Hilton Head’s oldest thrift store just helped fund more than 40 area nonprofits

Hilton Head’s oldest thrift store recently donated $430,000 to 44 nonprofits in the area.

The Bargain Box, established in 1965, was created by three women from First Presbyterian Church as a shopping option for working residents of the island, according to its website. By 1970, it was generating so much revenue that it was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization and began providing financial help to area charities.

A look at the organizations aided this year, and what the funds will go towards:

Antioch Education Center: Funding to assist with tuition assistance for five of 64 nursing assistant students being trained during 2017. At least 80% of the students are expected to fill current needs in Beaufort County nursing homes, retirement centers and private homes. They are licensed by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.

Arts Center of Coastal Carolina: Funds requested for "ArtsReach Rural Native American Arts." South Carolina musician, educator, and naturalist Ted "Hawk" Hurst will offer in-school programs to Beaufort County elementary students, Boys and Girls Clubs, student community workshops and a teacher development program at the Arts Center.

Bluffton-Jasper Volunteers in Medicine (VIM): The funds will be used to provide ophthalmology services to existing and new patients. Patients with special needs will be referred to specialists as needed at no cost to patient. .

Bluffton Self Help: Funds are requested to help provide food and financial assistance to families to help them maintain a home when faced with unplanned financial emergencies and to assist with summer childcare arrangements.

Born to Read: Funds will be used to support the cost of Literacy Resource bags givens to parents in the birthing centers (3 hospitals).

Boys and Girls Club of Hilton Head: Funds are requested for refurbishment and programming of a small classroom for a "Discovery" room to be used by ages 6-9 for the Science and Engineering programs.

CAPA (Child Abuse Prevention Association): Funds are requested for operating cost of Open Arms Children's Home.

Circle of Hope Ministries: Funds needed for continued renovations to Hospitality House for the Homeless to accommodate 40 residential guests for transitional housing and 160 daily guests for meals.

CODA (Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse): Funding to be used to help ensure 24-hour access to emergency shelter by providing matching funds for staff.

The Children's Center: Funds requested are to be used for tuition assistance to supplement working families with children attending the center. Approximately 95% qualify for some assistance.

Coastal Discovery Museum: Funding to be used to underwrite Coastal Discovery Museum Education, including a Teacher Workshop Series, provide scholarships for local students to attend museum programs and renovations and exhibit development for the Kids’ Zone.

Crossroads-Backpack Buddies of Bluffton: This request is for support for the weekly program which sends food home in backpacks for children every week and provides food for families monthly during the summer.

Family Promise: Funds are requested for operating expenses to include shelter, case management and after care program.

First Presbyterian Day School: All funds will be used to provide tuition assistance to families in need. The school actively seeks out low income and minority students to diversify enrollment.

Foundation for Educational Excellence: Funds will be used to award Innovative Teacher Grants that will be called "The Bargain Box Innovative Teacher Grant Cycle."

Good Neighbor Free Medical Clinic: Funds are requested to provide medical services to adults in northern Beaufort County who remain uninsured and cannot qualify for insurance under ACA due to non-expansion of Medicaid.

HELP of Beaufort: Funds requested with their Meals-on-Wheels program in the Beaufort area. Meals are prepared for delivery at Beaufort Hospital. This organization is a small, struggling version of Deep Well and Bluffton Self Help both of which serve clients south of the Broad.

Heritage Library Foundation: Located at the corner of William Hilton Parkway and Mathews Drive, Zion Cemetery is now listed on the National Historic Registry and is being maintained by the Heritage Library Foundation. Efforts are currently underway to repair the structures in very poor condition on the site and to offer lectures and other programs to explain the history of the cemetery on HHI. Funds are requested for "costumes" for their historical enactments of events and lives of those buried there.

Heroes of the Lowcountry: Funds requested will be used to provide scholarships to minority students in Beaufort County and to continue to mentor and encourage the students throughout their college education. Assistance is provided throughout four years of college and networking provided to assist the student find a position upon graduation. HOLC works with local school counselors in order to identify qualified students.

Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra: Funds will support Music Bridges to provide programs in the local schools by orchestra musicians, the Young Artist program and also partnership with the HH Boys and Girls Club.

Hilton Head Island Deep Well Project: Funds requested for general operating expenses and to assist client families as needed.

Hilton Head Recreation Center Challenge Camp: Requesting funds to provide financial assistance to children with special needs to attend summer camp designed especially for those needs.

Hope Haven: Funds are to be used for Hope Haven's growing demand for specialized trauma focused evidence based mental health treatment and forensic interviews for child abuse victims.

Hunger Coalition of the Lowcountry - Backpack Buddies: Funds requested to provide weekend food during the school year for elementary school children and monthly food boxes during the summer with distribution at Volunteers in Medicine and the Boys &Girls Club.

The Literacy Center: Funds for the Family Literacy 360 program to work with parents and children learning English together at three sites in the county.

Lowcountry Autism Foundation: Funds requested will be used to provide multidisciplinary autism diagnostic evaluations to families free of charge. LAF works in partnership with MUSC as the only clinic to evaluate bilingual children. They also provide resources and support groups for families with autistic children. They also work closely with the local schools to assist with placement for these children.

Lowcountry Ladies of South Carolina: Funds requested to award scholarship grants to a senior from each of Beaufort County's public high schools attending a four year college/university.

Lowcountry Legal Volunteers: Funds requested to supplement bilingual paralegal's salary along with operational expenses.

Meals-on-Wheels: Requested funds will provide 6 clients with one meal, five days per week for one year.

Med-i-assist: Funds will provide emergency prescription assistance, medical appointment and eye care assistance for clients without financial resources for such services.

Memory Matters: Requesting financial support for Connections, a weekly interactive program for persons with mild cognitive impairment and early on-set dementia.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness): Funds requested to continue multicultural outreach programs, especially to Latinos and African-Americans in the area.

NOC (Neighborhood Outreach Connection): Funds requested are to sustain and pay expenses associated with after school program on HHI at two locations, both in low-income housing communities.

Penn Center: Grant support will be utilized to fund the Culture Keeper's Gullah Geechee Traditional and Contemporary Art Youth Workshops at Penn Center for the 2016-17 school year for 50 students in grades 4-11. The workshops are free and include Sweetgrass, Gullah-Woodburning, Vocals, Painting and Oral History Documentation.

PEP (Program for Exceptional People): Requesting funds to provide reduced fees for respite services for caregivers relieving them of 24/7 supervision to care for adults with special needs.

Ronald McDonald House Charities: Funds to provide free dental healthcare to all underserved children in Beaufort County with visits from the RMHC Dental Mobile. The Dental Mobile is located at the Beaufort-Jasper Comprehensive Health Care facility in Okatie and goes to area schools to provide services.

The Sandbox: Funds requested will allow the Sandbox to continue hosting free Family Fun Nights on the first Friday night of the month Sept - May and to provide charter bus service from the north end of the island to their south end location.

Second Helpings: The grant will be used to fund truck operations for their 6 refrigerated trucks that run 6 days a week, 52 weeks per year.

South Carolina Governors School for Science and Math: Funds to be used to support a week-long technology-based summer day camp in Beaufort County for 100 rising 7th and 8th graders and to provide need based financial aid to students.

Special Olympics - Area 8: Grant requested will be used to support training and competitions for athletes with intellectual disabilities, specifically the 2017 Track and Field competition.

TCL Foundation: Requesting funds for scholarships for students at the Technical College of the Lowcountry who have unmet financial needs for tuition or textbooks.

Thumbs Up, Inc.: Funds requested for improving student literary summer program for elementary and middle school students in Beaufort who are reading below grade level.

VIM (Volunteers in Medicine, HHI): Funds requested to support VIM's operating costs.

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Hilton Head’s oldest thrift store just helped fund more than 40 area nonprofits."