All in a day’s work
S.C. Wire volunteers fill Kids Closet care bags with personal hygiene items during a packing session at Newberry Electric Cooperative.
Photo by Walter Allread
Much more than four walls and a roof, the concept of home evokes deep feelings of safety and security. Just the simple image of light glowing in the window creates a sense of welcome and calm. But when the security of home is taken away either by forces of nature or traumatic life events, the world can become a frightening and uncertain place.
It often takes a community to help families restore life to normal after difficult life changes. A group known as S.C. WIRE (Women Involved in Rural Electrification) understands that meeting the simplest needs can often mean the most to those in a state of transition.
With a long history of helping families served by electric cooperatives, WIRE has 14 local chapters across the state, with anywhere from 10 to 200 members in each. Founded in 1981 as a nonprofit organization and the charitable arm of many local electric cooperatives, the organization includes co-op members, employees, wives of employees, co-op retirees, trustees, and wives of trustees.
“WIRE is a natural extension of the co-ops’ community commitment,” says Peggy Dantzler, vice president of loss control and training for The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, who serves as WIRE liaison and administrator.
Two of WIRE’s ongoing outreach efforts—Kids Closet and Co-op Closet—provide tangible relief to vulnerable populations in need.
Kids Closet works with the state Department of Education to help alleviate the growing problem of homeless students. It’s estimated that more than 11,000 South Carolina students experienced homelessness last year. For these children, each new day brings new uncertainty about where they will sleep and where they will wake up, eat, bathe and do their homework.
Since 2017, WIRE chapters from across the state gather annually to assemble drawstring backpacks filled with soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo, lotion, feminine hygiene products and laundry detergent. The Department of Education then discretely distributes the bags to youth in need, allowing students to tend to their personal needs no matter where they sleep at night.
The Kids Closet program was modeled after WIRE’s annual Co-op Closet effort, which since 2012 has provided personal supplies for displaced nursing home residents. These residents, who are wholly dependent upon their nursing homes for care, are particularly unsettled when homes are closed suddenly due to safety regulations or Department of Health and Environmental Control compliance issues. WIRE volunteers fill large duffel bags with personal supplies, including blankets, clothes and toiletries.
The S.C. Office on Aging then stores and distributes the bags in response to need around the state. Dantzler says the simple gift often amazes the elderly recipients.
“They have nothing,” she says. “When they’re told it’s theirs to keep, they’re just stunned.”
In addition to these ongoing outreach programs, WIRE chapters provide a wide range of services and assistance to South Carolinians in need of calm assurance that life will someday go back to normal.
Whether it’s helping storm victims, providing linens to migrant workers, partnering with local fire departments after house fires, or serving in homeless shelters, the women of S.C. WIRE are fulfilling their mission to help improve the quality of life in rural areas.
To learn more about S.C. WIRE and the local chapter in your area, visit ecsc.org/wire.