United Way of Pickens County

06/10/2026

Here is a glimpse into one of our Camp iRock sites and what makes it so amazing! The students’ love for learning and the staff’s love for teaching is so evident each day. Stay tuned for more content related to Camp iRock! 📚📖🧡

06/03/2026

Meet two of the smiling faces behind Camp iRock this summer! 🌟

Sabrina is back with us for another year, this time as a Daniel High intern who already knows how camp runs. Nicole is joining the team for the first time, a Clemson student spending the summer helping young readers find their footing.

We caught them today doing the behind-the-scenes work that makes camp possible, organizing and sorting the books our campers will dig into all summer long. 📚

Be sure to keep an eye on our stories! Nicole is taking over our Instagram in the coming weeks to show you camp from the inside.



Clemson University School District of Pickens County

06/03/2026

Hurricane Helene reminded Pickens County of something we already knew. When disaster strikes, neighbors take care of neighbors.

United Way of Pickens County, in partnership with Pickens County Emergency Management, is launching the first Pickens County Community Emergency Response Team cohort this June. The free training equips everyday residents to take care of their households and their neighbors in the critical hours after a major disaster, when professional responders may not reach every neighborhood right away.

Training covers emergency preparedness, fire safety, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, team organization, and more.

Seven sessions. June 16 through July 9. Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Applications close June 11. Applicants will also complete two short FEMA online courses and a background check before training begins.

This is real training for real emergencies. Pickens County needs people who are ready. Are you one of them?

Learn more and apply: uwpickens.org/cert

Pickens County SC

05/20/2026

Recovery does not end when the storm passes.

Right now in Pickens County, a retired veteran is watching rain come through the ceiling every time it storms. Hurricane Helene knocked a tree limb onto the roof and tore through the soffit. He has attempted repairs on his own, but age makes that work harder now. The funds to hire someone aren't there. Every rain makes the inside of the home worse.

This is exactly the long road the Pickens County Long-Term Recovery Group walks.

Months after a disaster fades from the headlines, nonprofits, faith communities, government partners, and neighbors are still here, coordinating help for families who are still living inside the damage. A grant from the American Red Cross after Hurricane Helene made it possible to form the LTRG. The work continues because our community keeps showing up.

If you want to be part of that, your neighbors are ready for you.

👉 Learn more about the Pickens County LTRG: https://www.uwpickens.org/ltrg
👉 Join the LTRG email list to stay connected with meetings, partnership opportunities, and recovery updates: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/0pJyMyn/ltrg

United is the way our neighbors heal from crisis.

05/19/2026

Lantern is an amazing resource that we are proud to support!

🥗🍽️🍕 Concerned about your child’s feeding or picky eating? Lantern Families can help! If you have a child ages 6 months to 5 years, we’ve got you. Text the word EAT to 274 448 or visit www.mylantern.org/eat.

Big thanks to United Way of Pickens County for supporting families through Lantern! 💡💬🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒

05/11/2026

We are grateful for the leadership of the City of Liberty - South Carolina. Thank you for inviting us to the conversation, and for the continued partnership in serving the community.

Yesterday morning, Mayor Andrea Wagner, Communications & Clerk to Council Ciera Wilson, and Deputy Administrator Katie Sizemore had the opportunity to meet with Jeremy Price and Jerri Davis from United Way of Pickens County to explore new ways the City of Liberty staff can continue giving back to the community they serve.

Over great coffee and meaningful conversation, the group shared exciting ideas for future collaboration and partnership opportunities centered around community outreach and service. Community service remains an important part of the City’s mission, and the meeting was a great opportunity to strengthen relationships with organizations that share the same passion for making a positive impact in Liberty.

A special thank you to Moose On Main for offering a private meeting area upstairs for our community, and helping create such a welcoming space for conversation and collaboration.

The City of Liberty is excited about the opportunities ahead and looks forward to continuing to serve and support the community through meaningful partnerships.

Do you have an idea or suggestion to strengthen community outreach? Please email [email protected].

04/30/2026

Today we got to do one of our favorite things of the year: celebrate the volunteers who made this tax season possible. 🎉

Our Free File volunteers gathered for an appreciation luncheon, swapping stories from a season's worth of returns. Behind every one of those stories was a neighbor in Pickens County who walked into a free tax site uncertain and walked out with their return filed and one less thing to worry about.

A small glimpse of what this season looked like:
💙2,228 hours given.
💙2,011 returns filed.

The full story of what those numbers meant for our neighbors is coming in our next impact report. For now, we just want to say THANK YOU to every Free File volunteer. You gave your time, your patience, and your expertise to people who needed someone in their corner. That matters more than you know.

04/24/2026

A big thank you to the students of Omicron Delta Kappa at Clemson University for their generous gift to Camp iRock. These young leaders chose to invest in children in Pickens County who are still finding their love of reading. That is something worth celebrating. 🎉

Their generosity is helping close the gap to fully fund Camp iRock this summer. Won't you join them?
👉https://www.uwpickens.org/support-campirock

04/23/2026

Happy World Book Day! For some children, the joy of books is still waiting to be discovered. Camp iRock is where they find it.

Somewhere in Pickens County, a little boy who came to us barely able to read a picture book is now working his way through his first chapter book. He came in nervous on the first day. He left with friends, confidence, and a stack of books to call his own.

That is what Camp iRock does. It opens the door to a world of reading for children who never knew they could love it.

Right now, every dollar you give to Camp iRock goes twice as far. A generous donor has put up a $5,000 matching challenge, and we need your help to meet it.

Will you show up for him this summer?

https://www.uwpickens.org/support-campirock

04/23/2026

Liz Bagatini signed up to help her fellow Clemson graduate students file their taxes through our Free File program. She didn't expect it to change her.

"I have had the chance to meet community members from many different walks of life as a volunteer, and those connections have been unexpected gifts," she said.

Liz was one of many Clemson students who volunteered this season. Together they helped more than 200 Clemson students file their taxes for free - one conversation at a time.

This spring, Clemson faculty, staff, and students showed up for Pickens County in ways that matched the generosity of their remarkable workplace campaign. Clemson's Chair Academy assembled 150 hygiene kits for neighbors in need. Call Me MISTER students volunteered at Camp iRock. Student-athletes sat down with young readers through Champions for Literacy. And this year, Clemson encouraged faculty and staff to keep their payroll giving going - a simple act that makes a lasting difference for our neighbors.

We are proud to call Clemson University a partner in the everyday work of caring for this community.

You may know that the United Way of Pickens County and Clemson University hold an annual fundraising campaign every fall, but did you know the partnership