It’s an old-fashioned gospel sing on Sunday at Pendleton Street Baptist Church.

Kyle Matthews, Larry McCullough & Chosen Generation, USC Upstate Gospel Choir

Joyful Sound from North Greenville University and Bethel Full Gospel Baptist Church Praise Dancers all will be singing praises in what’s being billed as a Musical Extravaganza.

An extravaganza with a deep underpinning to do good.

It is one of those awesome occasions when community groups work together for a common cause. And as we have seen over and over again in Greenville, when groups get together, things get done.

This time it’s to benefit United Ministries, Triune Mercy Center and Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network to help them combat poverty.

The three have been collecting quarters to put on display Sunday. The goal is 50,000, a quarter to represent every person in Greenville County living below the poverty line. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers anyone who makes less than $10,830 to be living in poverty. For a family of four, the threshold is $22,050.

The folks at Triune, United Ministries and GAIHN witness the circumstances of Greenville County’s poor every day.

On Wednesday at Triune some 70 people showed up to get groceries and clothes. But 15 had to be turned away with nothing. Imagine what that looked like.

“There is so much need out there,” said the Rev. Deb Richardson Moore. “So many people struggling, so many children born into unstable households that are going to perpetuate poverty if we can’t do something to break the cycle.”

Moore said progress was being made but then came the economic downturn.

“It knocked us backward,” she said. “We are seeing so many new people who possibly have never gone anywhere before.”

But amid it all, there are stories of hope.

Like Bobby who spent three years and four months sleeping under bridges and now owns a home and speaks to college students about life on the street. And John who overcame addiction and then spent seven months looking for a job before being placed as a temp in a local business. He has since been hired fulltime and his boss is redesigning Triune’s Web site.

Moore said the gospel sing is the first time the three organizations have come together for a fundraiser.

In the broadest possible terms, the three have similar missions – to help those in need. But each plays its own role.

United Ministries is by far the biggest of the organizations. With 27 paid staffers, the agency supplies emergency assistance, prepares people for jobs, offers adult education and operates the Place of Hope, which provides services for the homeless such as mail, showers and laundry as well as social services.

GAIHN works with local congregations to provide emergency housing and meals to homeless families.

Triune was established about a century ago as a Methodist church. It has since become an independent interdenominational church that offers Sunday worship services as well as a soup kitchen, clothes closet, food pantry, and linen closet.

Moore said for the past several years representatives of Triune, United Ministries and Greenville Mental Health have met every Monday afternoon to share information and offer support for one another.

This is not easy work.

The Upstate Homeless Coalition works to find gaps in services and meet those needs for a 13-county area. Representatives of a host of agencies serve on the board and businesses throughout the area work closely with the organization.

To say poverty – and its cousin homelessness – are bigger problems than any one organization can conquer seems obvious.

But sometimes it seems we don’t act like we know it. Sunday might be a good time to show we understand and appreciate this work the agencies do.

Fifty-thousand quarters represents $12,500 raised so far.

The concert is free, but an offering will be taken. Asked whether people should bring quarters, Moore laughs and says, “Oh, no. We’re hoping they will be putting in extremely large bills and checks.”

There’s nothing fancy about the way Generations Group Homes looks, but it is magical nonetheless.

Boys, abused and victimized by others, arrive at the southern Greenville County facility after committing some sort of sexual act against someone else. It is their second chance. For many the only other choice would have been juvenile jail.

Often they come in shackled, wearing a jumpsuit and carrying a plastic bag with a toothbrush inside. They are 13 to 17 years old.

The boys enter a regimented life of chores and responsibilities and consequences when they fall short. They go to school. They dress up in slacks, shirts and ties for field trips. They sleep in dorms and more often than not cover their twin beds with comforters bearing the name of their favorite sports teams. They have birthday parties, many for the first time. Musical chairs is the No. 1 attraction at the fall festival.

In short, they get to have the sort of lives they should have had before.

And that largely is because the staff at Generations has managed to create something special among co-workers. They’re not just colleagues, but an extended family, caring for as many as 46 boys at a time.

They show respect, one to the other. They care when concerns outside of work bear down. They stand in for one another when necessary.

“We have each other,” said Charlene Jones, the child care services director.

And that’s vital because this is not easy work. It’s messy.

Boys come in angry. They throw desks. They curse. They refuse to participate.

But then the magic happens.

They notice a staff member cares, maybe it’s their counselor, but it might also be the cook. They see the other boys following the rules, getting privileges. They make a connection with an adult, often the first they’ve had in their lives.

