The Pearl River Valley Opportunity, Inc. office in Poplarville offers low-income residents a way to get back on their feet and become self-sufficient.
“The people that come through our doors every day are people in need of assistance, there are people that, for some reason, are going through some hard times,” Lillie Crawford, a PRVO case manager, said.
By providing affordable housing, food programs, education, employment and utility services, the organization helps many people in Pearl River County become self-sufficient.
“On a daily basis we are helping people to sustain themselves,” Crawford said.
The non-profit receives over $20,000 a year from the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors, according to this year’s budget report.
“We help our citizens in this county with the services we provide, we help them feel like there is someone that cares,” Crawford said.
One of their most well known programs is the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps residents struggling to pay electricity bills, Crawford said.
The program also provides maintenance assistance for A/C and heating systems.
PRVO also participates in a senior meal program at St. Matthew’s Senior Center in Picayune and the Raine Street Senior Center in Poplarville.
Elderly residents on a limited income benefit particularly from the energy assistance and meal programs, Crawford said.
“There was a man here this morning who is a cancer patient and he was thanking us for the services and help we have given him,” Crawford said. “When they leave from here they have a better feeling about life, and that they can maintain.”
Through workshops provided by the Mississippi State Extension Service and early head start programs, PRVO is also working to promote education, Crawford said.
The organization has 29 head start classrooms and 21 early head start groups in the areas it serves, according to data from the organization.
They also provide loans to business owners, minorities and women looking to expand or repair their buildings.
“If we can’t help them we always try to refer them to another resource that can,” Crawford said.
Recently, Crawford said she helped a woman who didn’t know she could receive Social Security from her husband. Crawford was able to help her register for the program and as a result she no longer needed the services of PRVO because of the supplemental income.
In partnership with Feeding the Gulf Coast, PRVO will distribute fresh produce at Raine Street Community Center in Poplarville at 1 p.m. on Oct. 11 and in Picayune on Oct. 8 at Trinity Outreach located at 502 Jarrell St.
The PRVO office in Poplarville is located at 204 Julia St., or can be reached by phone at 601-403-2206.