Shared concern for Greenville children unites faiths

By Sean Dogan, Jeremy Master and Patrick Tuttle
Originally published 10/10/2010 in The Greenville News

So, a rabbi, a priest and a preacher sit down to write a guest column in The Greenville News.

It may sound like the beginning of an old joke about the differences between us, but we’re actually here for one of the many things that unite us: Our children.

This week congregations across Greenville County, representing the diversity of the world’s faiths, will participate in the National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths, a special weekend (Oct. 15-17) of services and outreach efforts to draw attention to issues affecting our children and rally support for solutions.

We believe it to be a wonderful way for faith communities to celebrate children as God’s sacred gifts and provide the opportunity for houses of worship to renew and live out their moral responsibility to care, protect and advocate for all children.

Among the participating local congregations are Advent United Methodist Church, Buncombe Street United Methodist Church, Christ Church Episcopal, First Baptist Church Greenville, Greenville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Long Branch Baptist Church, Prince of Peace Catholic Church, Redemption World Outreach, Reedy River Baptist Church, Slater Baptist Church, St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and Temple of Israel.

Some of us will devote services and educational sessions to children’s issues, while others will host special activities for children and outreach events in the community. The common bond is our shared concern for children and our commitment to improve and enrich their lives.

And there is much room for improvement.

Right now in Greenville County, multiple factors are working against the future growth and development of our children, including poverty, education, teen pregnancy and health.

According to the most recent population estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, there are approximately 111,426 children under 18 living in Greenville County. It’s estimated that almost 25,000 of those children, or 22.4 percent, are living at or below the federal poverty line ($22,050 for family of four).

Statistics also show that the younger the child, the greater chance they are living life in poverty, with 29.2 percent of all Greenville County children 5 years old and younger living in poverty last year. That’s an almost 8 percent increase over the prior year.

In 2007, nearly 12 percent of all babies born in Greenville County were born to teen mothers. The struggles these young mothers and their children face are many, including a greater risk for health problems, low education and lifelong poverty.

And in 2008, 48 percent of children in South Carolina born to a mother with less than a high school diploma experienced some form of early school failure (grade level retention and/or failing standardized tests) by the third grade.

To help turn these negative statistics around and create long-term cycles of success, United Way of Greenville County established three strategic areas of emphasis on which to focus its efforts: school readiness for our young children, high school graduation for our youth and financial stability for all.

With the bar set high, United Way realized it will take all of us — friends, neighbors, nonprofits, the business community, government and the faith-based community — collaborating together to help our community reach these goals.

Recognizing the powerful impact we can have united, 21 representatives from a cross-section of congregations are meeting under the umbrella of United Way of Greenville County’s Faith-Based Roundtable to build a greater knowledge of the health and human service issues many in our community are facing, and to develop new inter-faith connections and partnerships to address them.

Through this new network, we are learning how different faith-based groups operate, the programs and services they provide in the community and whether there are opportunities to work together — across faiths and with United Way’s 57 funded partner providers — to meet our county’s needs in more effective and efficient ways.

If you or a representative from your congregation would like to join this effort, please contact Laurie Rovin, director of community affairs for United Way, at 864-467-4804, and to learn more about the work of United Way, click here.

On the weekend of the Children’s Sabbath (Oct. 15-17), we invite you to join us in prayer, worship, study and act on behalf of the children in our community. We encourage you to look and listen for God’s call to help children living in poverty and respond with faith, courage and commitment.

Pastor Sean Dogan of Long Branch Baptist Church, Rabbi Jeremy Master of Temple of Israel and Fr. Patrick Tuttle, OFM, of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church are members of United Way of Greenville County’s Faith-Based Roundtable.