Take a walk with your neighbors on the Walk for Your Neighbors

Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry will bring the community together for the worthiest of causes

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 6, 2023

The Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry, a local nonprofit organization that provides assistance to area residents in need, will host its annual Walk for Your Neighbors fundraiser, Oct. 9. Photo by Fred McCormick

For better or for worse, neighbors are a daily fixture in our lives. A bad one can bring constant headaches without an easy remedy, while a good one has the ability to make our lives easier. The best ones, however, are those you simply can’t do without, and from 2 - 5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 9, the local community can support one of the most helpful neighbors in eastern Buncombe County.

The Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry will host its primary annual fundraiser — Walk for Your Neighbors — in the south parking lot of the First Baptist Church of Black Mountain. The event, which raised a record $85,000 last year, plays a critical role in helping a significant number of people in Black Mountain, Swannanoa and the surrounding areas.

The concept of “good neighboring” is nothing new for the nonprofit organization, which was established almost 50 years ago when a group of area churches decided to pool their resources in an effort to assist nearby residents who were struggling to make ends meet in the midst of a global recession that saw U.S. unemployment rates peaked at around 9%. The idea was simple: help neighbors who needed it.

That effort continues today, as the needs increase, according to SVCM Executive Director Kevin Bates.

“In a lot of ways, our work is simply an extension of the entire community’s value,” he said. “Where do we put value on our neighbors? In our community, we know rent is going up, and people who have lived here for a very long time can no longer afford to live here. As a community, we have to make a moral value judgement and ask how many people are we OK with allowing to move away from us?”

Based on many conversations I’ve had with people around here, this is something a wide range of Swannanoa Valley residents notice and think about. While this place has changed a lot over the past couple of decades, one thing that has remained pretty consistent is how locals look out for each other. I hope that’s something that never changes here, because we’re currently facing a real problem, I learned after talking to Bates.

“It’s disheartening to say, but the need is really growing,” he said. “We’re seeing the confluence of the end of certain COVID benefits and rising rental costs in our area. That’s creating a massive uptick in people showing up to the Ministry.”

The numbers are “staggering,” Bates continued.

“From last to this year, there has been a 34% increase in people coming in,” he said. “We recently did some calculations, taking the total population from Swannanoa and Black Mountain (12,812, per the U.S. Census Bureau), we figured out that roughly 12%, as of October, have come to the Ministry.”

For context, that’s more than one out of every eight residents. Let that sink in for a minute.

It’s not hard to imagine running into eight fellow Swannanoa Valley residents on any given day. Just the other day, I went to lunch and chatted with three people who lived within two miles of me, talked to a neighbor and later stopped by the grocery store. It’s eye-opening to think that, statistically speaking, at least one of the people I came across is struggling to put food on the table, pay their rent or be able to afford heat this winter.

I find some comfort in knowing an organization like SVCM is there for them.

“We are gifted with an amazing community, but when we say ‘community’ we can’t just think about the people who have everything they need,” Bates said. “We’re gifted, even in those who are economically disadvantaged. We are gifted with amazing people who are worth getting to know, regardless of who can pay their electric bill or needs help with food. To have a truly thriving community, we need to see all of our community as a gift.”

Walk for Your Neighbors, an annual fundraiser hosted by the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry, will return, Oct. 9. Photo by Fred McCormick

What Bates probably didn’t realize at the time he told me this was that he eloquently articulated a point that I believe unites a large portion of Swannanoa Valley residents. I’ve always considered myself lucky to live here, but even the most beautiful place is simply a place; it’s the people who live in it that make a community special.

“Our faith tells us to love your neighbor as you would yourself, and even to love your enemies,” he said. “But, it also comes from a place of truly believing that our neighbors who are experiencing hardships are people with divine dignity, and that drives so much of what we do. It’s not just that I’m told to love you or that I should help you, but you have worth and I should be in a community with you.”

It’s an endeavor supported by the dozens of local businesses, civic organizations and individuals sponsoring this year’s Walk for Your Neighbors, which will feature food trucks, games and live music from the Upbeats Ukulele Band. Participants can walk the longest course, which goes through downtown Black Mountain and around Lake Tomahawk, or a shorter route, but walking is not required.

"The idea behind this event is to do good neighboring with all of our neighbors,” Bates said. “We just want people to come out and build community and relationships together.”

The Walk for Your Neighbors is free to attend, while donations to the SVCM are welcomed. Walkers are asked to register at svcmblackmountain.org, and participants can raise additional money by having friends, family or others sponsor their efforts. The ministry will donate five percent of the total funds raised to Black Mountain Counseling Center, the only nonprofit mental health organization in the Swannanoa Valley, and an additional 5% of the proceeds will be given to Food Connection, which has rescued and repackaged over half a million meals for Western N.C. families since 2015.

The goal this year is to raise $100,000 to support the SVCM.

“Twelve percent of this valley has come to us this year for food, clothing or some direct financial assistance,” Bates said. “We will be pushing $400,000 in direct financial assistance this year, and that’s money that goes toward paying rent, electricity bills, fuel oil, medical bills and going directly into the community.”

Where would this community be without the SVCM?

I shudder at the mere thought of the answer to that question, which tells me it’s a vital piece of this community, and how I know the Walk for Your Neighbors supports the best kind of neighbor any of us could ever ask for.