BY PEGGY LONGMIRE
7/11/2012, GREENSBORO NEWS & RECORD
(Liz Seymour, the subject of this profile, is a Glenwood resident.)
Times are tough in Greensboro: Twenty percent of residents live in poverty, said Liz Seymour, executive director of Greensboro’s Interactive Resource Center.
On any given night, she said, more than 1,000 people are homeless in Guilford County and over the course of a year, more than 1,700 children in the Guilford County School system will experience homelessness.
The federal government defines a homeless person as someone without a safe, permanent place to live or who is living in a place not intended for human habitation.
Homelessness includes sleeping outside, in a homeless shelter, in a motel, a car, an abandoned building, under a bridge or staying temporarily with friends or family with no place else to go.
Seymour said her 10 years of volunteering with “Food Not Bombs” helped her to shift from “scarcity thinking” to “abundance thinking.” During this period, she learned about resources to help and give hope to the homeless in Greensboro.
A homeless friend once told Seymour, “You know, all someone really needs when they’re homeless is someplace to be, something to do and someone who cares.”
With this in mind, Seymour became part of the group that started the Interactive Resource Center in January 2009.
Seymour become the organization’s first full-time employee and executive director in June 2009.
Today, the organization’s staff includes seven full-timers and two part-timers.
“The majority of people on our staff have themselves experienced homelessness at one time or another, and many of our volunteers are currently homeless,” Seymour said.
The organization works closely with other community organizations, such as Greensboro Urban Ministry, which feeds 400 to 500 people daily at the Potter’s House kitchen, less than a mile from the IRC.
There are partnerships with local churches and organizations that serve lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays as part of IRC’s Lunch & Learn series.
Seymour said about 200 people come to IRC daily for showers, to do laundry, to see a nurse, to talk to a case manager, to look for a job and to seek housing information.
IRC does not require any proof of eligibility, but people are asked to do an “intake ” interview before they receive services.
“Homelessness can be a one-time episode in a person’s life,” Seymour said.
She said issues that put a person over the edge, resulting in homelessness, include financial problems, job loss, health issues and family problems.
“I’m constantly amazed at the strength people show in persevering in the face of these adversities,” Seymour said.
“At IRC, we see people put in as many as 150 applications before they get called in for a job interview, but they keep trying,” she said.
IRC sees people with health problems that prevent them from working a regular job, but they still come to volunteer so they can help others.
She said one man had such severe arthritis that he couldn’t work. He waited seven years for his application for disability income to be approved, but by that time, he had lost everything and was living in a tent in the woods.
Despite this hardship, he still came to the IRC regularly and encouraged other people.
Seymour said many of the services people need are scattered around Greensboro, and that it can be difficult to get help if you don’t have transportation or a telephone.
IRC brings services under one roof, including personal services, computer lab and housing counseling.
The organization works closely with partner agencies such as Congregational Nurse, Community Care Network and the Veterans Administration.
Seymour said people still refer to food stamps, but that nutrition benefits are now offered in card form, called EBT or “electronic benefit transfer” cards that work like a debit card.
EBT benefits are assigned individually, based on income and need, such as having the resources to feed young children. These cards are issued by the Guilford County Department of Social Services.
Many people who come to IRC say they like the organization because they know they won’t be judged and that the people who are helping them are doing it out of genuine caring.
Seymour said she has a lot of hope.
Contact Peggy Longmire at pwlongmire@triad.rr.com or 288-9040.