Morgan-Scott Project: 40 Years of Service

MSP Office in Deer Lodge

Happy Birthday to Morgan-Scott Project!

In 1972 executives from the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ, who were concerned about the loss of human and economic resources over the previous 20 years, organized a project to improve the spiritual, emotional, and physical welfare of low income families in Morgan and Scott counties in Tennessee. They were soon joined by representatives of Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, and Episcopal churches. The first Executive Director of Morgan-Scott Project (MSP) was Bob Butziger, an ordained Presbyterian minister who supplied three churches while serving as Director of MSP.

During the early years, MSP organized grass-root committees to improve housing, education, literacy, and healthcare, and to supply emergency aid and disaster relief. Spin-offs from MSP were common. Scott-Morgan Community Development Corporation was organized and spawned Appalachia Habitat, the second chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Plateau Home School and Highland Hope School were organized to meet the needs of children with learning disabilities and later to serve as free tutoring programs. Several small libraries were started. Healthcare clinics, staffed by doctors nurses, and dentists were created. A Thrift Store was started.

Forty years later, MSP is still serving this community under the leadership of Executive Director Ella Smith, a retired businesswoman who, having grown up in Morgan County, understands poverty. In the past year MSP has helped 56 people attend vocational school through the New Light adult education program, supplied seed and plants for home gardens to 417 families, provided backpacks full of school supplies to 256 children, repaired 31 homes with the help of 360 volunteers from 28 work groups, given two scholarships to high school seniors, provided Bread on Fridays to 2,750 families, provided monthly food boxes to 1,152 families, provided Christmas gifts to 2,110 children, and given emergency aid to 289 families. Recent spin-offs include the Scott County Homeless Shelter (2010) and the Scott County Food Pantry (2011). The Thrift Store still supplies low-cost clothing for the thrifty and no-cost clothing for the needy.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the help of hundreds of volunteers and donors from both within and outside the community. However, with unemployment at 9.7% in Morgan County and 18.8% in Scott County, the need continues. The donations of time, talents, and gifts (both monetary and in-kind) by churches and individuals is deeply appreciated by the community and put to good use by the directors of MSP.

Article by Ray Boles

Just “Presents” for Christmas

This little girl is happy because the people of Grace Baptist Church in Knoxville were endowed with the Christmas spirit. Every year Morgan-Scott, in cooperation with churches, individuals, and other social service agencies in the area, does its best to make sure that every child in Morgan and Scott counties receives Christmas presents. In 2011 over 1,000 families were given Christmas gifts for their children. Sometimes groups want to do something special.

This year Morgan-Scott Board member Crystal Cromwell’s Sunday School class at Grace Baptist Church wanted to adopt a family for Christmas. MSP Director Ella Smith and her assistant, Lori Brock, chose two families for them. The families consisted of twin sisters, married to men who work hard every day in a local sawmill for minimum wage or below. They have three children between them. They buy all of their clothes at the MSP Thrift Store. They are very appreciative when MSP helps them with food, diapers, cleaning supplies, garden seeds, plants, fertilizer, or school supplies.

When asked what they would like for Christmas, the ladies asked for foot powder and long underwear to keep their husbands warm this winter, detergent and personal hygiene items for themselves, and just “presents” for the children to open on Christmas morning. The people from Grace came through in style with the things they asked for plus many gifts and food for a Christmas dinner, including a turkey.

Thank you, Grace Baptist, for your generosity in making this a special Christmas for two deserving families.

Article by Ella Smith and Ray Boles

Phyllis – Paying It Forward

Phyllis and Ella

The most rewarding aspect of giving someone a hand up is seeing that person stand on his or her own two feet, become a solid member of the community, and start to help other people themselves. This concept became known as “paying it forward” after the book, “Pay It Forward” by Catherine Hyde Ryan and the subsequent movie of the same name.

