This Christmas, it’s more important than ever that neighbors help their neighbors

What a difference a year makes.

Last year around this time, we enjoyed the Christmas season’s spirit and happily made exciting plans for the new year, maybe plans for a new job, a vacation, a new house, and definitely plans for a better and more enriching life. At the Columbia Urban League, we were optimistic about launching a capital improvement plan to develop our Gateway Empowerment Center. It will operate at the intersection of the 29201 and 29203 Zip Code areas in a former branch bank building donated by Bank of America. Through the center, we will bring hope to residents in these Zip Code areas, which include some of Columbia’s most high-poverty and high-unemployment communities.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Nothing has been the same since. We had to put our fundraising campaign on hold. Still, we might have secured more funds in an unorthodox way than the campaign might have produced because the pandemic has opened more eyes to disparities and inequalities in our society, which we must work collectively to eliminate. Nationally, stakeholders have responded to COVID and social justice concerns with increased giving, according to the Foundation Source, which advises smaller corporate and family foundations.

For example, Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has contributed $4.1 billion to 384 organizations in the past four months. She noted that the “pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling.”

We cannot separate social justice from economic opportunity and healthy communities. The Columbia Urban League’s planned Gateway Empowerment Center will work to break the cycle of poverty in those low-income Zip Codes and other disadvantaged and underserved communities by offering registered apprenticeship training for jobs and mentoring and technological support for minority small business development. We also plan to provide educational assistance to parents through the center to help close the achievement and learning loss gaps. And, we will work with SCDHEC, Absolute Total Care, and others to reduce health disparities.

The Gateway Center is more important now than ever, as the economy is losing jobs permanently. November saw the weakest job growth this year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

A residual effect of the pandemic that we in South Carolina should be particularly concerned about is housing evictions. According to Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, South Carolina already had the highest eviction rate in the U.S., nearly twice that of any other state, even before the pandemic.

Nonpayment of rent has hurt many landlords, too, especially those who own a few modest units and typically depend on rental payments for retirement income. We desperately need continued protection for our vulnerable citizens from food and housing insecurities, which are the foundation for a healthy community. They must include protections from housing evictions.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of the Christmas season, this is a time we can all step up as good neighbors and help those in need. Government offices, community stakeholders, and individuals should consider adopting a family during this pandemic. We can make a difference in easing our neighbors’ pain by changing their hopeless outlook to hope. Proverbs 14:21 highlights the importance of being kind to one’s neighbor: “It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.” (NIV).

When we look back at Christmas 2020, we will see the spirit of hope overpowering pandemic fears. That might sound too optimistic, but we can make it happen.

This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 12:00 AM.