Tune In TONIGHT and Tomorrow Morning

The Big Picture is once again featuring a topic of interest to South Carolinians in the civil justice community. This week’s topic is The Working Poor.

For the program, Mark Quinn, the host of The Big Picture, interviewed prestigious guests such as Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, Sue Berkowitz of SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center and Dr. Adolphus Belk of Winthrop University.

TV Air Date: TONIGHT: Thursday – August 06, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Every Friday morning “The Big Picture on the Radio” airs on ETV Radio. Discussion focuses the television topic of the week amongst other timely subjects. Be sure to check ‘The Big Picture’ homepage each Friday afternoon to tune in live starting at 1:00 p.m.

TV repeats of Thursdays broadcast will air each Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and again on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

-RFW

Filed under: 1, Law, Legal, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center, SCETV, South Carolina, South Carolina Educational Television, The Big Picture, Unemployment, access to justice, access to justice blog, blog, employment, homeless, hunger, indigent, labor, legal aid, poverty, poverty guidelines, public interest attorney, state employment security commission, subprime mortgage crisis , SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center, Sue Berkowitz, The Big Picture, Mark Quinn, The Working Poor, Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, Dr. Adolphus Belk, Winthrop University, TONIGHT, August 6 2009, ETV Radio

South Carolina, Subject of Washington Post Article

Columbia, South Carolina (my hometown) is featured today in More Need, Less Help by Amy Goldstein at the Washington Post.

The subject is that as South Carolina’s ranking rises in unemployment and the financial crisis spirals out of control, the need for assistance rises.

• South Carolinians are out-of-work.

• South Carolinians are hungry. 

• South Carolinians cannot pay rent or mortgages. 

• South Carolinians are going without medication.

• South Carolinians are worried about their children and their futures.

Food pantries like Harvest Hope are working as hard as they can to fill orders. But their supplies are running short.

Other charities, like the United Way of South Carolina, United Way of the Midlands, the Central Carolina Community Foundation, the Family Service Center, and the Salvation Army, are working round the clock to assist, but their donations are dwindling as well.

Excerpts:

Timothy Ervolina, president of the United Way Association of South Carolina, worries that the web of philanthropic and nonprofit groups may not be able to fulfill the governor’s [Sanford] expectations. Ervolina has watched fundraising fade at United Ways across the state, even as calls pour in to their crisis hotlines.

. . .

South Carolina Legal Services, a statewide network that gives free legal help, in July received the biggest grant handed out by the South Carolina Bar Foundation but in January was asked to return 15 percent of it.

The time to act is now. If you can afford to make a donation, please do so.

Your donation may offer someone else hope. Hope to carry on. Hope for their children. Hope to live.

Thanks Washington Post for sharing the story of Columbia, SC!

-RFW

Filed under: 1, LIHEAP, Law, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center, South Carolina, South Carolina Access to Justice Commission, South Carolina Bar Foundation, South Carolina Legal Services, Unemployment, access to justice, access to justice blog, advocacy, attorney, blog, children, elderly, employment, foreclosure, homeless, hunger, indigent, legal aid, poverty, poverty guidelines, pro bono, state employment security commission, subprime mortgage crisis , Amy Goldstein, Brian Clarke, Central Carolina Community Foundation, Cheryl Davis, Columbia, Columbia SC, Debbie Cresswell, Department of Social Services, Employment Security Commission, Family Service Center, Food Pantries, General Assembly, Gilda Cobb Hunter, Governor Mark Sanford, Harvest Hope, International Festival of Food and Wines, Life Force Food Pantry, Medicaid, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Rising Unemployment, Salvation Army, SCLS, Sheila Turman, South Carolina, South Carolina Bar Foundation, South Carolina Legal Services, South Carolinians, The Washington Post, Timothy Ervolina, United Way, United Way of South Carolina, United Way of the Midlands

HHS Announces LIHEAP Emergency Contingency Fund Allocations

On September 17, 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the release of $121 million in energy assistance via its Emergency Contingency Fund to help eligible low-income households meet home energy costs via its Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

LIHEAP assists with home heating and cooling costs to ensure the safety of individuals most in need, including children, the elderly and the people with disabilities.

Of the $121 million from the Emergency Contingency Fund, South Carolina will receive $652,643.

 Eligibility: SC families receiving LIHEAP assistance have incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. To learn more about LIHEAP in SC, see http://www.liheap.org/liheap%20fact%20sheet/SC/liheap-SC.pdf.

For information about the program, see http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/.  For a brochure, click http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/brochure.html.

For information about the program in South Carolina, visit http://www.oepp.sc.gov/oeo/programs.htm.

-RFW

Filed under: HHS, LIHEAP, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, South Carolina, advocacy, children, elderly, people with disabilities, poverty, poverty guidelines , Add new tag, children, elderly, HHS, Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, Low Income, people with disabilities, poverty, poverty guidelines, South Carolina