Phyllis is a young mother who was one of the first people helped by the MSP New Light Program, which is designed to help jobless people learn skills that make them employable (see our article “Phyllis – A Success Story for the New Light Program”, July 11, 2009). With the support of Morgan-Scott Project, Phyllis enrolled at the Tennessee Technology Center, graduated in May of 2009 and passed her state boards to become a Licensed Practical Nurse. She then found a job doing private duty nursing for a company in Clinton, TN. It was a long and difficult journey for Phyllis, whose income was only $200 a month when she first came to us, needing help with an electric bill, but Phyllis set a goal for herself and her family, and was determined to succeed.

Just before Christmas, we heard again from Phyllis. She is now remarried, enrolled at Roane State Community College, and working toward her RN (Registered Nurse) during the week, while continuing to work as an LPN on weekends. Her effort has inspired her oldest son, who has set as his goal to become a doctor, and has mapped out his plans for the next 10 years.

She contacted us because she wanted to help a needy family at Christmas. We picked a family with six children, three of whom are “throw away” children that were adopted by a caring couple with three children of their own (see our article “Social Agencies Cooperate to Help Family, Foster Children”, August 12, 2010). She lovingly bought them a gift for the whole family, a Wii, a luxury that they never could have afforded themselves.

This successful lady is testimony to the New Light Program’s belief that people who have seemingly lost hope can regain their self-respect and become contributing members of the community when trained in a useful and fulfilling vocation. She is an example that we hope all of our New Light graduates will emulate.

Article by Ella Smith and Ray Boles

F.A.S.T. Repairing Homes in Morgan-Scott Community

The families served by the Morgan-Scott Project home repair program are typically couples, widows, or widowers in their 70’s who are disabled or in poor health, living on a Social Security check, which is often as low as $674 a month, in a house or trailer that they have been unable to repair. Before their homes are placed on our list to be repaired, they receive a visit from MSP Executive Director Ella Smith, usually accompanied by a volunteer who is competent at home repair, to realistically assess their needs and the materials and work needed to help them. Our clients are not able-bodied people who are able to hold jobs and take care of their own needs, but people who are truly impoverished and in need of Christian charity.

Although there are several churches who send work groups every year, often from as near as Knoxville, Tennessee or as far away as Pennsylvania, Illinois, or Michigan, this community has been very fortunate the past two summers to host workers from F.A.S.T. (“Faithful Advocates Serving Together”). These are groups of youth and adults from the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who partner with us to host mission trip experiences in the Appalachian Region.

Largely because of F.A.S.T., we were able to host 28 work groups with a total of 360 volunteers to repair 28 homes in 2011. F.A.S.T. provided 13 of these groups. F.A.S.T. groups pay for their own transportation and food, while MSP provides housing either at the Deer Lodge, TN site or in local homes and churches. They also provide adult supervision to supplement that provided by MSP, and they make contributions to pay for most of the cost of materials.

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting F.A.S.T. again in 2012. They will be sending groups of up to 24 people each week from June 10 –August 12. If you have a group interested in joining this effort, you can contact the Office of Discipleship Volunteering at 888-346-2631 (www.discipleshomemissions.org) or the UCC Office of Volunteer Ministries at 866-822-8224 (www.ucc.org/volunteer). At this writing only the week of July 4th is open.

Morgan-Scott is a non-denominational Christian Project. If you are a group of another denomination, seeking mission opportunities in Appalachia or wishing to contribute to this ministry, please contact MSP Executive Director Ella Smith at 423-965-3131. Opportunities will be available before and after the F.A.S.T. dates, and sometimes we can even accommodate groups during the F.A.S.T. blitz. There is always a backlog of people needing home repair in Morgan and Scott Counties.

Article by Ray Boles

Morgan-Scott Now Accepting On-Line Donations

MSP Treasurer Tamia Bible

“You have no idea how you have changed my life. I can smile again.” I overheard these words the other day as I was reconciling the bank account for the Morgan Scott Project. All of a sudden, those cleared checks that I was reviewing became smiles on people’s faces. This time of year, especially with an unemployment rate of more than 18% in Scott County, there are still people in need of smiles.

