Heart4Schools is dedicated to supporting students and teachers throughout the state.

They believe in building strong partnerships with local schools, starting with a simple question: “How can we help?” For the past three years, Columbia area churches have worked with district leaders in Richland One and Two to welcome international teachers with laundry baskets filled with home items. The churches plan special events for the teachers and the districts provide an opportunity to the church leaders to personally meet the teachers, give the baskets, and invite the teachers to their events.

“I can’t imagine going to another culture, learning that language well enough to teach, and then being able to come and to teach in that environment,” Ken Owens, SCBaptist Send Team Leader and Life Group Leader at Spring Valley Baptist Church, said.

After a district event, Collins Cheruyot, a Kenya native and math teacher at Westwood High School, approached Owens and said, “I am coming to your church on Sunday.” On Cheruyot’s first Sunday in America, he visited the church, where he has since become part of the church family.

Meeting Teachers’ Needs

Cheruyot expressed his thanks to SCBaptists for their important role in ensuring that teachers like himself have a soft landing in an unfamiliar country. “Supporting international teachers, especially teachers whose native language is not English, is really important,” Cheruyot said. SCBaptist churches have provided more than a warm welcome into the country, supporting teachers in tangible ways by providing laundry baskets of home items such as bath and kitchen towels, cleaning supplies, and paper items, helping them furnish their homes and apartments, hosting dinners and events, and giving opportunities to develop friendships here in the United States.

“The giving of our SCBaptist churches is vital to the work of Heart4Schools,” Jon Jamison, Serve Team Leader at SCBaptist, said. The generosity of SCBaptists allows Heart4Schools to provide resources and training to churches as they seek ways to serve local schools and develop life-changing relationships. As churches create a welcoming atmosphere and offer practical assistance to teachers, they make a positive impact on the lives of educators and contribute to the success of South Carolina’s educational system.