Clover Cares takes mission online

As much good as Clover Cares wants to do in its community, it won’t get far if people don’t know about it. So they’re going online.

Clover Cares recently launched clovercares.org. The site has information on partner organizations, resources, a community calendar and contact details for the organization that began in 2012. Clover Cares now serves 266 individuals, agencies, businesses, churches and nonprofits.

“The main goal of Clover Cares is to identify resources and to channel those resources to directly benefit those who could use them,” said Courtney Jones, social worker with the Clover School District. “Clover Cares also attempts to eliminate the duplication of services and help fill service and delivery gaps within the community.”

Clover Cares began as a partnership between the school district and Clover Area Assistance Center. About 60 service providers attend fall and spring meetings to learn about new programs or changes.

“Clover Cares was established for service providers to gather, network and gain an awareness of the needs in the community and the services that are available to assist,” said Karen van Vierssen, Clover Area Assistance Center director. “Clover Cares is a conduit that helps to connect resources to needs.”

The new website is part of that connection. Many know about large food banks or financial assistance providers. They may not know about the local church who has a team willing and able to do home repair, or many similar services available throughout Clover and Lake Wylie.

One Clover Cares board member described it as “a way to connect people with needs to people with services to meet those needs.”

“The new website is basically the hub of a very large wheel that will provide information that can connect those in need to those who may be able to help,” van Vierssen said.

Chuck Scoggins at New River Community Church set up the new site. It contains the recently updated resource guide used by Clover Area Assistance Center. Clover Cares has a Facebook page but it became more of an announcement board for events. Local events still will be part of the new site, but it is designed for meeting community needs.

“Service providers can access the contact information to refer clients to and anyone who is in need can see who provides the service they need,” van Vierssen said.

It also could be useful for people looking to help others, but who are without a clear idea of how to do it.

“We hope to help volunteers quickly identify volunteer opportunities,” Jones said.

For more, visit clovercares.org.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Clover Cares takes mission online."