If you would like to help, we have now established another way for you to do so. Now you can go to our website morganscottproject.org and donate using a credit card through PayPal. Just click on the DONATE button in the upper right. It is not necessary to have a PayPal account yourself. All of your contact and credit information is entered on PayPal’s secure website and you will receive an e-mail receipt which can act as proof of your donation for tax purposes.

At the end of November, the Project was still in the red by $10,000. We have spent $121,000 on helping people in need so far this year, $43,000 in home repairs, $37,000 in emergency aid, $21,000 in educational support through the New Light program, and the rest on garden seeds, school backpacks, homeless shelter support, etc. We have gone over budget on these missions by $12,000, due largely to some of the dire situations we found last summer when we were repairing homes.

All well and good, you say, but how much gets spent on overhead, the cost of running the Project itself? So far this year, we have spent $72,000 on such items as gas to heat the office, store, and room where the volunteers work, insurance, repairs to the buildings, etc. That works out to 37% of our total expenditures, but almost a quarter of that is covered by the revenues from our thrift store, bringing our effective overhead rate down to 29%. Maybe a better way to say it is, of every dollar that you contribute, 29 cents goes to the cost of running the Project and 71 cents goes to helping people in need. Plus, due to the efforts of Ella Smith, our Executive Director, and the hundreds of hours donated by our dedicated volunteers, we have been able to keep overhead more than $4,000 under budget.

Without you, there would be far fewer smiles in Morgan and Scott counties here in Tennessee. Thank you for all of the ways that you support us. And, from all of us at the Morgan Scott Project, we wish you and your loved ones a blessed Christmas and a bountiful new year.

Article by Tamia Bible

MSP and ALQI Cooperate on Projects

New Floor for ALQI

Morgan-Scott Project (MSP), Appalachian Life Quality Initiative (ALQI) and other social service agencies frequently work together to serve this community.  ALQI houses the Salvation Army Service Unit in Scott County and supplies the staff to issue vouchers assisting with past due utility bills, burnouts, and other such emergencies.  ALQI also partners with MSP and issues vouchers for the Project in Scott County.  Recently Morgan-Scott Project brought summer mission workers to Oneida to help its partner where help was needed.

ALQI uses two old store buildings in downtown Oneida to house donations they receive from the Mission of Hope, Operation Sharing TN, and others.  These buildings are over 70 years old and the wooden floor in one room was falling through, making it dangerous to move furniture and clothing in and out.  MSP Executive Director Ella Smith enlisted the help of Lee Crabtree, Junior Clowers, and two trustees from the ScottCounty jail.  It only took 2 days to remove the flooring all the way down to the ground and replace it.  And just in time….as a load of donated goods was ready to be delivered within 3 days.

This is typical in this tight-knit community – at least five organizations, ALQI, MSP, Salvation Army, Mission of Hope, and Operation Sharing TN, working cooperatively to serve where help is needed most.

Article by Terrie Cross

Morgan-Scott Financial Report – 1H2011

MSP TreasurerTamia Bible

“Please help. We can’t afford to pay our electricity bill.” “I need help. I haven’t been able to step outside my house because the porch has rotted.” “Can you help me? I need money to get to my doctor’s appointment.” These are all statements that Ella Smith, the director of the Morgan Scott Project, hears regularly. None of these individuals and families could be helped without the generous support of our donors. However, an important part of providing that help is knowing whether the money is available to pay that electricity bill, rebuild that porch, or buy that gas. That’s where I come in.

As treasurer of the Morgan Scott Project, I help Ella keep track of the financial side of things. Boring, I know, unless you realize that the numbers tell the story of all that we do. Without numbers we would not know that in the first six months of 2011 the Project spent $51,000 on helping people. $25,000 paid for emergency aid such as utility bills and medicine. $8,000 repaired homes. $6,000 aided students in the New Light program. $4,000 bought seeds and fertilizer for home gardens and another $8,000 filled food boxes and helped the Scott County Homeless Shelter. That’s a lot of people who can rest a little easier thanks to the Project.