With sexual abuse, the problem has little to do with sex and everything to do with power. The boys felt powerless in their victimization and they acted out.

At Generations, they become part of a group, something bigger than themselves, and that basic human need to belong is met.

“Kids will go to any group that accepts them,” said Kathleen Reynolds, the chief executive officer. “That’s why gangs are so prevalent.”

Reynolds founded Generations in 1991 as a tribute to her younger sister who was raped on a date. The trajectory of her sister’s life changed immediately. Reynolds wanted to make sure others had a different choice.

The nature of the program change in 1999 when Reynolds questioned whether they needed to restrain the boys as often as they did. She discovered Cornell University had developed therapeutic crisis intervention, which begins with preventing a conflict from developing in the first place and then offers tools to de-escalate those that do.

“Instead of rule enforcer, we’re teachers,” said Brian Clark, the facility director.

He said they break through the walls the boys have erected to protect themselves through mutual respect, investing in them with sensitivity and by simply being available. That means noticing when someone is having a bad day or a tough time with homework. That means stopping and taking the time to talk.

It is offering a gentle yet firm hand.

And then comes more magic. Once a boy realizes what happened to him is not his fault, that he is a worthy individual, the desire to act out in that way vanishes.

And here’s how they know. They surveyed all the boys who had come through the program in the past five years – about 400. They discovered 98 percent had not had another sexual offense and 92 percent had no offense at all. And they counted traffic tickets as offenses.

In the education building there is a wall of heroes that lists the names of boys who finish the tough program before their sentence is up. It also lists the names of donors.

There should be another list: staff members. Heroes all.

Books brought them together. Breast cancer gave them a cause.

The Whine and Wine Book Club started meeting about three years ago, every third Tuesday of the month. It was as much a time for laughter and socializing as for discussing literature.

Then came the month they read a book by Jill Conner Browne of Sweet Potato Queen Fame, the franchise that offers help for every occasion such as raising children for fun and profit (yes, that is the name of one of her books).

Club member Jessica Traynham had arranged a surprise. She had e-mailed Browne and asked her to call during the meeting. And Browne did.

The women were so taken with the book, the woman, the night, they decided to start a Sweet Potato Queen chapter.

But Traynham and friend Juli Spann were not content to just dress up in big red wigs and costumes that made their you know whats much bigger than normal and march in Christmas parades.

“The fun can only go so far,” Traynham told Spann.

They settled on breast cancer awareness and called themselves the Ta-Ta Queens. Many Sweet Potato Queen chapters, including the original group, raise money for certain causes, but these Upstate ladies took it a step farther. They established a non-profit, the only Sweet Potato Queen chapter in the country to do so.

“We want to make a difference in our community,” Spann said.

They promote early detection and the importance of mammograms. They’ve joined with Race for the Cure and other events focused on breast cancer. They wear pink and have a 14-foot-long pink trailer for parades.

“Those big red wigs do make people notice us,” Spann said. “And that’s the point.”

Last year they staged their first fundraiser. It was at the Upcountry History Museum and about 150 people showed up, all by word of mouth. They made a little more than they spent, Spann said.

This year is a whole ‘nother story.

They are having the event at the Hilton Garden Inn. It’s A Royal Cotillion for Queens and Their Kings. Food, drink, auction, band.

And Browne.

Not only will the original queen attend the April 24 event, but she has waived her $15,000 speaking fee. And she’s bringing one of her crowns to be auctioned.

The reason is the group wants to do more than pass out literature and be big-haired pretty. They want to provide every woman battling breast cancer in the area – from those just diagnosed to those recovering from surgery – with The Royal Treatment Package.

“It will be full of things to make their life easier,” Spann said.

Tailored to individual needs, the package will include coupons, gift cards, housecleaning services, pillows to place under the arm during recuperation, information on where to get wigs or bras. Browne has also given them a number of autographed books to include.

“Humor helps in any situation,” Spann said.

They intend to ask doctors to offer information about the package to patients and their families, who in turn call and request one.

Spann said it is especially gratifying when a cancer patient tells her “You made me laugh.”

Everyone in the Ta-Tas has been touched by breast cancer. One is a survivor. Others have aunts or cousins, mothers or sisters who have battled the disease.

And at every appearance something touching happens.

At one, a woman asked one of the members to go with her to her next appointment.

“She wanted one of us to go hold her hand,” Spann said.

And one of them did.