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About SCCS
Feeding children, families, and individuals, assisting them
in their times of need with evictions, utility shut-offs, limited
prescription assistance, gasoline vouchers for work and medical
appointments, and referrals to other agencies for programs or
services unavailable locally are just a few of the ways in which
SCCS strives to build a stronger community.
South County Community Services began in Vicksburg in 1969,
known as “the Vicksburg Community Center” and was
funded by Kal-Cap. It was located a block south of its present
location on Main Street in Vicksburg and was on the second floor
of a storefront. It quickly moved downstairs as the idea of Christmas
Baskets of food for those in distress came to be, packed by the
seniors who enjoyed and frequented the meal site. This sparked
the notion of having food available to people in need year round.
Ladies of area churches assisted with collection and sorting
of this food and blossomed into the concept of “church & Community
In-sharing.” The group remains a very important part of
South County Community Services ability to serve its clients
in a productive, efficient, and caring manner.
In 1972 the Vicksburg Foundation purchased a “Community
Center,” a hotel (the McElvain House) built in 1872 on
the corner of Main and Prairie Streets. The building would ultimately
be owned by the Village of Vicksburg serving anyone needing its
services and was to maintain a Director trained in Social Work.
More and more senior citizens had begun to utilize the “Vicksburg
Community Center” in its original location and more room
was needed to serve this population. The newly acquired hotel
(the new Community Center”) was the perfect location. Building
renovation began and in 1977 the former “McElvain House” became
the new “Vicksburg Community Center.” The Center’s
philosophy was to promote independence, not dependence, through
helping recipients help themselves.
The agency was formulated on the “Neighborhood Center” concept
where various needs of area residents could be identified and
acted upon by the available professional staff. In 1973 SCCS
became a 501(C) (3). Kalamazoo United Way began funding in 1977.
In 1987 Articles of Incorporation officially changed the agency’s
name from the “Vicksburg Community Center” to “South
County Community Services” to better reflect the total
area of residents served. That service area includes the townships
of Schoolcraft, Brady, Prairie Ronde, Wakeshma, Pavilion, and
Climax and includes the villages of Schoolcraft, Vicksburg, Fulton,
Climax, and Scotts. This rural area equals 38% of the geographic
area of Kalamazoo County.
A mini history lesson -
From McElvain House to
“ South County Community Services,”
part of the community since 1969
In the beginning there was the McElvain House, a majestic hotel
that stood proudly on the corner of Main and Prairie Streets
in Vicksburg. The building was constructed in 1872 of bricks
that were made at the brick yards located on the east side
of the village. The interior wood trim was fashioned by a local
wood mill after it arrived by horse and buggy from a mill north
of Allegan. There were originally eight rooms for boarders
upstairs that rented for about $1 a night. In 1885 the hotel
was the first building in the area to have a telephone, connecting
it and the railroad station. It was also the first commercial
building to have kitchen facilities.
The McElvain House, who’s main room still maintains its
original tin ceiling tiles, was also home to an office, barroom,
restaurant, and barbershop (the door to which, even after renovation,
still remains on the outside of the building). The basement of
this stoic building was primarily used by traveling salesmen
during its early years who displayed their wares to “drum
up” business. They were appropriately called “Drummers” and
displayed the newest merchandise brought to town by train. The
building was renovated inside by the Vicksburg High School Building
and Trades Class lead by its instructor who was well trained
in building restoration. His students hand dug out the basement
rock by rock and brick by brick. One of those students is the
son of South County Community Services current President of the
Board of Directors. Internal renovation took approximately eight
years.
Restoration of the exterior of the building was begun in 1988
when the former Director of SCCS, Mary Howard, was hired. She
was responsible for acquiring the grant monies for this huge
under taking. In 1993 the renovation was complete and the McElvain
house once again exhibited its original façade.
Today, 136 years later, the McElvain House stands as a proud
citizen at the main intersection of Vicksburg, observing the
town that has grown up around it. For well over a century and
for many generations, the outside and inside walls of the hotel
have seen and heard it all. One hundred years after its birth,
the magnificent brick building was purchased by the Vicksburg
Foundation, sold to the Village of Vicksburg for all to utilize,
and became known as the Vicksburg Community Center. South County
Community Services, the only human service agency in south Kalamazoo
County, resides within its history-rich walls. The basement no
longer houses “Drummers,” but the agency’s
much utilized food pantry. The original barbershop is now a complete
kitchen. The once bar and restaurant is now the main dining/community
meeting room, appropriately named the Merritt Harper Room, after
the man who was instrumental in its restoration. Even the windows
in this imposing room were sponsored by local citizens. While
appearing to be identical, in reality they all have different
dimensions. Window sponsors included Gordon Moore (Memory), Dorothy
Daniels (Memory), Raymond and Eleanor Little, Deyo and LaVon
Beall, and the Toddlers to Teens - Mothers’ Club of Vicksburg.
Community organizations regularly use this splendid room for
their meetings including Rotary, Lions, and the Vicksburg Community
Association.
The upstairs hotel rooms are now offices for the South County
Community Services staff. Three of those rooms were opened up
into one and hosts the Village of Vicksburg Council meetings.
It is appropriately called the Gordon and Dorothy Daniels Room,
named so after the couple who gave so much of themselves to maintain
its uniqueness and historic value. The pictures on the walls
of this stately room tell the story of Vicksburg’s Lee
Paper Company, its employees, and its importance to the growth
and development of the village. “The Mill” drew and
retained high caliber people to the community, sparked economic
growth, and always exhibited community concern and support.
The room once occupied by the hotel manager (which actually
had a hallway into the next building in case of an overflow of
boarders) is now named the Al Christian Room after the man who
worked laboriously to see its restoration come to fruition. South
County Community Services Board of Directors meet in this room
monthly. The woodwork of the main staircase leading to the second
floor is original and the banister was restored spindle by spindle
by Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Southworth after whom the main hallway
was named. Historic area photos throughout the building add to
the ambience of a time gone by, reminding all of the ongoing
beauty and rich heritage of the community.
South County Community Services quietly goes about its daily
business of being of service to those in need from this noble
historic building. Agency programs include Emergency Assistance
(which includes a food pantry, financial, and prescription assistance,
Christmas food baskets for families, and a Christmas party with
Santa for children through age 10), PAD (a weekly program for
adults with disabilities), a Youth Summer Recreation Program,
and Senior programming. The latter includes social, educational,
health, and recreational activities as well as providing homebound
seniors access to specialists in Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance
reviewing. In addition to the agency’s internal programs,
it hosts other agencies and their services making them more accessible
to the residents of this rural area. They include but are not
limited to a senior friendship center/meal-site, WIC program,
and a senior Foot Clinic.
In 2007 SCCS served 22,864 individuals. The agency’s rural
service area consists of six townships (Brady, Schoolcraft, Prairie
Ronde, Wakeshma, Climax, and Pavilion) and the Villages of Vicksburg,
Schoolcraft, Fulton, Climax, and Scotts. It encompasses 38% of
the geographic area of Kalamazoo County and covers 216 square
miles.
In the present, South County Community Services is dedicated
to helping build a stronger community and to improving quality
of life for residents of south Kalamazoo County through providing
services locally. The agency accomplishes its mission through
the programs and services administered from the once McElvain
House, where the history of the past, reality of the present,
and hope for the future reside.
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