BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – Spread the Warmth is back on Friday, November 1, 2024, from 3-6pm at Art Park in Beckley to serve the underserved.
These STW events will be held on the first Friday of every month November through January.
“We want to offer them the same resources that everybody can access. These are people, our residents — they live here,” said Bright Life Mental Health & Recovery Services’ SUD Counselor Amanda Hammons. “They just don’t have the same opportunities we do. Everybody deserves access to their basic necessities being met; that’s warmth, food, shelter if we can give it — and human compassion.”
Many live paycheck to paycheck and for others poverty and food insecurity are serious barriers. Some give up after the struggle and end up living outside the structure. Not seeing people every day disconnects them from feeling part of the community. Spread the Warmth can change that by building these relationships, seeing these folks consistently and learning their stories.
“Why they’ve ended up out here and you find out what their needs are,” Sage & Lila Company Owner/Outreach Director Samantha Phillips said. “As we help meet those needs it’s inspiring, motivating and encouraging these people. You’re planting a seed that might not sprout for a while, but you know you are planting that seed.”
The people Hammons and Phillips serve may face a variety of factors… including loss of home, inability to pay taxes, family members passed,
medical bills were too high, (the socio-economic) fallout of COVID, employment rates changed, and the workforce often requires education, which many don’t have.
“We live in a rural community, so we’re looking at another population of individuals that just didn’t have the same opportunities as we do and where we stand today,” said Hammons. We can’t separate them so madly in the community and not give them the same opportunities, or they’ll stay impoverished. It’s oppression, really.”
According to the Sage & Lila owner/outreach director, many of these folks feel shunned by the community. It doesn’t take much to be kind and compassionate.
“Make sure they are seen and heard and they know they are cared about — even just to share a meal with them,” Phillips said. “That goes a long way, as you continue to build that relationship.”
