder to cry on. Originally, we thought it would be fun to do crafts and work with children to make reading more enjoyable but when we started seeing the need some of our neighbors were in…well, let’s just say God had different plans for the little house at 38 Main Street.
While we’ve been meeting people and helping them keep their faith in their fellow man, they have helped us see that what we need most, more so than jobs and food is to show grace and mercy to our fellow man & to be a beacon of light unto those neighbors who are having a hard time managing in a world that is pressing in on all sides. Some folks have long since lost their way from a church family, or perhaps never had one. When people’s basic physical needs for food and shelter are threatened, or lost, despair sets in, sometimes with depression close behind. A hand up out the darkness can often turn people back to the light & we know of many folks who returned or joined a church once they felt they could look presentable and had a little dignity restored. It is nothing short of a miracle how far a cup of cold water in His name can carry someone.
This is where y’all come in. We have it pretty well fixed at costing around $500 a month to run Chapman House, and that’s only being open 2 or 3 days a week. Some costs are fixed, like internet for $20 a month, but the power goes up in the summer and the gas goes up to heat in the winter. No one draws any pay to be there helping out, so be super nice when you go in. Our volunteers are angels! We have a thrift store with beautiful donations we sell to help with keeping the lights on and the gas bill paid but sometimes there are more people coming in that have needs, than want to buy a new purse and some blue jeans (SALE!! $5!!) We are hoping once folks know more about what we’re doing in our community, you’ll want to help too, either by coming on board to do some of the physical work, or maybe sew different seeds of time or money or even old shoes and coats!
We’re currently open on Mondays, Thursdays & Fridays from 8-11am. We also have a support group that meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 to help people with hepatitis C virus, a global pandemic infecting over 200 million people around the world, and over 5 million Americans! We seek to have after school hours for a game day and Storytime in the Park, but none of these things are possible without your participation, either by bringing your kids by or helping out yourself, so stop in when you’re able, or call or write for more info! We’d love to see you and see how we can make this the best place to live in the Upstate!
Thank you and May God Bless You and Keep You!
Marnie Schwartz-Hanley
Chapman House Community Center
38 Main Street
West Pelzer, SC 29669
864.906.7660 ChapmanHouseSC@att.net