The numbers also tell us that the Project ended the first half of the year with a deficit of $5,000 (all numbers are rounded). So we are running a little behind at the moment, but are hopeful that this will improve as the year goes on. So far this year, we have received $75,000 in contributed cash support. 68% of that came from churches, 9% from individuals, and the remainder from various grants.

One of the numbers that we watch closely is overhead. That’s the cost of all the energy and skills that it takes to run the Project, including things like air conditioning the buildings for 300+ volunteers who stayed with us in order to work this summer, gas for the cars that they used to travel to homes they were repairing, answering the telephone to take the many calls for help that come in daily, searching for the various forms of aid available, and so on. For the first six months of the year, overhead was $37,000. This amount is approximately the same as last year at this time, even though the cost of utilities and fuel has gone up. Overhead does not include the many thousands of hours that are provided by our dedicated volunteers, who allow us to do so much more than would be possible without them.

As part of telling our financial story, we enlisted the help of our auditors, Parsons and Wright, to do a review of our financial statements. As a part of this review, they check to see if there are any significant changes that should be made in order to keep us on the up and up. (In accounting parlance, “up and up” means “in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.”) They also look for opportunities to suggest improvements that would strengthen our internal controls and operating efficiency. We are pleased that Parsons and Wright completed their review in June of the years ending December 31, 2010 and 2009 and did not find any material modifications that would be required to present our financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. In addition, they did not have any improvements to suggest that would strengthen controls.

It should be noted that Parsons and Wright did not perform an audit of our financial statements. An audit is substantially more extensive in scope than a review, with the goal of expressing an opinion regarding the financial statements as a whole. In consultation with Parsons and Wright, the Board of Directors determined that a review would most effectively serve the needs of the Project at this time, although we could request that a full audit be performed in future years if this determination should change.

The motto on our T-shirts is, “Making a difference one family at a time.” The numbers are one way we tell that story.

Tamia Cloud Bible, CPA

Tamia Bible has served faithfully and flawlessly as Treasurer of the Morgan Scott Project since July of 2008. During that time she has made numerous trips to Deer Lodge and spent countless hours on the computer and telephone working to ensure that Morgan Scott’s financial records are accurate and that financial reporting is clear and concise. Because of Tamia’s selfless contributions, donors can be assured that funds sent to Morgan Scott will be handled with integrity and used efficiently. On behalf of the Morgan Scott Project Board of Directors, employees, volunteers and clients, I commend Tamia for her work, both in the past and in the future. – Rev. John Slater, Board of Directors Chair

“I Have the Best Job in the World”

The tears of a homeowner, given a hand up by a Pennsylvaniawork group, led MSP Executive Director Ella Smith to comment, “These are the moments that keep me going.  I have the best job in the world.”

An energetic and well organized group of 24 youth and adults from the Immanuel United Church of Christ in Shillington,Pa.made quite an impact on the Morgan-Scott community.  Arriving on Monday, June 27, they divided into three groups to work at the Morgan-Scott office, the Scott County Food Pantry, and the home of a needy family.

The group at the office filled food boxes for the needy and cleaned shelves and sorted clothes in the Thrift Store.  The second group transported 2-1/2 tons of spuds to the Food Pantry, served food at the Pantry, and cleaned apartments at the Scott County Homeless Shelter.

A third group worked on the home of an elderly couple living on $900 per month with medical problems and a handicapped adult child.  They demolished and rebuilt a porch and a deck on the family home, built a ramp to the porch, painted the outside of the house, repaired a rotted floor inside the house, replaced eight windows, and installed kitchen cabinets in the house.  All this was completed by Friday, July 1, even though the group took one day (Wednesday) off to visit a museum in ScottCountyand enjoy one of our state parks.  At the end of the week they showered the family with gifts and attended a picnic with the appreciative family.  The Cerebral Palsy Foundation will pay for part of the materials, and an East Tennessee Emergency Repair grant will probably pay for the remainder.

