By Luke Frazier
Special to The Island News
It can be hard to pinpoint the spirit of a place until you spend time within its walls or talk to those who do, especially if it is a place where many people come to try and resolve various life challenges.
One such place is the Lowcountry Outreach Center (LOC) on Lady’s Island, adjacent to and overseen by St. Peter’s Catholic Church. It has been substantially renovated since St. Peter’s bought the building in 2023. The final stages of the work are now underway thanks to a generous $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry (CFL).
It is now a bustling place where people come to tackle life on life’s terms, which sometimes means uphill battles. Lisa Daly is coming up on her one-year anniversary as the Executive Director and is clear about what they are doing.
“The goal of the outreach center is to fill gaps in services that exist in the community,” she said. “Not duplicating services, but offering things like office space and support.”
The office space and meeting rooms are offered to a wide variety of organizations, including Lowcountry Legal Volunteers, A Father’s Place, Family Promise, Angel Rides, GriefShare, Guitars for Vets, Alcoholics Anonymous, The Heritage Library, and many others.
Beyond the specific details of what these programs do and who they serve, these groups all share the purpose of uplifting the human spirit by providing a collaborative response to tough life challenges. Through counseling, education, practical assistance, mutual support, and perhaps a shoulder to cry upon, the groups invoke the better angels of our human natures.
“The best thing is seeing folks come in and receive help that’s needed,” Daly says. “And seeing people’s faces when they say thank you for having this here.”
Daly spends many hours running the center — coordinating with groups, finding resources, networking with nonprofit agencies, and believing strongly. She is a self-described “faith-filled Catholic” who grew up on a Nebraska farm with very little. Daly says she naturally feels called to help others.
That help has expressed itself in a couple different ways for Dave, who attends a support group meeting held at LOC. “We’ve been there for a couple of years now,” Dave says in appreciation. “They’ve done great renovations that made it more comfortable. Simply put, they’re doing good work for a variety of communities that need help”
Another example of help that Dave and others received is for a Scout Troop he is involved with. Lowcountry Outreach Center assisted in connecting them with the Special Olympics for a community project that raised funds for the organization.
Daly says that there are many stories just like Dave’s. She recounts getting individuals reconnected to their families, either locally or across the country. She points to one formerly homeless man who now has a job and his own apartment through the work of outreach center agencies. She notes that many people have gotten rides to their medical appointments and many more find comfort in sharing their struggles and triumphs during different support group meetings.
Daly declares, “These are great miracles, where God has been able to use us.”
So when it comes to determining the spirit of a place, one good indication is how far the impact ripples outside its walls, newly renovated or not. In the case of the Lowcountry Outreach Center, the spirit spreads across the horizon, runs deep under the surface, and reaches the center of many hearts.
Luke Frazier is a writer and award winning media producer who moved to the Lowcountry in 2024. He runs NOW Communications and can be reached at nowandfuturecomms@gmail.com.