God’s providence brought me to Miracle Hill Ministries emergency shelter for men called the Greenville Rescue Mission in the spring of 2003. I was a drug addict, a convicted criminal, homeless, and alone. I had no family who would talk to me, and I had burned every bridge to every meaningful relationship I had in the world.

It’s surreal to reflect on conversations and situations knowing that I have not been alone. Each step of the way, someone has helped me stand back up or point me to where I need to be. Support is amazing; it can be unexpected, unwelcomed, needed, and hard to find all at the same time. I have this motto that I try to follow and remember in the hardest of times: “People need Jesus and people need people.” I want to talk about the experience that has led me to see this statement in action.

Having learned about the Greenville Homeless Alliance through the 2015 Homelessness White Paper, I knew I wanted to intern here during my time at Furman. I majored in Sustainability Science where I have been trained in systems-thinking and appreciate looking at large scaled societal issues from a systems level view in order to work on closing loops. This passion for systematic work is what drew me to be interested in the Greenville Homeless Alliance and the work they do.

As the Greenville Homeless Alliance (GHA) formed in 2018, the leadership selected a logo with letters joined together, representing collaboration and showing that no one organization or governmental body can solve homelessness. When all parts of the community work together with a focus on the person at the center, we can have hope for sustainable change.

The Economy Inn was condemned on January 13, 2021 and the Motel Displacement Response Plan mobilized to meet the needs of eighty individuals ranging in age from 3 weeks to 80 years. Bob Mihalic, Governmental Affairs Coordinator, with Greenville County said, “Greenville County codes gave the Economy Inn owner sufficient notice of life safety issues that needed to be addressed, but they were not/have not been addressed.

On a Friday morning in January of 2018, I was sitting at our kitchen table, enjoying my coffee and reading The Greenville News. A front-page headline caught my eye – “Condemned Economy Inn leaves residents in crisis. 'How do we live?' one asks.”

The U.S. is now six months into the COVID-19 pandemic and is experiencing another wave of the virus with the death toll continuing to rise. The economy has partially recovered from the sharp economic declines in the spring, but many people continue to suffer from their economic losses.

As we stand in the wake of our country’s election stress, many Americans yearn for a glimmer of hope. Meanwhile, Greenville local Robert Shell goes about his days sharing the mantras he lives by with anyone willing to listen.