MSP Executive Director, Ella Smith, related a touching moment during the picnic that was given to celebrate the completion of this work.  The homeowner “…was sitting off to the side with his head down.  I walked over and put my arm around him.  When I looked up, I realized he was crying.  He said, ‘I don’t know how to thank you for what you’ve done, but I thank God for these wonderful people and the work they have done.  My home is so nice now; I could invite the president in for coffee.’”   This elicited Ella’s comment, quoted above.

The spirit of this group is exemplified by the scripture posted on their web site:  “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care – then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends.  Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top.  Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.  Don’t be obsessed with your own advantage.  Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”  — Philippians 2:1-4 (The Message)

Article by Ray Boles

Morgan-Scott Thrift Store

Clean clothing ready to wear

The Morgan-Scott Thrift Store serves the needy, provides bargains for thrifty shoppers, and helps underwrite the cost of programs that benefit Morgan and Scott counties.

Almost every week Morgan-Scott Project receives clothing and other used items from across the country, often by the truckload.  Community volunteers sort the apparel and find many gently used items which are sold at extremely low prices, often one or two dollars.  Some of the items received are unusable and have to be scrapped.  Slow-moving items are often placed in plastic bags and sold for a dollar a bag.  Some items are donated with the stipulation that they be given away and not resold.  This request is always honored.

Families who have been burnt out or suffered other disasters have their clothing needs filled from the Thrift Store without charge.  Although a great resource for low-income families, the Thrift Store does not serve only the poor.  Many items are bought by bargain shoppers.  Also, some people are known to buy items at the Thrift Store and resell them at garage sales and flea markets.  Although we do not encourage this practice, the added income can make a difference for people struggling to pay their bills.

The Thrift Store serves another important function by offsetting the cost of the Project overhead, which is needed to implement charitable programs such as New Light vocational training, Good Earth home gardening, Home Repair, Disaster Relief, School Backpacks, and start-ups of the Scott County Homeless Shelter and Food Pantry.

In 2009 income from the Thrift Store was 35% of overhead.  In 2010 it dropped to 26% of overhead.  This was due to both a decrease in Thrift Store sales and an increase in overhead.  However, we were able to show that 77% and 70% of every cash donation went to charitable programs in 2009 and 2010 respectively.  We would like to increase this percentage.  We are diligently looking for ways to increase income from the Thrift Store to make it cover 50% or more of overhead.  However, our remote location and the cost of gasoline have made this a difficult goal to reach.  Suggestions are welcome.

Hours and location.

Article by Ray Boles

Jobs are Coming to Morgan County

Morgan-Scott Board Member Becky Ruppe

In a community with 15.4% unemployment (10.4% and 20.8% in Morgan and Scott counties, respectively), the best possible news is that jobs are coming.

Cobb-Vantress, a division of Tyson Foods, has announced plans to invest $19M in Morgan County to build a pedigreed broiler factory, which will include a hatchery, as well as brooding, rearing, and production housing and an employee center on a 1000 acre property in Deer Lodge.  This facility will employ 115 people, with start-up in early 2012.

Morgan County was chosen because of its remote rural location which is needed to provide security for the pedigreed breeding facility which will supply a global market.  Morgan County has applied for a Fast Track Infrastructure Development Program grant to construct utility lines to service the facility and will improve the road to the facility.

Morgan-Scott Project Board member and former Morgan County Executive Becky Ruppe was one of several  local leaders who worked through the Morgan County Economic Development Board to bring the parties together to make this happen.

We celebrate this achievement and fervently hope that other companies will find unique opportunities in Morgan and Scott Counties as well.  Job opportunities are the only real cure for poverty.

Article by Ray Boles