BARWICK, Ga. (WTXL) — A new nonprofit called 'His Hands and Feet' launched in Barwick to meet urgent needs like food, clothing, and bills in a community with few resources.
- About 33% of Barwick residents live below the poverty line.
- "His Hands and Feet" provides food, clothing, and help with bills and home repairs.
- Watch the video below to see what else they plan to do and how you can help.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
According to the U.S. Census, one in three Barwick residents is struggling financially.
One local neighbor saw that need.. and realized there were barely any resources to help meet it.
"Well, we just felt very overwhelmed with the need," said Jennifer Conway, president of "His Hands and Feet".
I'm Layan Abu Tarboush, your Thomasville neighborhood reporter, showing you how that concern turned into a nonprofit and what it's doing for the community right now.
Jake and Jennifer Conway have lived in Barwick for three years.
It's a small rural city in Thomas County with less than 500 people, and a poverty rate of 33 percent, much higher than the state average.
"Yeah, so there's a large amount of people that are in need. In fact, sometimes we'll give them clothing and the next day they're wearing it. So the need is there. There's times we've dropped off food and they wouldn't have eaten that night if we hadn't brought the food," said Jake Conway.
In October of last year, the couple decided to act.
They started the Barwick Street Feed, serving neighbors in need twice a month.
They helped families with food, clothing, rent, utility bills, and even home repairs after storms but the need kept growing.
So they expanded into a nonprofit, now called " His Hands and Feet," to reach more families and bring in more support.
"People are more willing to give if they get something in return, such as the ability to write taxes off. So I think having that in place, more support from the food distribution centers and other clothing stores or whoever else are more inclined to give if they actually get something back in return," said Conway.
Right now, His Hands and Feet is focused on meeting immediate physical needs: helping people keep the lights on, putTING food on the table, and stayING housed.
In the future, they hope to expand beyond Barwick, open a free food pantry and thrift store, and eventually offer emotional and mental health support.
"So we're helping with their physical needs to hope to build relationships with them. And then as we build those relationships, we hope to help them get out of the cycle that they're stuck in, help them with their spiritual and emotional needs through inner healing," said Conway.
His Hands and Feet will host another feed for Barwick neighbors on January 24th at Central Park at 4:00 p.m.
I'll link information about their nonprofit and ways to help in this article.
In Thomas County, Layan Abu Tarboush, ABC 27.
Want to see more local news? Visit the WTXL ABC 27 Website.
Stay in touch with us anywhere, anytime.
