Image courtesy of wikipedia

Two religious-based Greene County organizations have helped those who have been extremely impacted by the global pandemic.

First United Methodist Church Pastor Julie Poulsen is the local Salvation Army Ambassador and works with the Good Samaritan Fund. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio the Good Samaritan Fund is through the Greene County Clergy Association and is administered through New Opportunities of Greene County, and the Salvation Army fund provides financial support for those less fortunate. Poulsen notes that there has been an uptick of those programs, due to the pandemic.

“I’d say we’ve helped probably over a dozen people who are homeless for some reason (and) maybe not quite as many as a dozen transient people, who have been traveling through or got stuck here. We’ve helped people to get to shelters (and) we’ve helped people get apartments. We have some people in our county with no water and no electricity, who are living in I’d say pretty horrible situations, and we help them with whatever we can.”

Poulsen says donations can be accepted for the Good Samaritan Fund at Peoples Bank in Jefferson or through your local church. Salvation Army donations can be made at Home State Bank in Jefferson. Poulsen appreciates everyone who has donated or helped in other ways for the less fortunate in the county.