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Mary Cox, an avid from-scratch cook and a gardener in her younger years, never expected to need help from a food bank. But life turned upside down in April 2023 with the death of her husband, Larry.
“We’d been married 60 years, and he took care of everything,” says Cox, 79, of Greenville. “I mean, everything.”
Cox turned to the nonprofit First Impression of South Carolina for free fruits and vegetables as she got back on her feet financially and emotionally. She now volunteers there herself.
First Impression is expanding its food distribution program using a $20,000 AARP Community Challenge grant.
The money is funding 20 raised garden beds on the organization’s Grand Avenue site east of downtown Greenville. The produce grown there helps to provide 50 boxes of fresh produce monthly for residents 50 and older.
The nonprofit is one of four South Carolina organizations to receive 2024 AARP Community Challenge grants, totaling $66,300.
The program funds local projects to improve public spaces, housing, transit and civic engagement, among other goals. Nationally, AARP awarded $3.8 million in grants for 343 projects this year.
“We’re excited that the grants have touched over a dozen communities across the state,” says Charmaine Fuller Cooper, AARP South Carolina state director. “AARP really wants these projects to leave a lasting footprint in the community.”
The Greenville project addresses long-standing concerns about food insecurity among older South Carolinians, Fuller Cooper notes.
The expanded gardening program in Greenville quickly produced summer squash and tomatoes for summer meals.
Angela Gaines, outreach case manager at First Impression, says the AARP grant also funded efforts to attract volunteers to help cultivate the produce.
Whether working in the greenhouse or boxing up vegetables, the volunteers “feel like they are giving back,” Gaines says.
Focus on housing
Another AARP grant is also helping older South Carolina residents in need.
The Anderson Housing and Homeless Alliance received a $21,300 grant to help design accessible cottages at the site of two old cotton mills.
The alliance sees an average of 124 people a day who are homeless or in deep poverty and need services, says CEO Zoe Hale. The majority are 50 or over.
Some might find homes eventually on a small portion of
the 25-acre site on South Gossett Street. The initial concept for the development also includes a community center and walkable green spaces. The alliance is holding community meetings to educate residents about the project and get their input.
Hale says she hopes community goodwill toward Habitat for Humanity homes built in Anderson will ultimately translate to support for the mill site homes and the individuals who will live there. “It will be a team effort,” she says.
The other AARP Community Challenge grants awarded in South Carolina this year will benefit residents in North Augusta.
A $22,500 award will partially pay for the installation of high-speed internet with public access points to help improve access to telehealth, socialization opportunities, online learning, safety updates and more.
And a $2,500 grant will fund a walk audit in downtown to identify ways to make sidewalks more accessible and street crossings safer—helping to create a more inclusive, walkable community for residents of all ages.
AARP has awarded $20.1 million in grants since the Community Challenge program launched in 2017. The application process for 2025 starts in January. The grants are a part of AARP’s national Livable Communities initiative.
Linda H. Lamb, a Michigan-based writer, covers public health, veterans and legislative issues for the Bulletin.
More on Livability
- AARP Livable Communities Map
- AARP Livability Index
- AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and CommunitiesWhat Is a Livable Community?
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