The poverty rate in the Lake Country counties of Putnam and Greene are well above the Georgia average and the national average. Living conditions in some areas are described as that of a third-world country.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN), established in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, goes after three specific areas of need in these counties: critical home repair, auto repair/replacement, and providing beds for children in low-income families and for older adults, military veterans, single working parents, and individuals with physical and/or developmental disabilities.

Costs for such projects, be it replacing a roof and buying a used car, can reach five figures. To help in the NHN efforts, all proceeds from the April 20 Songwriter’s Night show at Briarpatch Farm off Pea Ridge Road is going towards this organization. In concert this evening are Lee Thomas Miller and Wendell Mobley.

Three members of the Rotary Club of Greene and Putnam counties, Bob Massey, Reid Conklin and Shannon Osborne, saw a lot of need that, according to Conklin, Rotary by itself could not address from a financial standpoint. Rotary is heavily involved in the area already, especially in terms of presenting scholarships to students in all the counties’ schools, those these three decided to create a separate organization with the sole purpose of addressing one-time needs in their communities.

“We got together in the summer of 2020, throwing ideas around,” said Conklin. “We became incorporated in the fall of 2020. We boiled it down to having three areas of focus that we felt would help the most number of people in the two counties.”

NHN began with five founding members; it’s now roughly 380 strong, roughly 99 percent in Greene or Putman..

The Bedz for Kids program copies an idea from a similar organization in Ohio, and Conklin said they learned from research the number of local children who didn’t have a bed. Instead, they are sleeping on floors, couches, or sleeping many to one bed.

“That’s been one of the most popular and needed projects we do,” said Conklin. “Building beds for kids who don’t have a bed. There’s a ton of them.”

Yes, that is building beds from scratch. Conklin said the NHN members themselves don’t have those building skills, but they provide funds to purchase the materials. They are partners with the mission team from First Methodist Church of Greensboro-Lake Oconee, and it’s people from that team who build the beds, single and bunks, from their plans. The mission teams delivers the bed, and NHN provides a mattress, pillow and comforter.

“We do about 15 to 20 beds a month,” said Conklin. “That will give you an idea of what the demand is. We are happy we are able to fill that demand, and doing it for almost four years now.”

One of these beds will be on display at Briarpatch Farm during Songwriter’s Night. There will be a raffle as well before the show begins where NHN asks every table or individuals to buy a bed.

“The cost of a bed is about $250,” said Conklin. “There’s no labor charge … and they deliver free. But it’s $250 to build a bed. For every bed that is purchase, there will be a ticket put into the pot. We will pull out a winner, and the winner will receive one of Mike Rainey’s famous boxes of beef.”

On the home and vechicle repair side, Conklin said there is a list of contractors NHN will use who does the work. NHN members will be “project managers.”

“When an application comes in from somebody who needs a home repair … all of our applications are thoroughly vetted,” said Conklin. “We only help people in a home repair who own their home. We don’t work on rental properties. One-time critical need home repairs is what we focus on.”

Don’t ask for any landscaping. But if your roof is leaking, they will take a look.

“Once approve, we assign it to a project manager,” said Conklin. “That project manager will choose from a list of contractors we have used who will do the work. The project manager will oversee to make sure it’s done properly.”

Applications can be found at https://www.nhnga.org/ under I Need Assistance. This site has other information on joining and donating to NHN plus Songwriter’s Night.

“When we started talking about what kind of people need help in this community, home repair was significant, and that’s a significant amount of dollars,” said Conklin. “To replace a whole roof is $10,000 to $20,000. The poverty rate’s about 18% in both counties. That’s about 7,500 of our neighbors. The living conditions are really, really bad. People go out there the first time and they shake their heads. ‘I had no idea this kind of stuff existed here.’

“It’s a rural area. No public transportation. If you don’t have a vehicle, or you have one and it breaks down, you can’t get to work, the doctor, unless you rely on a friend. There are a lot of single moms in both counties who need help, particularly if their vehicle breaks down.

“You are dead in the water if you don’t have transportation in a rural place.”

If an applicant has a vehicle that has broken down, NHN tries to fix the problem. If the car is beyond repair, they try to find a replacement. Conklin said they’ve delivered six to seven cars a year, and that’s a major financial challenge considering the recent pandemic.

Conklin said they look for used cars, not new ones, and make sure they are in working condition. He said used car prices skyrocketed due to COVID, and that in the past year the supply was impacted by people buying used instead of new.

“Things are starting to loosen up a little bit,” he said. “We are in the process of buying two now. A lot of the cars we get are donated from members or people who know members … if they are thinking of getting rid of their current automobile, they can donate it to us and take a tax write-off. We are 501c3.”

There is already a large crowd expected for Songwriter’s Night April 20. There will also be a live auction and a silent auction, all proceeds going to NHN.

“One hundred percent of every dollar donated goes to a project,” said Conklin. “We have no overhead expenses. We have administrative expenses, and all of those are funded annually by the members out of our own pockets.