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Our Impact

Share Your Story

You can share your experience with Origin SC on our website and/or our Facebook page. Please let us know how your life has been shaped by Origin.

To submit your story, email us at info@originSC.org with “My Story” in the subject line.


Read Our Stories

See and hear from Origin clients themselves! Below are testimonials, thank you notes, and success stories from our clients.  Click here to visit our YouTube channel.

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Story Highlights

Homebuyer Homeless Prevention Veteran  Mortgage Default  Debt  Rep Payee


Homebuyer

“Special thank you to Tavia Watson and Stephanie Moreau and to Origin for your support in the process of buying my first home. The $1,000 gift grant funds helped with closing on my house and I’m so thankful for that.   I also enjoyed the Homebuying Workshop online as well.   It was very educational and informative. Once again thank for all the help.”

Ashely

In November, Nate B. came to us for one-on-one home purchase counseling. He attended all of our financial education workshops. In October, he closed on his home in downtown Charleston!

He told us he could not have done this without the support of his credit and homebuyer coach helping him get his credit issues straight. He noted that the process of just helping him understand and gather documents for the mortgage lender took a lot of stress off the home purchase process.


Homeless Prevention

Homeless Prevention Recent Client Success Story

Below are a few thank you notes from some of the households that we were able to assist recently.

“I just wanted to take the time to say thank you!!! I am someone who was helped. Every person I spoke to or contacted was patient and willing to answer my questions. I am usually able to support myself so when I lost my job unexpectedly in August due to COVID -19. I was frustrated and super stressed. I always felt as though someone out there needs it more so I will find a way. During this time, I had to swallow my pride and reach out for assistance. It was humbling but it had to be done.
I do not know if anyone stops to just say “thank you” for the assistance and to your teams of employees/volunteers. I am here to tell you thank you for your awesome staff and the assistance for my household was appreciated.”

 

 

“I want to Thank You for all of your help. If not for you I would surely been evicted from my residence. Battling Cancer compiled with the fear of homelessness is truly stressful. You and your organization have lifted a great weight from my shoulders with your assistance. I can not begin to express my gratitude. Please know I am eternally grateful.”


Financial Coaching

“I just want to express our HEARTS are so full of Gratitude for you. When I contacted Origin on Monday to enroll my daughter in the Financial Coaching, we virtually met an Angel. You made the both of us feel so comfortable and at peace. This time is bittersweet for me, as I relive how we got to this point. You definitely helped ease the anxiety of it all. For that we are both thankful & grateful for your expertise. Thanks so much providing the both of us with such a seamless experience. You all feel just like you’re our family now.”  – Anonymous thank you note


Veteran

From homeless to homebuyer, Michael has a truly miraculous story. An Army veteran who struggled with substance abuse became chronically homeless. He was living in his car and had been struggling with homelessness for 18 months. While Origin helped him get back on his feet with rental assistance, he decided he wanted more for his life. With our help, Michael is now living as a first time homebuyer in Charleston and is also newly married to a supportive wife. He also attends Trident Tech with the goal of becoming a substance abuse counselor to help others overcome drug and alcohol addiction. He specifically wants to help veterans!!

Watch the interview here!


Mortgage Default

A married couple with two children from Florence, SC came to us when they were over four months past due on their mortgage. We were able to help them lower their monthly payments from $2138 to $1102, saving them $1036 a month!

An elderly North Charleston homeowner on a fixed income received a loan modification that saved her $174 per month!! We brought her current from being 11 months past due. With her Social Security income, she will now be able to remain in her HOME without the threat of foreclosure.


Debt Management

Here are what several clients that recently graduated the Debt Management Program said about the most valuable thing they learned & accomplished while in the program and their overall experience working with DMP counselors at Origin SC.

“I’ve gained a lot of hope in knowing that I can crawl out from under the mountain of debt that I amassed over several years. This has opened up opportunities I would have not otherwise had and given me a new lease on life and a new sense of freedom, not only financially, but with my career.” – Anonymous

“Origin SC provides an excellent service at a fair price.  Working with my counselor was great. She was very responsive and answered all of my questions quickly and effectively. I would highly recommend her as a counselor to others.” – Anonymous

“By having an end goal in sight, I was able to focus more on my financial well-being with the knowledge that debt would not be there indefinitely. Since joining the program, I have been much more money-conscious which has certainly put me in a better financial position. All of the counselors have been great! They have been patient with my questions, and have been very accommodating when I set out a plan to pay off my account ahead of schedule. From what I’ve learned while in the program, and a newly-found focus, I was able to pay off my account 11 months early! Can’t thank them enough!” – Anonymous

“I learned to monitor my household budgeting verses all income and began notice positive changes immediately. The counselors were very informative, courteous and friendly.”

– Anonymous

“This program has changed so much of my outlook on our finances and on life.  This change is felt in big ways: the constant anxiety about if we’ll ever have more than $20 in savings at any one time, if my husband and I are really going to have to work full time jobs until the day that we literally die, and if we’ll ever be in a position where we might go bankrupt or lose the house.  But this is also felt in smaller ways too. Despite having a job that pays well and despite both of us working full time, we were literally living paycheck to paycheck and dollar to dollar, and things were constantly strained. In addition to  I was also the one who paid all of our bills, so every month I had to watch every dollar that I worked so hard to earn go right towards bills and the never ending interest charges on credit cards, and I was starting to feel so helpless. But, now, this has changed. I look towards the next 5 years, where we’re creeping towards being debt free, and I feel so much relief. I cannot explain how important the little things are to me, like knowing that we can keep our dogs. I truly want you to know the impact of this program on clients like me. I will be forever grateful for this program.” – Anonymous thank you note from client in the Debt Management Program

Below is a DMP Success Story

“Linda” was “drowning” in debt. She was making the minimum payments but “making no dent at all on the overall balances.” By the time she called Origin, she was $30,000 in debt. She started working with our debt management program in June 2012. Our DMP counselor referred her to our Foreclosure Prevention Program. By referring her to First Guarantee Mortgage Company, we were able to help her refinance with a new rate of 3.75% and a 15 year mortgage. With our debt management program, she was able to pay off her three highest credit cards and reduce her CCCS payment from $648 to $243 per month. “Linda” says that she was “able to get my financial self-esteem back” and “I look at my quarterly statements…and I see what I have paid compared to what I owed, that this the greatest sense of accomplishment!”


Representative Payee

“I am going through a lot but whatever I am going through with all the thrones in my side, with all the rocky hills with all the raging storms you are a light in my life, calm in times of storm. Thank you  for all and more that you do for me. You are the meaning of # we all are going to get through this together. You have to give credit where credit is do & I give you a lot of credit for making my life so much easier.” – Anonymous thank you note from client in the Representative Payee Program 

Mr. Albert Epps has been a client of Origin SC since 1998. He was one of the first clients in the Representative Payee Program. He has been working at his neighborhood Bi-Lo for 13 years. This, along with working with Origin, has enabled him to live independently in his own apartment for 18 years. When describing his experience with Origin, Mr. Epps says “they’re a phenomenal group. I’m really glad to be a part of them, and I continue to want to be a part of their group because they have my best interest at heart.”

Read the full story here!


Money Rocks

Money Rocks is a youth financial education summit. In 2015, we had 400 participants in Charleston.


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