HOPE Missions of the Upstate

Housing Support for Those Experiencing Homelessness

HOPE Missions of the Upstate provides hope and healing to our community by meeting the basic needs of individuals and seeking specific opportunities to improve these individual circumstances. We are an approved 501(c)(3) non-profit charity. We seek to feed the hungry, provide clothing and shelter, empower, and equip by pointing each to the peace of Christ and showing each the love of Christ.  We are intentionally open on all holidays.  We eliminate barriers to employment and housing by providing free access for SC IDs, duplicate Social Security cards and copies of birth certificates.  Our housing and services navigators work diligently with our clients to provide pathways to housing and benefits. Our programs operate in partnership with other local social services agencies in our county and Upstate community for access to benefits, employment, physical and behavioral health support, and other services to meet our participants’ immediate and long-term needs.

Why We are Fundraising

Our organization serves men and women experiencing homelessness, a circumstance which automatically pushes them to the margins of society. We serve people who are at risk of becoming homeless as well as those who are literally homeless.Our homeless services program has three components: emergency shelter, street outreach and homelessness prevention. Our emergency shelter efforts include our day shelter, which opens at first light of day and provides access to bathrooms and other hygienic needs (and food) (and coffee) until county social services offices are open.  We also operate seasonally during cold weather to provide spaces for people to keep warm, which includes both a large seating area and cots to sleep on. Street outreach activities meet immediate needs and serve to locate, identify and build relationships or families living in unsheltered settings.  This involves a lot of food (and coffee), along with warmth items - but more importantly these allow us to assess housing and service needs. Our homelessness prevention efforts are tailored to each individual circumstance and work to prevent individuals or families from moving into shelter or a place not meant for human habitation.

From New Year's day thru Veterans Day in 2023, we have served 1,105 unique individuals with 25,729 meals, 3,375 local bus tickets, 139 SC IDs, 98 SNAP (Food Stamp) Applications and 57 men and women no longer living on the streets. 

We are currently seeking donations to support move-ins because we spend a lot of attention on finding housing for those we serve, and it's hard to find.  Once we move someone into stable housing, there's typically a gap - it might be a mattress and its vital companion, a waterproof and bed bug-proof mattress protector, or a set of basic cookware. It will enable those we serve to engage in new patterns of self-care and security through a way to sleep,  to eat and to bathe. If you donate to this project, you will be funding: 

• Bathroom sets and shower curtains
• Basic dinnerware sets
• Mattresses and protectors
• Mops, brooms and dust pans
• Staff to oversee the housing and services navigation
• But ALSO: well-being, self-confidence, and therapeutic healing!